President-elect Biden and his team soon will confront a raging pandemic, a severe economic crisis, demands for progress in addressing racial injustices, intensifying climate-induced crises, and strained relations with allies and partners in many parts of the world. They will be oriented to view China as America’s greatest geostrategic challenge, but not the most immediate threat to the health and prosperity of the American people. Amidst this daunting inheritance, US-Taiwan relations will stand out as a bright spot, an example of progress that should be sustained. There are strong reasons for optimism about the continued development of US-Taiwan relations in the coming years. Given my vantage from Washington, D.C., I will focus on the American perspective. First, there is deeply rooted bipartisan support in the United States for Taiwan. President Tsai (蔡英文) and her administration have nurtured this support through persistent engagement with leaders and leading thinkers on both sides of the political aisle, including the president-elect. Tsai’s prudent, moderate, predictable approach to cross-Strait issues has earned the confidence of Washington. Biden publicly congratulated Tsai on her re-election in January and later praised Taiwan’s response to COVID-19. Tsai was among the first world leaders to congratulate Biden following his victory. Second, the Biden team will understand the importance of Taiwan’s success for America’s strategy in Asia. Biden has written that the United States will “stand with friends and allies” in Asia, including by “deepening our ties with Taiwan, a leading democracy, major economy, technology powerhouse — and a shining example of how an open society can effectively contain COVID-19.” The incoming team recognizes that Beijing’s objective is to incorporate Taiwan within the PRC system under the one-country, two-systems model. They understand the need for vigilance following Beijing’s actions toward Hong Kong. Michele Flournoy, a leading contender to become Biden’s Secretary of Defense, has written
Beijing’s imposition of the Hong Kong National Security Law and a number of other democratic and human rights issues continue to strain relations between the UK and China. The tense situation has significantly decreased the likelihood of British Royal Navy ships being able to continue their practice of docking in Hong Kong’s harbor for resupply — a not altogether unpredictable development. In a Nov. 19 online speech to parliament, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier would next year lead a British and allied task group to the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean and East Asia. Johnson also said that the task group could take part in joint exercises with US and Japanese forces, as well as freedom of navigation operations. The unstated intention is clearly to challenge China’s excessive sovereignty claims in the region. Observers also believe the deployment is intended to send a message to Beijing following the increasing political crackdown on Hong Kong and the imposition of the new national security legislation. The UK government views these actions as breaches of the Sino-British Joint Declaration that came into force in 1997 and included guarantees that Hong Kong’s independent political and economic system would remain unchanged for 50 years. Many British politicians have criticized Beijing’s actions, and the UK government has said it would provide a path toward UK citizenship for the almost 3 million Hong Kongers eligible to apply for a British National Overseas passport. According to the Japanese Web site Nikkei Asia, the UK government’s decision to dispatch a carrier group task force to East Asia might be intended to send a powerful message to Beijing about the above issues. The HMS Queen Elizabeth is the Royal Navy’s largest warship and has the capacity to carry 40 aircraft, and its hydraulic lifts can send four aircraft up from
I was watching the TV news over supper a few days ago when I saw Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members marching in a demonstration, holding a banner that proclaimed: “Oppose the party state.” The sight of such a slogan from the KMT made me burst out laughing and spray rice all over the table. To see this political organization, which for so long did not distinguish between party and state or between the national treasury and its own coffers, now wanting to “oppose the party state” was as absurd as seeing brothelkeepers opposing the sex trade or die-hard gamblers saying “no” to betting. Does the KMT really “oppose the party state”? If so, then why does it resist when the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee tells it to give the “party assets” that it embezzled from the state back to the national treasury? If the KMT really “opposes the party state,” then it should also answer the following questions: Can we please stop using the KMT party anthem as a “national anthem” and designate a real national anthem in its place? Can we replace the “national emblem,” which is really an extension of the KMT’s party emblem, with a new one, to avoid confusion between the two nearly identical symbols? Can we take the KMT’s “blue sky and white sun” party flag out of the “blue sky, white sun and red earth” “national flag” and replace it with a national flag that does not fail to distinguish between party and state? Could we stop singing about “the army established at Whampoa” in the army anthem? The army that was established at Whampoa [Huangpu District (黃埔) of Guangzhou in China’s Guangdong Province] was the KMT’s army, not a national army. As for the navy anthem’s call to “win glory for the blue sky and white sun flag,” can that
