Taiwan or Republic of China?
On Monday, National Palace Museum director Fung Ming-chu (馮明珠) cut the ribbon at the Tokyo National Museum opening ceremony for the exhibition Treasured Masterpieces from the National Palace Museum, Taiwan. The museum director bowed to apologize over the controversy created by the name used on some of the posters promoting the event.
Tokyo National Museum director Masami Zeniya recognized the mistake of the missing word “National” and apologized. Fung accepted the apology and got the exhibition launched smoothly, so the Japanese finally can see the Jadeite Cabbage, a rare treasure, from Taipei.
Both Japan and Taiwan welcomed the happy ending. However, in Taiwan there were voices condemning the slow response to the affair. The posters had already been circulating for weeks, so why were they rejected at the last minute?
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan said they had informed Taipei early on about the posters, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said they were not directly involved and only helped to mediate matters.
It seemed there was poor communication between the National Palace Museum and MOFA. That is why no one took action until Friday last week, when the Presidential Office got involved.
Of course, there are voices supporting President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) resolve on this issue, standing against Tokyo for the dignity and sovereignty of the nation. However, for which nation: Is it Taiwan or the Republic of China (ROC)?
The Jadeite Cabbage is originally from China and Ma’s presidential title is under the Republic of China.
Obviously, Ma is defending the dignity of the nation of the ROC, not Taiwan, because Tokyo and the international community know that Taiwan is not yet a recognized nation with full sovereignty.
There is no nation “Taiwan” which is recognized by the international community and the ROC is only an exiled government.
As a matter of fact, we do not know what the major difference is in changing the name from “Taipei Palace Museum” to “National Palace Museum.” Neither one qualifies as an independent nation. So the original exhibition poster title without the word “National” would actually be more appropriate.
Early in the month, while the Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Fan Liqing (范麗青) said that Taiwan’s future “must be decided by all Chinese people, including [our] Taiwanese compatriots,” it was rejected by Taiwanese, who countered that only the 23 million Taiwanese can determine the nation’s future. However, we have not heard a statement from Ma’s office yet.
Now, TAO Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) is in Taipei. We hope Ma tells Zhang clearly that he will defend national dignity and sovereignty. And all Taiwanese and the world are watching which nation Ma claims: Taiwan or the ROC?
John Hsieh
Hayward, California
Two sets of economic data released last week by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) have drawn mixed reactions from the public: One on the nation’s economic performance in the first quarter of the year and the other on Taiwan’s household wealth distribution in 2021. GDP growth for the first quarter was faster than expected, at 6.51 percent year-on-year, an acceleration from the previous quarter’s 4.93 percent and higher than the agency’s February estimate of 5.92 percent. It was also the highest growth since the second quarter of 2021, when the economy expanded 8.07 percent, DGBAS data showed. The growth
In the intricate ballet of geopolitics, names signify more than mere identification: They embody history, culture and sovereignty. The recent decision by China to refer to Arunachal Pradesh as “Tsang Nan” or South Tibet, and to rename Tibet as “Xizang,” is a strategic move that extends beyond cartography into the realm of diplomatic signaling. This op-ed explores the implications of these actions and India’s potential response. Names are potent symbols in international relations, encapsulating the essence of a nation’s stance on territorial disputes. China’s choice to rename regions within Indian territory is not merely a linguistic exercise, but a symbolic assertion
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
In the 2022 book Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China, academics Hal Brands and Michael Beckley warned, against conventional wisdom, that it was not a rising China that the US and its allies had to fear, but a declining China. This is because “peaking powers” — nations at the peak of their relative power and staring over the precipice of decline — are particularly dangerous, as they might believe they only have a narrow window of opportunity to grab what they can before decline sets in, they said. The tailwinds that propelled China’s spectacular economic rise over the past