Ma plays innocent again
Retired general Hsia Ying-chou (夏瀛洲) has simply repeated what President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has said and done over the past four years concerning his cross-strait policy (“Ex-general repeats ‘one China’ remarks in China,” Feb. 11, page 1). If the Presidential Office does not approve of such comments, they should ask their boss to clarify his national policy first. Unless Ma’s “one China” policy, which considers Taiwan as part of China, is abandoned, disapproval of such comments is equivalent to disapproving Ma’s policy.
Ma should thank Hsia for saying, in military terms, that the armed forces in Taiwan and China share the same goal of unification. Instead, Ma has urged retired generals to act and talk with extra caution during their visits to China and called for the drafting of a “code of conduct” for retired generals. This code should also apply to the commander-in-chief.
After so many incidents, is Ma playing innocent and make-believe (more metaphorically, 假仙, in Taiwanese) again? Did he forget that “one China” and “eventual unification” are his own policies? His favorite topic, the so-called “1992 consensus,” is nothing but “one China, with different interpretations.” What Ma has done is only to make the description respectful to China, and not respectful to Taiwan.
Hsia has acted as a voluntary messenger for Ma’s policy. If a commander-in-chief gives a confusing order, the whole armed forces under his command will be at a loss — not knowing for whom, or for what, they are fighting.
Likewise, if a president sets an incorrect national policy, the president becomes an ordinary “mister” and the country becomes a “region” of another country. The people become second-class citizens without freedom. Taiwanese do not deserve to become second-class citizens again.
Charles Hong
Columbus, Ohio
Hsia should be disciplined
Several months ago, while back in the US, I was following my normal morning ritual of having coffee and reading the Taipei Times. That particular morning I almost gagged when I read the remarks by retired Air Force General Hsia. My first comments were: “How can a retired military man be making such remarks [the idea of one China] to the sworn enemy of his country? And now he does it again?”
I, too, am retired military, though from the US Army. There are some things I still hold sacred, and one of those is the oath I swore to many years ago, “to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.” That never goes away. It concerns me that a retired military officer could even consider such a stance and that the current administration is, by not acting, condoning it.
It is also of concern that this administration has, on occasion, allowed or condoned the discussion of sensitive foreign policy, concerning “unification,” by non-governmental or retired persons.
I do not know how the military retirement system works in Taiwan, but in the US, a general officer is never truly retired. They are subject to recall at any time. It seems to me that an immediate recall and disciplinary action might just be in order.
Tom Kuleck
Greater Taichung
Double standards in play
Recently the media have been vocal about the abuse of a taxi driver by a “foreigner.” Your paper even used the word “shameful” in one sub-headline (“Makiyo, friend charged with assaulting driver,” Feb. 11, page 1). But when a “foreigner” was viciously assaulted by a gang last year, you editorialized the incident as “unfortunate.”
I’m happy to know this incident is treated as a crime — as it should be, but I’m unhappy to know there seems to be a chauvinistic double standard in Taiwan, where the “dignity” of Taiwanese is treated with more respect than the dignity of “foreigners.” This was evident in the media frenzy over a taekwondo incident a while back.
National Cheng Kung University illegally dismissed me 13 years ago. The case involved a high-ranked university and numerous human rights abuses, including the refusal to enforce a Ministry of Education ruling for nearly four years. Yet your paper has not exposed the case as “shameful” or editorialized about the dignity of Americans in Taiwan.
In your article, the protesters are quoted as shouting “We want dignity! We want the truth!”
What do you think I want? Is my “dignity,” or the “truth” of human rights abuses at National Cheng Kung University of less merit or social import?
A taxi union official thanked the media for speaking on behalf of the victim and justice. I wish I could say as much.
I understand this case is different, because the victim was Taiwanese. It has lasted a few days, but a taxi official is quoted saying the case “had dragged on for so long.”
My case has lasted 13 years and your paper awaits “further developments,” as I was told last year. Apart from the establishment of a genuinely free and adversarial press, I have no idea what those “developments” could be.
Richard de Canio
Greater Tainan
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry