Many Taiwanese were indignant when a group of former military officers in November last year attended an event in Beijing, where they listened to a policy address by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in which he warned against Taiwanese “separatism.”
The group was made up of seven retired generals, 12 former lieutenant generals and 18 retired major generals. The group were seen standing at attention and singing the People’s Republic of China’s national anthem along with Chinese political and military officials. The Veterans Affairs Council at the time reminded retired military personnel that they should not attend official events held by the Chinese government, while Premier Lin Chuan (林全) threatened to cancel the pensions of retired civil servants and military personnel who participate in political activities in China.
However, just how determined the Cabinet is to curb such conduct among military personnel remains to be seen.
Media reports regarding proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) are telling. Last week, reports said that the Executive Yuan was considering fining members of the group between NT$10,000 and NT$50,000 each, but an Executive Yuan official said that this was only one example of the punishment the Cabinet was considering.
The Executive Yuan yesterday proposed a fine of between NT$10,000 and NT$50,000 (US$318 and US$1,591) for retired military personnel who do not apply for permission to visit China and a fine of NT$200,000 to NT$2 million for those who “engage in Chinese Communist Party political events and behave in ways that damage our national dignity,” rather than cuts to pensions or other retirement benefits, media reports said.
Although these reports were denied by Executive Yuan spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇), who said the amendments are among various proposals being discussed, the scale of possible punitive measures are indicative of the Cabinet’s seemingly lenient stance on the matter.
While a fine of up to NT$2 million might sound like a lot to average Taiwanese, such an amount is disproportionate to how much classified information military personnel have access to during their careers. The fines are hardly a deterrent for those who are eager to take part in political activities in China and shake hands with Chinese Communist Party officials; if anything, a fine of NT$2 million might play into the hands of Beijing, which would certainly be willing to pay a fine as a “favor” to an informant.
How is the government to reinforce military ethics and loyalty when such punitive measures make light of conduct by retired military officials in China?
A Taiwan Thinktank survey last month found that 73.8 percent of respondents think it is inappropriate for former military officials to engage in political activities in China, while 73.9 percent said they support the establishment of regulations for retired military officials visiting China.
The Cabinet is certainly unfit to trumpet the importance of national security if its proposed amendments will let retired military officials who engage in inappropriate events in China off the hook so easily. Hopefully the Cabinet does not fall short of public expectations.
On May 7, 1971, Henry Kissinger planned his first, ultra-secret mission to China and pondered whether it would be better to meet his Chinese interlocutors “in Pakistan where the Pakistanis would tape the meeting — or in China where the Chinese would do the taping.” After a flicker of thought, he decided to have the Chinese do all the tape recording, translating and transcribing. Fortuitously, historians have several thousand pages of verbatim texts of Dr. Kissinger’s negotiations with his Chinese counterparts. Paradoxically, behind the scenes, Chinese stenographers prepared verbatim English language typescripts faster than they could translate and type them
More than 30 years ago when I immigrated to the US, applied for citizenship and took the 100-question civics test, the one part of the naturalization process that left the deepest impression on me was one question on the N-400 form, which asked: “Have you ever been a member of, involved in or in any way associated with any communist or totalitarian party anywhere in the world?” Answering “yes” could lead to the rejection of your application. Some people might try their luck and lie, but if exposed, the consequences could be much worse — a person could be fined,
Xiaomi Corp founder Lei Jun (雷軍) on May 22 made a high-profile announcement, giving online viewers a sneak peek at the company’s first 3-nanometer mobile processor — the Xring O1 chip — and saying it is a breakthrough in China’s chip design history. Although Xiaomi might be capable of designing chips, it lacks the ability to manufacture them. No matter how beautifully planned the blueprints are, if they cannot be mass-produced, they are nothing more than drawings on paper. The truth is that China’s chipmaking efforts are still heavily reliant on the free world — particularly on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing
On May 13, the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment to Article 6 of the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法) that would extend the life of nuclear reactors from 40 to 60 years, thereby providing a legal basis for the extension or reactivation of nuclear power plants. On May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislators used their numerical advantage to pass the TPP caucus’ proposal for a public referendum that would determine whether the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant should resume operations, provided it is deemed safe by the authorities. The Central Election Commission (CEC) has
RSS