National defense and diplomacy are two major issues under the president’s authority, according to the Republic of China Constitution, but recent moves by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) show that he considers them as stages for his personal show.
Yesterday, Ma, accompanied by a media delegation, visited Penjia Islet (彭佳嶼) — about 30 nautical miles (55.5km) north of Keelung and 76 nautical miles west of the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in the East China Sea, and is the de facto northernmost territory of Taiwan — to attend a ceremony to unveil a landmark claiming the islet as Taiwanese territory and to reiterate his “East China Sea peace initiative” as Taiwan, Japan and China dispute over the sovereignty of the Diaoyutais.
However, the move has no real effect except for spending more taxpayers’ money to show that Ma is no lame-duck president, as he once declared after president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) won a landslide victory in the Jan. 16 presidential election.
In January, Ma traveled to Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) in the South China Sea. Several nations in the region claim sovereignty over it.
The move was seen as provocative by the international community, as well as the opposition.
Last month, as the Philippines filed for international arbitration over China’s claims of sovereignty over the South China Sea, saying that Itu Aba could not be a basis for a sovereignty claim because it is not an island, Ma invited a foreign press delegation to visit the island to prove that it really is an island.
The target of the Philippines’ request for arbitration is China, not Taiwan, and it might be odd for Ma to be so eager to prove that the Philippines’ claim is false while China’s is correct, especially after China said that it is the shared responsibility of “Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait” to defend China’s sovereignty over the South China Sea.
Therefore, Ma’s move is very dangerous, as it might be seen as a response to China’s call, and therefore a declaration to the world that Taiwan and China are part of the same nation.
Moreover, a decision by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee last week to abolish a short-lived clause in the Enforcement Rules of the Passport Act (護照條例施行細則) that bans any modifications to Taiwanese passports is another slap in Ma’s face, as his administration was so eager to stop a campaign to put “Republic of Taiwan” stickers on passport covers.
While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not think it was a problem for people to place stickers on their passport covers, it suddenly became a serious issue when pro-independence activists launched a campaign to place “Republic of Taiwan” stickers on passport covers.
Although people who placed the stickers on their passport covers risk being denied entry when entering foreign nations, it was ironic that the majority of problems at border controls happened in Taiwan and only a few cases occurred abroad.
The clause was proposed in November last year and adopted by the legislature in January.
Although the ministry previously said that the move was serious and dangerous, it suddenly softened its stance at a legislative committee meeting on Wednesday, with officials saying that the clause was only added as a “friendly reminder.”
Whether it is a friendly reminder or not, the ministry’s change of attitude shows that the proposal and passage of the clause were more political than practical, and amounted to another reckless move by the Ma administration.
Fortunately, there are just 40 days left before Ma’s term ends and hopefully he can focus more on a smooth transfer of government in the remaining days instead of making more reckless moves.
Chinese actor Alan Yu (于朦朧) died after allegedly falling from a building in Beijing on Sept. 11. The actor’s mysterious death was tightly censored on Chinese social media, with discussions and doubts about the incident quickly erased. Even Hong Kong artist Daniel Chan’s (陳曉東) post questioning the truth about the case was automatically deleted, sparking concern among overseas Chinese-speaking communities about the dark culture and severe censorship in China’s entertainment industry. Yu had been under house arrest for days, and forced to drink with the rich and powerful before he died, reports said. He lost his life in this vicious
George Santayana wrote: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This article will help readers avoid repeating mistakes by examining four examples from the civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forces and the Republic of China (ROC) forces that involved two city sieges and two island invasions. The city sieges compared are Changchun (May to October 1948) and Beiping (November 1948 to January 1949, renamed Beijing after its capture), and attempts to invade Kinmen (October 1949) and Hainan (April 1950). Comparing and contrasting these examples, we can learn how Taiwan may prevent a war with
A recent trio of opinion articles in this newspaper reflects the growing anxiety surrounding Washington’s reported request for Taiwan to shift up to 50 percent of its semiconductor production abroad — a process likely to take 10 years, even under the most serious and coordinated effort. Simon H. Tang (湯先鈍) issued a sharp warning (“US trade threatens silicon shield,” Oct. 4, page 8), calling the move a threat to Taiwan’s “silicon shield,” which he argues deters aggression by making Taiwan indispensable. On the same day, Hsiao Hsi-huei (蕭錫惠) (“Responding to US semiconductor policy shift,” Oct. 4, page 8) focused on
In South Korea, the medical cosmetic industry is fiercely competitive and prices are low, attracting beauty enthusiasts from Taiwan. However, basic medical risks are often overlooked. While sharing a meal with friends recently, I heard one mention that his daughter would be going to South Korea for a cosmetic skincare procedure. I felt a twinge of unease at the time, but seeing as it was just a casual conversation among friends, I simply reminded him to prioritize safety. I never thought that, not long after, I would actually encounter a patient in my clinic with a similar situation. She had
RSS