Clarification
I am glad Jim Walsh’s comments (Letters, March 20, page 8) give me an opportunity to clarify my suggestions to the Taiwanese-American community regarding the Nov. 6 election in the US.
I oppose US President Barack Obama’s re-election because he is ineffective in managing the economy, indifferent to the cause of democracy around the globe and weakening US armed forces in the face of challenges from the rise of China.
A new Republican president would be better equipped to revive the US and provide hope for a better future to mankind.
A Republican president can govern most effectively if both branches of Congress are also controlled by Republicans.
In the House of Representatives, we want US Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a staunch supporter of Taiwan, to continue serving as chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
If the Republicans regain control of the Senate, the experienced Senator Richard Lugar can replace Senator John Kerry as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. Kerry once said Taiwan’s future should be settled based on China’s “one country, two systems” proposal.
Walsh is right that many Democratic members of Congress do support Taiwan’s freedom.
Taiwanese-Americans should vote for such members. For example, for the Senate we should support re-election of senators Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Robert Menendez of New Jersey, and Representative Shelly Berkley of Nevada, who is running for a Senate seat this year.
For the House, Taiwanese-Americans should support Robert Andrews of south Jersey, who is eloquent and attentive to US national security.
Li Thian-hok
Pennsylvania
A series of strong earthquakes in Hualien County not only caused severe damage in Taiwan, but also revealed that China’s power has permeated everywhere. A Taiwanese woman posted on the Internet that she found clips of the earthquake — which were recorded by the security camera in her home — on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu. It is spine-chilling that the problem might be because the security camera was manufactured in China. China has widely collected information, infringed upon public privacy and raised information security threats through various social media platforms, as well as telecommunication and security equipment. Several former TikTok employees revealed
For the incoming Administration of President-elect William Lai (賴清德), successfully deterring a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attack or invasion of democratic Taiwan over his four-year term would be a clear victory. But it could also be a curse, because during those four years the CCP’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will grow far stronger. As such, increased vigilance in Washington and Taipei will be needed to ensure that already multiplying CCP threat trends don’t overwhelm Taiwan, the United States, and their democratic allies. One CCP attempt to overwhelm was announced on April 19, 2024, namely that the PLA had erred in combining major missions
The Constitutional Court on Tuesday last week held a debate over the constitutionality of the death penalty. The issue of the retention or abolition of the death penalty often involves the conceptual aspects of social values and even religious philosophies. As it is written in The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, the government’s policy is often a choice between the lesser of two evils or the greater of two goods, and it is impossible to be perfect. Today’s controversy over the retention or abolition of the death penalty can be viewed in the same way. UNACCEPTABLE Viewing the
At the same time as more than 30 military aircraft were detected near Taiwan — one of the highest daily incursions this year — with some flying as close as 37 nautical miles (69kms) from the northern city of Keelung, China announced a limited and selected relaxation of restrictions on Taiwanese agricultural exports and tourism, upon receiving a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) delegation led by KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁). This demonstrates the two-faced gimmick of China’s “united front” strategy. Despite the strongest earthquake to hit the nation in 25 years striking Hualien on April 3, which caused