Stop using ‘Chinese Taipei’
If China hates to be called “Shina” by two newly elected lawmakers in Hong Kong, why has China imposed the equally derogative name “Chinese Taipei” upon Taiwan in the WHO, APEC and International Olympic Committee (IOC)?
No place in China has a name preceded with “Chinese;” a place preceded with “Chinese” must be non-Chinese. Other names like “Taiwan, China” and “one China” also imposed by China are as distasteful as “Chinese Taipei.”
How did China feel when China was once called “Taiwanese Beijing” in IOC Games this year?
Taiwanese do not like this falsified name either, even though Taiwanese have contributed a great deal like manpower, technology and investment in developing China into the world’s second-largest economy.
The US protested strongly against Russia’s intention to install three missiles in Cuba in the 1960s. China claims Taiwan as its territory, but has deployed as many as 1,600 missiles aimed at Taiwan. The fact that Chinese missiles aim at “Chinese Taipei” is insane even by “reasoning with one’s kneecap.”
Taiwanese also have the feeling of “feeding rats to bite hemp bags” after they have helped China technically and economically.
Freedom of speech and press is usually improved with a growing economy, but China caused the Tiananmen Incident, suppressed localization movements, kidnapped bookstore owners and tore up Webster’s dictionary pages describing Taiwan. These were virtually carbon copy actions of what the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) did in Taiwan decades ago.
Beijing should not literally interpret that the South China Sea and the East China Sea belong to China. A civilized, peaceful country will never build artificial islands for military use to block marine passage and to create international tensions.
Chinese philosopher Confucius (孔子) said: “Don’t do unto others what you don’t want others to do unto you.”
As a friendly step, the whole world, including China, should stop calling Taiwan “Chinese Taipei.”
Charles Hong
Columbus, Ohio
Independent in all but name
Pragmatically, Taiwan does not need to declare independence.
I an not ethnically Taiwanese nor do I have a Republic of China passport, but I will use the word “we.” If we declare independence and China invades, then people will die. The question is how many? Even if we eventually win a war with China, people will die.
The small country of Vietnam defeated the large US, the mightiest country in the world, but 10 percent of Vietnamese, more than 2 million people, died. And so much of Vietnam’s land was destroyed that they could not grow enough rice to feed themselves. And the war lasted 20 years, an entire generation.
If we fight China, even if we eventually win, 10 percent of us might die, also more than 2 million people, and we might fight for 20 years, an entire generation. If we do not declare independence and maintain the “status quo,” then things will remain the same.
We are already independent in all but name. We have our own military and our own government that we elect in free, fair and democratic elections. We have less violent crime than the US or France. We have less poverty than Japan, South Korea, the US or France. Japan has a higher suicide rate than Taiwan.
Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. South Korea has the highest. South Korea also has the highest alcoholism rate in the world.
Of course, we have our problems. And we are not officially an independent country. But we are not a bad place to live.
Andres Chang
Taipei
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