Czech Chamber of Deputies Speaker Marketa Pekarova Adamova arrived in Taiwan on Saturday. The visit not only showcases the rising status of Taiwan in the international community, but the support and friendship between Taiwan and the Czech Republic. Adamova quoted a popular phrase during the Prague Spring in 1968: “I guarantee you we are with you now, we will continue to be with you and under any circumstances we are in the same boat together. Because you are with us, so we are with you.” The Prague Spring was a period of liberalization in Czechoslovakia under then-Czechoslovak Communist Party first secretary Alexander Dubcek, who promulgated a reform program promising “socialism with a human face.” To suppress the reforms, the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia, and Dubcek was deposed. At the time, China strongly objected to the invasion, but in 1956, after Hungary declared its departure from the Warsaw Pact, then-Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev faced additional pressure from China to quell the uprising in Budapest. As a student in Beijing at the time, the Chinese government had us sit through frequent political lessons to brainwash us into believing that there was a legitimate cause to send in troops and that the Chinese had an even harder stance than the Soviets. The reason for the two opposing perspectives was simple enough: China was vying with the Soviet Union for the leadership of the Communist International. In 1988, I watched The Unbearable Lightness of Being, a US romantic drama film that was adapted from the novel of the same name by Milan Kundera. Later, Chinese writer Dai Qing (戴晴) sent me a privately published copy of the Chinese translation. As 1987 marked the time when China was at its most open, the need for private publication indicated that China had never acknowledged the Prague Spring movement. In 1998, my wife
I remember how, in the height of summer many years ago and eager for social reform, I took part in a book club organized by the Solidarity of Communication Students, at which I met some leading reformists in the field of communication studies, such as Feng Chien-san (馮建三) and Kuo Li-hsin (郭力昕). These teachers inspired me to take part in a reform movement that called for putting media outlets into the hands of the public and establishing the Taiwan Broadcasting System. We went hiking in the hills with those academic forbears and had long conversations about topics such as Critical Theory. These experiences have shaped my career in media and politics, and I am very grateful to those teachers for having taught me so much. As I recall, the book club members often cited examples from Japan, South Korea, the UK and Europe to call for state resources to be invested in the development of public broadcasting. They called for Taiwan to follow the BBC’s example by bolstering its home-grown film and television culture, promoting public media, and helping Taiwan resist Chinese and Western cultural imperialism. As a former member of the Campaign for Media Reform, from my student days until now, I have throughout the course of my political work been concerned about Taiwan’s policies in the field of communications. Although my words have little influence, I remain mindful of those original ideals. As ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle said of his mentor: “Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth.” At a news conference on Monday last week to launch their “anti-war statement,” the four professors on the panel repeatedly chided US imperialism for setting fires around the world, but when reporters asked them about China’s role, they shrugged off the question by saying that cross-strait relations were not
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russia President Vladimir Putin. Yet, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) traveled to Moscow to shake his hand. Xi is not ashamed to befriend a war criminal. The ambition for power beyond measure for him is far more important than justice and human rights. Power without checks and balances spells the greatest danger for humankind. This would be the equivalent of an alliance between Voldemort and Grindelwald in Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s magical world. In the name of a peace accord for Ukraine and Russia, the visit’s purpose was a power play to counter the world’s united democratic block, and topple the leading role of the US. Xi said to Putin at a farewell ceremony: “Change is coming that hasn’t happened in 100 years. And we are driving this change together.” The new world order Xi is dreaming of does not respect universal values — human rights, personal wealth, rule of law — and does not allow individual creativity and accomplishment. It would be governed under the pretense of national superiority, police-state security and absolute authority. Change will come and must come, but not in the direction of imperialism, communism or authoritarianism. The new world order will come when autocracy is defeated by democracy, just like communism was defeated by capitalism in the 20th century. Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida traveled to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Kishida’s visit clearly signaled the resolve to support Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s aggression by the world’s democratic and free countries. As the saying goes, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. However, corruption is the lesser of the sins. Politics without principle can easily lead to unlimited warfare, crimes against humanity, nuclear catastrophe and an apocalypse. The threat to use nuclear weapons has been and still
