China has effectively “lost Taiwan,” a researcher told a conference in Washington on Wednesday.
“Willing, peaceful, unification is out of the question — certainly in the near term and most likely in the medium term as well,” said Michael Mazza, a research fellow in foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
He said there was little interest in Taiwan for a “one country two-systems” arrangement and that for the young Taiwanese the idea that China and Taiwan were part of “one China” was “increasingly an anachronism.”
Addressing a Heritage Foundation conference on “Taiwan in international organizations” Mazza said that the more Taiwan regularly interacts with other countries the more other countries are likely to care about Taiwan’s fate.
“The more that others care about Taiwan the more they will reject the Chinese position that Taiwan affairs are internal affairs,” he said.
Mazza said that a wave of international opinion would not change Beijing’s approach to Taiwan, but combined with Taiwan’s defense capability, the US deterrent, and Taiwan’s deep economic ties to the rest of the world, China might find its options “somewhat more constrained.”
Former managing director of the American Institute in Taiwan Barbara Schrage said it was too early to predict how Beijing would react to Taiwan’s efforts to maintain and increase its international space following the victory of the Democratic Progressive Party in this year’s elections.
“I am cautiously optimistic that Taiwan will be able to maintain its current international space so long as it does nothing to openly challenge the PRC [People’s Republic of China] on this issue. Expanding its international space is likely to be much more difficult, but it is certainly within the realms of possibility,” she said.
Schrage urged Taiwan to seek the support of other countries for its participation in international organizations and clearly demonstrate that it is a responsible member of the international community.
She said that Taiwan should avoid strictly political objectives such as controversial battles for full membership of the UN and its affiliated organizations, adding such contests “aggravate Beijing and stand no chance of success.”
She said the US should develop strategies and tactics to assist Taiwan to achieve its priorities including the development of flexible and imaginative approaches.
“The administration should quietly but actively engage like-minded countries to support initiatives and tactics aimed at achieving broader participation in the international community,” Schrage said.
Center for Strategic and International Studies China Power Project director Bonnie Glaser said the international community was frequently deprived of Taiwan’s “vast experience and knowledge” on a range of issues.
“By not including Taiwan in international regimes particularly those that govern issues like civil aviation safety, nuclear security, non-proliferation and police cooperation, the world is left with a missing link in what would otherwise be an integrated fight,” she said.
Glaser said that on virtually a weekly basis there was an incident in which Taiwanese were blocked from joining a meeting somewhere in the world.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
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