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As Hong Kong battles a new wave of COVID-19 infections with yet another round of social restrictions, a sense of fatigue with the confusing and inconsistent nature of the territory’s pandemic response is setting in among business owners and residents. Although the Asian financial center has thus far been relatively unscathed — total COVID-19 cases amounting to just 81 cases per 100,000 people out of a densely packed 7 million population — Hong Kong has encountered more waves than most other places and is entering its fourth round of stop-start restrictions. “Hong Kong has undoubtedly been lucky with the pandemic so far. What has been missing is a clear, public road map as to how and when restrictions will be implemented and when the rules will be relaxed,” said Nicholas Thomas, an associate professor at the City University of Hong Kong. COVID-19 has been an unpredictable and volatile foe, warranting nimble and quick-changing reaction from governments. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic approaches its first anniversary, Hong Kong residents and business owners are increasingly looking to the structured response systems in place in regional neighbors like Singapore, South Korea and New Zealand in envy. The former British colony’s comparatively erratic response is deepening the crisis in an economy already on its knees from months of restive street protests followed by the pandemic, they say. The sharp rise in new local cases in the past two weeks is linked to social dancing venues, yet officials have announced a closure of bars, karaoke rooms and massage parlors. Like in previous rounds, the restrictions are imposed for a week or two at a time, leaving business owners in a state of suspended animation and unable to plan long term. “At the moment, I’m waiting for Friday afternoon to see if they’re closing more classrooms,” said Stephanie Holding, a mother of
The dogged opposition of Poland and Hungary to the EU’s budget and recovery package has turned into a dangerous standoff with nations in deep recession and dire need of help to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. Unless these two holdouts drop their veto on the deal within days, France warned of severe and potentially existential disruption to the 27-nation bloc still coping with Brexit. The alarm came at a meeting of EU envoys in Brussels on Friday, when Polish and Hungarian ambassadors dug in. They object to the disbursement of 1.8 trillion euros (US$2.2 trillion) being tied to democratic standards they are accused of falling short of. The European Commission’s representative said that if no breakthrough is reached by Monday next week, then the EU would have to operate via monthly emergency budgets as of the start of next year. That would mean financial paralysis and the progressive suspension of all but essential spending. “I reiterated that Poland is prepared to veto the new budget unless the solution that is good for the whole EU, and not just some of its members, is found,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on Facebook after speaking with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The defiant comments came as the French ambassador in the non-public meeting was warning that the quarrel could signal a “fundamental rupture,” which raises questions about the very future of the EU, according to two diplomats present in the conversation. The spat over the strings attached to the pot of EU funds has degenerated into a game of chicken between two ideologically committed sides. It points to a growing divide between the wealthier west and some nations in the formerly communist east that were meant to find common cause under one European identity, but instead are at odds over the nature of democracy. The nationalist government of
In a year when Taiwan has received so much praise for its handling of the COVID-19 outbreak and its donations to other nations as they deal with the pandemic, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers on Friday once again made the nation a byword for ludicrousness with their repulsive offal-throwing display on the floor of the Legislative Yuan. Video clips have circled the globe for more than two decades as lawmakers from both sides of the blue-green divide have engaged in fisticuffs, throwing punches, water, lunchboxes and chairs at each other — but Friday’s spectacle struck an all-time low. The ultimately unsuccessful effort to abort Premier Su Tseng-chang’s (蘇貞昌) policy report to the legislature on the decision to allow imports of controversial pig and beef products — on his 13th attempt since the middle of September — made a mockery of the KMT’s claims that its antics were only a bid to protect the public’s health. They will certainly provide footage to use in the 2022 local elections. The KMT caucus said it is demanding complete factory inspections and clear labeling on the controversial imports, even though the government has said — and Su reiterated on Friday — that it plans to require on-site inspections at US meat factories and clear labeling of products. At a post-fracas news conference, after his caucus colleagues made their mealy-mouthed apologies for dumping and throwing pig intestines around the legislative chamber, KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) plaintively asked if public health was not in the nation’s interest. Of course it is, but what is equally in the nation’s interest is strict enforcement of regulations. This is a much bigger problem, and not just when it comes to food imports. Time and again this nation has experienced tragedies and loss of life due to lax regulatory enforcement of construction, environmental, labor safety and
