The Taiwan Thinktank yesterday urged political parties to pay attention to China’s democratic development and refrain from falling into an “economic diplomacy” trap, which it said has replaced human rights with money power.
In a report published yesterday, the think tank said China has launched “global economic diplomacy” in the attempt to expand its global domination. It has increased its investment in the eurozone and hopes to salvage the European economy and has done the same in Africa in a bid to expand its influence on that continent.
Facing China’s “economic diplomacy,” the report said more Western countries are avoiding the issue of human rights, a move that worries international rights groups.
“In the past, the US and European countries attached great importance to freedom, democracy and human rights. They did not mind offending China if necessary,” the report said. “However, since US President Barack Obama took office more than two years ago, Western countries seem to avoid such a sensitive issue.”
While most governments offered strong support for the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s choice of Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) as the peace prize laureate, the report said it was “puzzling” to see many Western countries show a “near cowardice” in dealing with China, adding: “It is regretful to see such political pragmatism in action.”
The think tank’s report came two days after Human Rights Watch, a New York-based watchdog, accused Western governments of “near universal cowardice” in their dealings with China, saying in its World Report 2011 that these countries preferred opaque talks to taking a vocal stand against repression.
The Taiwan Thinktank said it was unprecedented for China to stress in a joint statement with a US leader — as in the statement by Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) in Washington last week — that “there should be no interference in any country’s internal affairs.”
“It is shocking that the US seems to have forsaken its fundamental principle of defending democracy and human rights for the world,” the think tank said.
It noted that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in his New Year address that democratic values are not a monopoly of the West and Taiwan should strengthen its soft power, therefore Ma’s administration should be bold in criticizing China’s poor record on democracy, freedom and human rights when necessary.
Taiwan was bound to suffer if it continues to make concessions to China and falls into Beijing “economic diplomacy” trap, it said.
It said it hoped Ma would turn his words into action this year and speak up for Tibet and Chinese dissidents such as Liu.
In his New Year address, Ma reiterated that Taiwan’s future should be decided by its people.
“The two sides of the Taiwan Strait should not fight over political power, unification or independence, or international space,” he said. “They should be motivating each other to upgrade core values such as freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.”
Additional reporting by staff writer
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
RSS