Taiwan needs to do more to sell itself to the world, for example by publicizing its achievements in various fields and calling attention to China’s bullying in international media, former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director William Stanton said.
He made the remark at a forum in Taipei yesterday when asked how Taiwan should respond to China’s threats in Beijing’s bid to becoming a global hegemony.
“I think you need to undertake much more imaginative public relations with the international community versus what is advocated to people in government,” Stanton said at the forum on Taiwan-US-China relations hosted by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Jason Hsu (許毓仁).
Photo courtesy of William Stanton
The government could take out full-page advertisements in major newspapers, such as the New York Times, to remind people of what Taiwan has accomplished, he said.
“Taiwan has moved from poverty to prosperity and from a military dictatorship to one of the strongest democracies in the world in just more than 30 years,” Stanton said.
“You rank fourth globally on the Programme for International Student Assessment,” he said. “You rank higher than the US in press freedom and higher than many European countries in academic freedom. You are also ranked one of the safest places in the world, both in terms of countries and cities.”
However, most people he had spoken with do not recognize how high Taiwan ranks in those fields, he added.
“Remind people of what’s at stake if you become just another part of the People’s Republic of China and you wind up like Hong Kong. Remind people of what you’ve achieved on your own. Make the case for why you are important and why the world should care about you,” Stanton said.
Citing as an example threats of a Chinese boycott against Taiwanese coffee bakery chain 85°C (85度C) because an employee at one of its US branches “asked President Tsai Ing-wen [蔡英文] to sign a pillow,” Stanton said the government should respond to such bullying tactics by running full-page editorials in international media explaining the overtures it has made over the past few years, the offers for reasonable conversations and the responses from China to try to bully Taiwanese.
He also cited China’s pressuring of Taiwanese K-pop idol Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜) in 2016 into issuing an apology for briefly holding up a Republic of China flag on a South Korean variety TV show; its attempt to bar a Taiwanese student from attending a model UN meeting in New York; and Beijing driving away two Fisheries Agency officials at a 2016 UN Food and Agriculture Organization Committee on Fisheries meeting in Rome “because Taiwan is not a country,” saying that all such bullying against Taiwan deserves the attention of the international community.
“There’s many ways in which you can portray yourselves in the positive light you deserve,” Stanton said.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
RSS