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will not soon forget Nov. 24, 2018, the day they took a beating in the nine-in-one elections. On Tuesday last week, two years on, Tsai marked the occasion on Facebook by reminding her party colleagues that “in democratic societies it is folly to assume that you have the unconditional support of the electorate.” Tsai’s post did not mention the 10 referendums bundled with the elections. The referendum topics — including pollution, nuclear power, same-sex marriage, gender equality in education and Japanese food imports from five prefectures following the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster — served as a rallying call for the pan-blue camp. These issues fed fear and hatred, and in the end coalesced into a “Han wave” of support for former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜). Tsai was certainly right to talk of the folly of assuming the support of the electorate in democratic societies, and the pan-blue camp’s use of populist support and how it whipped it up to its advantage is sure to be a lesson she will never forget. The pan-blue camp has not forgotten. Two months ago the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) submitted two referendum proposals to the Central Election Commission (CEC). The first, submitted by KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), proposed to ask voters if they agree that referendums should be held on the same day as nationwide elections, if a nationwide election is scheduled to be held one to six months after the proposal is approved. The second, submitted by KMT caucus whip Lin Wei-chou (林為洲), proposed to ask voters if they agree that the government should impose a complete ban on the importation of meat, offal and related products from pigs fed leanness-enhancing agents, including ractopamine and other beta agonists. The party was not impressed when the
On the evening of Nov. 17, the same day as the memorial service for air force Captain Chu Kuan-meng (朱冠甍), who died on Oct. 29 when his F-5E jet crashed into the sea, an F-16 jet disappeared from radar during a nighttime training exercise and the pilot, Colonel Chiang Cheng-chih (蔣正志), went missing. This was the ninth F-16 crash since the fleet was formed 23 years ago and the fourth military plane crash this year. I am not an expert on the air force, but, based on my experience in a vehicle and weapons maintenance unit during my military service and 30 years of experience in mechanical manufacturing since my discharge, I am forwarding some thoughts here. Taiwan’s armed forces have always had two blind spots when it comes to logistics maintenance: First, due to confidentiality requirements and the arms sourcing process, it is a closed system. In other words, it uses a mentorship system, where military technicians mentor those new to the service, and senior officers mentor junior officers. Second, after a military plane crashes, the standard procedure is to ground the entire fleet, to conduct an inspection, and then to resume flights. The older an aircraft is, the higher its risk of crashing — but the military and some others continue to expound that there is no clear correlation between aircraft age and crashes. Unfortunately, plane crashes have become more frequent. Apart from the pilot factor, warranty repairs and quality controls have a common downfall: The longer aircraft mechanics are on the job, the more likely key things are neglected. The military should have civilian professionals join the inspection of regular and grounded flights, and stay at airbases for six months to one year, when necessary, to evaluate where improvement is needed. The global automotive industry recognizes that Toyota Motor Corp has the highest reliability; its
KMT’s dubious intentions Media have reported that due to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators blocking Premier Su Tseng-chang’s (蘇貞昌) report at the legislature, the ongoing legislative session has been paralyzed a dozen times. Instead of performing his duties at the Legislative Yuan, KMT Legislator Charles Chen (陳以信) staged a protest outside the Presidential Office Building. On the eve of this year’s “Autumn Struggle” street demonstration on Sunday last week, KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) proposed a debate with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) over her administration’s decision to allow the import of US pork containing residues of ractopamine. Chiang’s proposal was rather odd: He and his colleagues can question the policy at the Legislative Yuan, and they can demand clear labeling of the meat products by proposing legislation mandating it. Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers would never dare block complementary measures to the legislation. If the legislature does not propose complimentary measures, the government will on Jan. 1 lift the ban on the import of US pork containing ractopamine in accordance with the issued administrative order. KMT lawmakers act like salary thieves as they neglect to perform their duties, making people wonder what exactly Chiang’s political intentions are. Are they simply ignoring their duties while continuing to receive their paychecks, or are they using this as an opportunity to carry out a political struggle to increase the KMT’s media exposure? Chen Hung-meng Kaohsiung
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Pakistan’s Christian transgender people, often mocked, abused and bullied, say they have found peace and solace in a church of their own. Shunned by other churches, they can raise their voices high there. During a recent service, transgender women, flowing scarves loose over their long hair, conducted Bible readings and raucously sang hymns, accompanied by the rhythms of a drum played by a transgender elder in the church. The church, called the First Church of Eunuchs, is the only one for transgender Christians in Pakistan. “Eunuch” is a term often used for transgender women in South Asia, although some consider it derogatory. The church’s pastor and cofounder, Ghazala Shafique, said that she chose the name to make a point, citing at length verses from the Bible saying that eunuchs are favored by God. In Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, on the Arabian Sea coast, it sits in the shadow of towering brownstone cathedral, where the congregation says they do not feel welcome. “People looked at us with eyes that are laughing at us,” said Nena Soutrey, a transgender woman whose life has been a tragedy of beatings, bullying and abuse. ”No one wants to sit near us and some even say we are an abomination, but we’re not. We are humans. We are people. What is wrong with us? This is who we are,” she said, a bright red scarf over her shoulders. ABUSE DESPITE RECOGNITION Transgender women and men of all faiths are often publicly bullied and humiliated or even face violence in deeply conservative Pakistan, although the government has officially recognized them as a third gender. Often disowned by their families, they resort to begging and work as wedding dancers. They often are sexually abused and end up as sex workers. Transgender Christians are a minority within a minority in the overwhelmingly Muslim country. Christians and other
