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.
A gap appears to be emerging between Washington’s foreign policy elites and the broader American public on how the United States should respond to China’s rise. From my vantage working at a think tank in Washington, DC, and through regular travel around the United States, I increasingly experience two distinct discussions. This divergence — between America’s elite hawkishness and public caution — may become one of the least appreciated and most consequential external factors influencing Taiwan’s security environment in the years ahead. Within the American policy community, the dominant view of China has grown unmistakably tough. Many members of Congress, as
The Hong Kong government on Monday gazetted sweeping amendments to the implementation rules of Article 43 of its National Security Law. There was no legislative debate, no public consultation and no transition period. By the time the ink dried on the gazette, the new powers were already in force. This move effectively bypassed Hong Kong’s Legislative Council. The rules were enacted by the Hong Kong chief executive, in conjunction with the Committee for Safeguarding National Security — a body shielded from judicial review and accountable only to Beijing. What is presented as “procedural refinement” is, in substance, a shift away from
Taiwan no longer wants to merely manufacture the chips that power artificial intelligence (AI). It aims to build the software, platforms and services that run on them. Ten major AI infrastructure projects, a national cloud computing center in Tainan, the sovereign language model Trustworthy AI Dialogue Engine, five targeted industry verticals — from precision medicine to smart agriculture — and the goal of ranking among the world’s top five in computing power by 2040: The roadmap from “Silicon Island” to “Smart Island” is drawn. The question is whether the western plains, where population, industry and farmland are concentrated, have the water and
The shifting geopolitical tectonic plates of this year have placed Beijing in a profound strategic dilemma. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) prepares for a high-stakes summit with US President Donald Trump, the traditional power dynamics of the China-Japan-US triangle have been destabilized by the diplomatic success of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Washington. For the Chinese leadership, the anxiety is two-fold: There is a visceral fear of being encircled by a hardened security alliance, and a secondary risk of being left in a vulnerable position by a transactional deal between Washington and Tokyo that might inadvertently empower Japan
RSS