In view of Taiwan’s predicament on the diplomatic front, the constant wrangling among domestic politicians, the government’s apparent inability to protect taxpayers’ interests, and a slew of vacillating policies and broken promises, it can at times be difficult to view the nation’s future optimistically.
Depressing reports about China’s incessant malicious moves to reduce the nation’s global presence and the promise of judicial reform, which appears to be moving at a snail’s pace, to name just two issues, have made Taiwanese cynical about the government’s pledges to improve the nation and to pessimistically wonder where the country is headed.
Frustrating news about Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co, which defaulted on a NT$20.5 billion (US$677.1 million) syndicated loan, and allegations of questionable loans of by state-run Mega Financial Holding Co to Chien Chi Asset Management Co, have the public doubting the government’s resolve to get to the bottom of suspected irregularities at large companies.
Fortunately, Taiwanese are taking action, with or without the government’s help.
Hualien native Huang Chun-tang (黃群棠) single-handedly cultivated fields of flowers and organized music festivals in hopes of promoting tourism in his hometown.
Eager to revitalize and beautify the town, he paid for sunflower seeds and distributed them to local residents and public schools “to create and sustain a themed scenic attraction to have a vibrant tourism industry.”
Volunteers, undaunted by setbacks caused by Chinese pressure, are willingly sacrificing their weekends to stand on the streets all around Taiwan and petition for Taiwan’s national team to take part in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics as “Taiwan” instead of “Chinese Taipei.”
These people’s efforts, not to mention that of a group of Japanese who initiated the campaign, puts the Democratic Progressive Party administration to shame.
During this year’s Taipei Summer Universiade, Taiwanese athletes such as world No. 1 women’s singles badminton player Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) and many more quietly and diligently made the nation proud and helped put Taiwan on the map.
All the examples suggest that while the nation’s future may look bleak at times — with China’s incessant obstruction of Taiwan internationally and the government seemingly at its wits’ end in dealing with that country, along with grievances about the Cabinet dragging its feet on reforms — there is still hope.
Taiwanese people’s willpower, passion and diligence have helped them inject doses of confidence and optimism.
There are many more kind and diligent souls in Taiwan who are unselfish and ready to take matters into their own hands in hopes of polishing the nation’s name and advancing the welfare of the nation’s people.
One can only hope politicians and the government will start to do their fair share to improve the nation.
Chinese agents often target Taiwanese officials who are motivated by financial gain rather than ideology, while people who are found guilty of spying face lenient punishments in Taiwan, a researcher said on Tuesday. While the law says that foreign agents can be sentenced to death, people who are convicted of spying for Beijing often serve less than nine months in prison because Taiwan does not formally recognize China as a foreign nation, Institute for National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said. Many officials and military personnel sell information to China believing it to be of little value, unaware that
Before 1945, the most widely spoken language in Taiwan was Tai-gi (also known as Taiwanese, Taiwanese Hokkien or Hoklo). However, due to almost a century of language repression policies, many Taiwanese believe that Tai-gi is at risk of disappearing. To understand this crisis, I interviewed academics and activists about Taiwan’s history of language repression, the major challenges of revitalizing Tai-gi and their policy recommendations. Although Taiwanese were pressured to speak Japanese when Taiwan became a Japanese colony in 1895, most managed to keep their heritage languages alive in their homes. However, starting in 1949, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) enacted martial law
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