At the tail end of the Cold War, on the westernmost tip of the Soviet Union, Valdis Dombrovskis sat in his home in Riga and tried to tune in to Voice of America. The station jumped all over the radio dial as broadcasters played cat and mouse with the Soviet censors trying to jam their signal, but the young man who would grow up to become the EU’s trade chief kept chasing it. He knew the propaganda. He wanted to hear what the US had to say for itself. “Since kindergarten we were indoctrinated with all this communist stuff, and the US was kind of the arch evil hegemon of imperialists,” said Dombrovskis, a former Latvian prime minister. “Of course in everyday life, when you were growing up, this perception was changing.” It is a sign of just how fast the arc of history can bend that Dombrovskis has become the EU’s go-to person for tackling its thorniest problems. Now as European commissioner for trade, he finds himself at the sharp end of EU’s efforts to rebuild the western alliance that won the Cold War, dominated the world and was tipped into crisis by the US President Donald Trump. “It is important to maintain and develop this strategic partnership,” Dombrovskis said. “It’s important also internationally to get the US back to multilateralism.” In Brussels, Dombrovskis is known for his deadpan, almost robotic delivery. He sticks to the script and focuses on detail, often from behind a thick folder of documents. A meme making the rounds in the EU’s de facto capital supposedly shows Dombrovskis in 16 different emotional states — the same photo is used for all of them, his usual neutral expression behind rimless glasses. Officials who have worked with him — and those who have sat opposite him in negotiations — say that lack of
A source in the Executive Yuan on Tuesday said that the US’ aim in including Taiwan in its strategy for the Indo-Pacific region was to contain Chinese expansionism, and that mutual goals in the region were a driving force behind cooperation between the nations on infrastructure projects in developing countries. Taiwanese policymakers for the past several weeks have been weighing how a change in the US administration would affect Taipei’s ties with Washington, particularly in terms of US support in the face of increasing Chinese aggression. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has said that the nation’s US policy would remain unchanged, and academics have argued that the US’ Taiwan policies would also likely remain the same, given a high degree of support for Taiwan across both of the major US political parties. Adding weight to those claims, Taiwan and the US on Friday last week held their first Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue, and afterward signed a five-year memorandum of understanding, pledging to establish teams to tackle issues including infrastructure and energy. China has in the past few years stepped up its investments in Southeast Asia and Oceania to influence policy there, and to drive out Taiwan and the US. An article published on Aug. 4 by what was then the Nikkei Asian Review argued that the threat from Chinese investment of about US$10 billion annually in the region is minimal, as it is still less than half of Japan’s US$24 billion per year. A report published on Sept. 28 by pri.org said a Belt and Road Initiative project had “forced Cambodians from their land and devastated the environment, hurting the livelihoods of local communities, all under the guise of converting Cambodia into a regional logistics hub and tourist destination” for China. There have also been reports of Beijing capitalizing on the inability of nations such as Sri
The National Health Insurance (NHI) system has been in deficit for four consecutive years. The shortfall is expected to reach NT$67.6 billion (US$2.35 billion) by the end of this year, while the reserve fund would last for less than two months, NHI Committee data showed. By the end of next year, the deficit is forecast to reach NT$77.1 billion, while the reserve fund would cover less than the statutory minimum of one month. NHI premium rates should be adjusted based on the judgements of actuaries, not on the notion that lower premiums are simply better. Short-term savings in the long term jeopardize the quality of healthcare and fail to meet the public’s needs. Above all, the government must beware the following myths. The first myth is that the government should avoid adjusting premiums, and if they must be changed, only raise them enough to meet the one-month statutory minimum. This is a malicious idea. If premiums were only increased enough to reach the minimum threshold, there might be less of a public backlash, but premiums would have to be adjusted again in less than two years. By that time, elections would be approaching, so the NHI would no doubt be treated as a pawn on a political chessboard. However, history shows that any increase in NHI premiums usually leads to the minister of health and welfare having to step down. This kind of manipulation would have little to no influence on the outcome of an election. The second myth is that increasing NHI premiums amid the COVID-19 pandemic would not only increase the burden on the public, but also put economic pressure on employers. It would be strange for members of the NHI Committee to say that premiums should not be increased. The purpose of setting premiums is for the sake of the public’s health, not to save money
