President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said Taiwan should exercise wisdom when dealing with China, while China should treat Taiwan with benevolence.
Ma, who attended an event organized by a religious group, Yi Guan Dao, in Tainan County yesterday morning, cited a chapter in the writings of Mencius (孟子), a Chinese philosopher, to describe cross-strait ties.
Ma said the best way for two countries to get along was for the smaller country to be smart and flexible in dealing with the bigger country, and for the bigger country to be generous and kind and not to browbeat its smaller counterpart.
“China should practice the principles of benevolence when dealing with Taiwan, and Taiwan should exercise wisdom when working with China,” he said. “Taiwan and China are governed by two separate governments. If the mainland is a big country, then Taiwan is a small country. What Mencius said 2,500 years ago is still applicable today.”
Ma said the core concept of Yi Guan Dao lay in the Chinese culture whose essence was Confucian teaching.
Yi Guan Dao members study the Four Books and the Five Classics, which Ma said helped the readers better understand ancestral wisdom and the knowledge needed to manage a country, society and family.
Ma said “Chinese culture” was not about governing by doing nothing that goes against nature, but about forging ahead without being predatory, or making progress without doing evil.
“Our ancestors did not have modern technology to help them, but they had a set of principles that kept them away from disasters and allowed them to coexist with the environment,” he said.
To read the Four Books and Five Classics was not to learn how to rule a country or the world with Confucian doctrine, Ma said, but to discover what was outdated in them and what was still relevant today in a bid to foster a perspective of the world as a whole.
LOW RISK: Most nations do not extradite people accused of political crimes, and the UN says extradition can only happen if the act is a crime in both countries, an official said China yesterday issued wanted notices for two Taiwanese influencers, accusing them of committing “separatist acts” by criticizing Beijing, amid broadening concerns over China’s state-directed transnational repression. The Quanzhou Public Security Bureau in a notice posted online said police are offering a reward of up to 25,000 yuan (US$3,523) for information that could contribute to the investigation or apprehension of pro-Taiwanese independence YouTuber Wen Tzu-yu (溫子渝),who is known as Pa Chiung (八炯) online, and rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源). Wen and Chen are suspected of spreading content that supported secession from China, slandered Chinese policies that benefit Taiwanese and discrimination against Chinese spouses of
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
PROMOTION: Travelers who want a free stopover must book their flights with designated travel agents, such as Lion Travel, Holiday Tours, Cola Tour and Life Tours Air Canada yesterday said it is offering Taiwanese travelers who are headed to North America free stopovers if they transit though airports in Japan and South Korea. The promotion was launched in response to a potential rise in demand for flights to North America in June and July next year, when the US, Canada and Mexico are scheduled to jointly host the FIFA World Cup, Air Canada said. Air Canada offers services to 13 of the 16 host cities of the tournament’s soccer games, including Toronto and Vancouver; Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey in Mexico; Atlanta, Georgia; Boston; Dallas; Houston;
The US approved the possible sale to Taiwan of fighter jet spare and repair parts for US$330 million, the Pentagon said late yesterday, marking the first such potential transaction since US President Donald Trump took office in January. "The proposed sale will improve the recipient's capability to meet current and future threats by maintaining the operational readiness of the recipient's fleet of F-16, C-130," and other aircraft, the Pentagon said in a statement. Trump previously said that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has told him he would not invade Taiwan while the Republican leader is in office. The announcement of the possible arms
RSS