EDITORIAL CARTOON
Rene Magritte, one of Belgium’s most famous artists, was a leading member of a 1920s movement called surrealism, which sought revolution against the constraints of the rational mind. When describing his paintings, Magritte said they “evoke mystery” and strived to ask beholders: “What does that mean? It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing, it is unknowable.” I sometimes feel as if I am looking at a Magritte painting when examining Russians’ ability to evade Western sanctions policies. Arkady Rotenberg, worth a reported US$3.5 billion, is a childhood friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He used to be Putin’s judo sparring partner, before progressing to become a rich businessman. Rotenberg has publicly claimed to own the US$1 billion so-called “Putin’s Palace,” a huge Italianate complex on the Black Sea coast said to be secretly owned by the Russian president. In March 2014, Rotenberg was one of the first Russians to be hit with sanctions after Russia unlawfully invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea. Yet two months after the restrictions were imposed, a complex web of shell companies linked to Rotenberg and his family was used to buy Magritte’s La Poitrine for US$7.5 million at a Sotheby’s auction in New York. A US Senate investigation found that the painting was shipped to a storage facility in Germany called Hasenkamp, where it rested for five years. In August 2019, when a US congressional committee started investigating the purchase, the artwork was whisked off to Moscow. In its report, the committee said the lack of banking regulations over art transactions was “shocking,” and created an “environment ripe for laundering money and evading sanctions.” It directed sharp criticism at auction houses and art dealers for doing little to screen or stop sanctioned people from trading art. Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, some additional measures have been
For more than a decade, supporters of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have said that its greatest asset is Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition Indian National Congress. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is self-made and comes across as deeply engaged with ordinary Indians’ problems, they say. By contrast, Gandhi’s father, grandmother, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather all led the Congress party. He has long been dismissed as a callow youth, unprepared for the leadership role thrust on him by virtue of his name. So, if Gandhi is such an asset for the BJP, why has he just been thrown out of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament? The move looks at first glance to have come straight out of the authoritarian playbook, with a strongman leader deploying the courts to silence and sideline a potentially dangerous rival. The truth is more complicated and more mundane. Overzealous local BJP leaders from Modi’s home state of Gujarat first brought defamation charges against Gandhi after he gave a fiery speech in 2019 implying a link between criminality and the name “Modi.” (A diamond trader named Nirav Modi was at the time in the news for defrauding banks.) Then, a local court last week convicted Gandhi and cheerfully sentenced him to two years in jail. While plenty of Indian lawmakers have charges pending against them, and Gandhi’s conviction would almost certainly be stayed and then overturned by higher courts, anyone facing a prison term of two years or longer cannot technically serve as a legislator. The Lok Sabha Secretariat, which answers again to the BJP, moved at most unusual speed for Indian bureaucrats and disqualified Gandhi within hours of the lower court verdict. In other words, no council of BJP elders appears to have met in New Delhi last week and decided Gandhi had
Israeli leaders, such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, frequently trot out the specious claim that their country is the Middle East’s only democracy, and for decades, US politicians have reflexively amplified that claim without examination. Some, like former US president Barack Obama, have gone further, to laud Israel as the region’s only true democracy. Both assertions are easily disproved. The pedantic argument is that there are other democracies in the region, and two of them — Turkey and Lebanon — have been around longer than Israel has existed as a modern nation. The more pertinent point might be that, notwithstanding Obama’s presidential plaudits, a state that reduces 20 percent of its population to second-class status is not a true democracy. However, events of the past few months have demonstrated that Israeli society, distinct from the Israeli state, has strong democratic credentials. The massive rallies against Netanyahu’s plan to neuter the country’s judicial system have been popular, peaceful and persistent, and now it looks like they have been productive. In a prime-time address, Netanyahu said that he would pause his push for parliamentary approval of the legislation, saying: “I am not ready to divide the nation.” Netanyahu’s coalition, in office since December last year, has been seeking to rein in the Israeli Supreme Court, which has historically blocked right-wing goals, such as settlement-building in the occupied West Bank and exempting the Orthodox from military service. The prime minister wants to make the judiciary more answerable to the executive, and is using his coalition’s slender majority to ram through far-reaching legislation. A law approved last week stipulates that only the Knesset and Cabinet can declare the prime minister unfit and remove him from office. (Netanyahu is under trial for corruption.) Protests against these changes have swelled in the past few weeks, drawing hundreds of thousands. Inevitably,
