I am not Taiwanese. I am an American resident in Taiwan. Politics do not interest me — neither Taiwan’s nor the US’. However, how can I not feel the different mood in this nation since the election of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文)? Taiwanese were given a choice between the past and the future. They chose the future. Every moment of every day I see that was the right decision.
How different this same choice is playing out in the US right now.
Americans just rejected US Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Bernie Sanders, who, like Tsai, came forward with a voice and a vision that is true, and that could have led the US forward to a new and sustainable prosperity. Unlike Taiwan, the US voted against its tomorrow and instead chose its yesterday.
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has for some time trumpeted that the US’ era has come to an end and China’s has begun.
From Taiwan, it does not look like that. It is Taiwan, not China, that is eclipsing the US. Consider this: All the policies put forward by Sanders and rejected by US voters as too impractical and too pricey are already firmly in place in Taiwan and have been successful for some time.
Day in and day out I see the effect and it is good all around.
None of this will happen in the US any time soon, thanks to presumptive Democratic US presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton and her establishment cohorts. Expect instead the same old military adventurism to go on as before. All this machismo in the name of “America’s first female president.”
Well, Taiwan already has a female president and instead of getting elected because she was a woman she got elected because she was the best candidate for the job.
She promises to carry Taiwan forward beyond what the US turned its back on, which Taiwan already has, to a future that might have to be invented here and in other similarly smaller and enlightened nations.
This future promises to breach the socialism/capitalism divide that so terrifies US voters, draw out the best features of each system, and open the way for democratic innovations that can only now be envisioned, perhaps in this very island nation.
The unfortunate PRC stands to be foiled again. The way Beijing envisions it, it is a matter of their big ferocious dinosaur empire replacing the US’ waning Tyrannosaur power.
However, I see evidence all around me in remarkable little Taiwan, and I saw it as well as in Denmark, Finland and Sweden, where I have traveled in recent years, that small forward-thinking nations are a new and superior breed that has come into being.
It is clear that just as diminutive mammals prevailed in the end over the monster reptiles of the past, so enlightened little nations like Taiwan will take the torch of world leadership from a fatigued and frightened backward-looking US, as a disappointed wannabe China looks on.
William Stimson is an American who lives and writes in central Taiwan.
Denmark has consistently defended Greenland in light of US President Donald Trump’s interests and has provided unwavering support to Ukraine during its war with Russia. Denmark can be proud of its clear support for peoples’ democratic right to determine their own future. However, this democratic ideal completely falls apart when it comes to Taiwan — and it raises important questions about Denmark’s commitment to supporting democracies. Taiwan lives under daily military threats from China, which seeks to take over Taiwan, by force if necessary — an annexation that only a very small minority in Taiwan supports. Denmark has given China a
Speaking at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on May 13, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that democracies must remain united and that “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism.” Earlier that day, Tsai had met with a group of Danish parliamentarians led by Danish Parliament Speaker Pia Kjaersgaard, who has visited Taiwan many times, most recently in November last year, when she met with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office. Kjaersgaard had told Lai: “I can assure you that ... you can count on us. You can count on our support
Many local news media over the past week have reported on Internet personality Holger Chen’s (陳之漢) first visit to China between Tuesday last week and yesterday, as remarks he made during a live stream have sparked wide discussions and strong criticism across the Taiwan Strait. Chen, better known as Kuan Chang (館長), is a former gang member turned fitness celebrity and businessman. He is known for his live streams, which are full of foul-mouthed and hypermasculine commentary. He had previously spoken out against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and criticized Taiwanese who “enjoy the freedom in Taiwan, but want China’s money”
Last month, two major diplomatic events unfolded in Southeast Asia that suggested subtle shifts in the region’s strategic landscape. The 46th ASEAN Summit and the inaugural ASEAN-Gulf-Cooperation Council (GCC)-China Trilateral Summit in Kuala Lumpur coincided with French President Emmanuel Macron’s high-profile visits to Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore. Together, they highlighted ASEAN’s maturing global posture, deepening regional integration and China’s intensifying efforts to recalibrate its economic diplomacy amid uncertainties posed by the US. The ASEAN summit took place amid rising protectionist policies from the US, notably sweeping tariffs on goods from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, with duties as high as 49 percent.
RSS