Devising an effective strategy to compete, cooperate and coexist with China would be one of US president-elect Joe Biden’s toughest foreign-policy challenges. Over the next two months, Sino-US relations are almost certain to worsen. On the eve of the election, US President Donald Trump openly blamed China for the COVID-19 pandemic that was going to doom his chances for a second term and made thinly veiled threats. Now that he is about to exit the White House, Trump will likely approve more punitive measures to vent his anger and to bind the hands of Biden’s incoming administration. Even if China refrains from responding in kind to Trump’s parting shots, some of which might be too painful or humiliating for it to swallow, the US-China relationship that Biden inherits could be damaged beyond repair. Given the strong antipathy toward China among much of the US political establishment and the public alike, Biden is unlikely to change the fundamental tenets of Trump’s China policy. China would remain the US’ foremost geopolitical adversary, and containing its rise would be the organizing principle of US foreign policy for the foreseeable future. However, the Biden administration’s China policy would also differ substantially from Trump’s zero-sum “America First” approach. Biden’s strategic calculation is that the Sino-US conflict would be a decades-long marathon whose outcome will depend first and foremost on whether the US can sustain and strengthen its competitive advantages: economic dynamism, technological innovation and ideological appeal. Besides rallying traditional US allies, Biden would focus on strengthening the US at home by addressing its dilapidated infrastructure, inadequate base of human capital, and underfunded research and development. Moreover, whereas the Trump administration sees no room for cooperation with China, the Biden administration would regard mutually beneficial collaboration on issues such as climate change, pandemics and nuclear nonproliferation as both desirable and essential. Biden’s focus on
Several university students have committed suicide, including students at top public universities, raising concern among education authorities regarding campus safety, and students’ mental and physical health. A university is where people of different generations meet and learn. Some of the young people who have just graduated from high school might be unable to effectively set goals, be unsure whether they like their majors and perhaps also be a little confused about what the future will hold. They often need time to adapt while they search for direction. During that time, it is crucial that they have support from teachers and friends. Due to the accessibility of smartphones, real human interaction has continued to decline, posing a challenge to society. However, people should not only pay attention to the pressure on students, but also the pressure on lecturers, which has surged in the past few years. Generally speaking, university professors and regular lecturers have three major responsibilities: research, teaching and service. Among these duties, research accounts for the largest proportion, and it is key to a lecturer’s promotion and contract renewal. Unfortunately, under the Ministry of Education’s direction in the past few years, almost all schools, including vocational-oriented science and technology colleges and universities, have been focusing on research results. Faced with an accumulative point system, lecturers are constantly busy, as they need to submit papers to core journals and publish books to be able to qualify for a promotion. In addition, they must attend international conferences to gain more opportunities for collaboration. In an atmosphere that values research over teaching, lecturers and professors are usually too busy to answer students’ questions, let alone to try to understand the difficulties in their learning or interpersonal relationships. In July, the ministry proposed a draft amendment to the Regulations Governing Accreditation of Teacher Qualifications at Junior Colleges and Institutions of Higher
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In high public office, both men lived and died at the word of the world’s most influential media mogul, Rupert Murdoch, but now two former Australian prime ministers are at the vanguard of a campaign to redress the balance of power. It is a movement that Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull, the respective former Labor and Liberal leaders of Australia, hope will go on to undermine all of Murdoch’s international enterprises. The two former leaders were once rivals, but are to appear as joint star witnesses at an Australian parliamentary inquiry into Murdoch’s dominance of the Australian political debate. Both are to argue that News Corp Australia has become the propaganda arm of the right-wing Liberal government. Some have hailed the inquiry as the beginning of a worldwide calling-to-account for the 89-year-old Murdoch, the Australian-born powerbroker who has also shaped British politics for the past 40 years, with his stable of right-leaning newspaper titles, and who has until recently promoted and supported US President Donald Trump’s administration through his US television channel, Fox News. UNPRECEDENTED MOVE “This could be an uncomfortable moment for Murdoch,” veteran Australian investigative reporter and broadcaster David Hardaker said. “We have two ex-prime ministers working together, and that hasn’t happened before. This is already leading to a senate inquiry that could be something similar to the Leveson inquiry in Britain,” he said, referring to the inquiry in to the press led by Brian Leveson, who at the time was lord justice of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales. “Rudd wanted a royal commission, but that was never going to happen because the government would have to approve it and there is a kind of revolving door between Murdoch’s businesses and the Australian government at the moment, with media advisers and consultants going in and out,” Hardaker said. For Hardaker, the crucial element is
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