What good is a government when it cannot defend its national dignity and act against intimidation and belittlement by others?
Sadly, the administration under President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) fails to do exactly that; it easily wimps out when confronted by its bully neighbor, China.
Last week, the Taiwanese public was treated to a pathetic display of the Ma government’s cowardice in the case of the Republic of China (ROC) flag at the London Olympics.
Despite later confirmation from Regent Street Association director Annie Walker, whose group organized the flag display, that the ROC flag was removed because of a complaint from the Chinese embassy, the Ma government is still too cowardly to issue a condemnation denouncing China’s malicious obstruction.
Less than a week later, Taiwan had its sense of national dignity trampled on again — and again it was because the Ma government was too spineless to stand up for the nation’s sovereignty.
Well ahead of the annual forum between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Sunday, Ma on Thursday last week stressed to former KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), leader of the KMT delegation to the forum, that his government promotes cross-strait relations under the “one China” principle, in which “one China” refers to the ROC.
However, when Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference chairman Jia Qinglin (賈慶林) said in his speech on Sunday at the KMT-CCP Cross-Strait Economic Forum that the core of the “one China” framework is that “the mainland and Taiwan belong to one country; a cross-strait relationship is not one between countries,” Wu did not dare to let out even a squeak of objection.
So much for Ma’s trumpeting of the ROC’s sovereignty and talks of how “one China” refers to the ROC, when all such remarks crumple piteously the instant they are put to the test in the presence of Chinese officials.
Many remember how the Mainland Affairs Council sponsored a TV spot promoting the dignity of the ROC national flag by utilizing the tag line: “Wherever the national flag is initially located, [it should] remain there.”
Many also vividly recall how, in the run-up to the presidential elections earlier this year, Ma’s re-election campaign put out a number of TV spots promoting the ROC national flag and reiterating the ROC’s sovereign status. The Ma government allotted a whopping budget last year to a series of year-round promotional activities such as concerts, exhibitions, fireworks shows and cycling tours celebrating what it called the ROC centennial.
However, what good is all this clamoring and cheering for the ROC when the moment the nation’s dignity is offended and belittled by China on the international stage, the Ma government fails miserably to tackle the issue head-on?
Indeed, the pattern is all too familiar — and very much disturbing: trumpeting to a domestic audience how proud the government is of the ROC national flag and how seriously it takes the ROC’s sovereignty, but as soon as the audience includes members of the international community and Chinese officials, the Ma government loses its tongue.
As upholding one’s national dignity should come naturally to any government, Ma and his officials have rightfully earned themselves the title of being a spineless bunch, for time and again failing to uphold the nation’s dignity and assert Taiwan’s sovereignty.
In the event of a war with China, Taiwan has some surprisingly tough defenses that could make it as difficult to tackle as a porcupine: A shoreline dotted with swamps, rocks and concrete barriers; conscription for all adult men; highways and airports that are built to double as hardened combat facilities. This porcupine has a soft underbelly, though, and the war in Iran is exposing it: energy. About 39,000 ships dock at Taiwan’s ports each year, more than the 30,000 that transit the Strait of Hormuz. About one-fifth of their inbound tonnage is coal, oil, refined fuels and liquefied natural gas (LNG),
On Monday, the day before Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) departed on her visit to China, the party released a promotional video titled “Only with peace can we ‘lie flat’” to highlight its desire to have peace across the Taiwan Strait. However, its use of the expression “lie flat” (tang ping, 躺平) drew sarcastic comments, with critics saying it sounded as if the party was “bowing down” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Amid the controversy over the opposition parties blocking proposed defense budgets, Cheng departed for China after receiving an invitation from the CCP, with a meeting with
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) is leading a delegation to China through Sunday. She is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing tomorrow. That date coincides with the anniversary of the signing of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), which marked a cornerstone of Taiwan-US relations. Staging their meeting on this date makes it clear that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intends to challenge the US and demonstrate its “authority” over Taiwan. Since the US severed official diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979, it has relied on the TRA as a legal basis for all
To counter the CCP’s escalating threats, Taiwan must build a national consensus and demonstrate the capability and the will to fight. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) often leans on a seductive mantra to soften its threats, such as “Chinese do not kill Chinese.” The slogan is designed to frame territorial conquest (annexation) as a domestic family matter. A look at the historical ledger reveals a different truth. For the CCP, being labeled “family” has never been a guarantee of safety; it has been the primary prerequisite for state-sanctioned slaughter. From the forced starvation of 150,000 civilians at the Siege of Changchun
RSS