French police have confirmed that China’s overseas “police service stations” were behind cyberattacks against a Taiwanese Mandarin Learning Center in the European nation. This is another example of Beijing bullying Taiwanese organizations, as well as a show of contempt for other countries’ sovereignty and for international laws and norms. L’Encrier Chinois, a Chinese-language school that opened in 2005 in Paris, became the second Taiwanese Mandarin Learning Center in France in 2021. The school was targeted by at least three cyberattacks last year, which were reported to French police, who discovered that the attacks originated from China’s overseas police stations. Overseas Community Affairs Council Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said that similar cyberattacks by Chinese police service stations have been reported in many countries. An investigation report by Safeguard Defenders, a human rights non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Spain, said that China has at least 102 police service stations in 53 countries. Although Beijing says the stations were established to help Chinese living abroad to access administrative services, the stations were also found to be assisting Chinese police in covert operations, such as “persuading” Chinese fugitives to return home and monitoring Chinese immigrants. Since Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) took power in 2012, the number of Chinese asylum seekers has surged from 15,362 to 107,864 in 2020, data from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees showed. The overseas stations have served as extension organizations for China’s “Fox Hunt” and “Sky Net ” operations targeting Chinese dissidents living abroad to stop their activism under the guise of returning Chinese suspects to China to face criminal charges. The Safeguard Defenders report said that Beijing claimed 230,000 fraud suspects were “persuaded to return” to China from April 2021 to July last year. However, there is evidence that Chinese police used tactics such as threats, harassment, detention
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on March 1 reported two cases of locally acquired mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) in addition to five imported ones. As of Wednesday last week, the number had increased to six imported cases and 10 locally contracted ones. The patients are all men in their 30s, who reportedly contracted the virus through sexual contact. The CDC said the confirmed cases are not related to one another. The origin of the virus and how it was transmitted remains unclear. The mpox is a zoonosis — an infectious disease that is transmitted from animals to humans — caused by the mpox virus, genus Orthopoxvirus. Smallpox is also of this genus and can infect humans. Due to their shared genus, studies show that the smallpox vaccine can provide 85 percent cross-protection against mpox. In Taiwan, the government offered smallpox vaccines to the public until 1979, which means that people aged 45 or older should have been vaccinated. However, for those under 45, the possibility of contracting mpox is relatively high. The mpox virus was first discovered in central and west Africa in the bodies of some types of rodents, which are considered the virus’ natural reservoir according to academic findings. Many Taiwanese keep rodents as pets (for example, groundhogs), and I suspect that many of those animals were brought to Taiwan through illegal trade or smuggling. Those pet owners, many of whom are under the age of 45, should be more vigilant about mpox. It is strongly advised that they get vaccinated as soon as possible. It would be unfortunate for a person in their prime to have scarring and discoloration on their face due to mpox lesions. Liou Pei-pai is a former director of the Taiwan Animal Health Research Institute. Translated by Emma Liu
The Ministry of Justice has proposed amending Article 1085 of the Civil Code by repealing parents’ right to punish their children. This has caused an uproar among parents and teachers, as it leaves a gap regarding the disciplining of children. Can legal power replace family ties and kinship? Ever since the Ministry of Education banned corporal punishment in 2006, the dynamic between teachers and students in the educational system has changed. Now when teachers see students misbehaving, they would rather turn a blind eye than stop them, because if students are “traumatized” by any form of discipline, teachers can end up in hot water. A teacher’s duties go beyond teaching and answering students’ questions; they also involve teaching them correct conduct and behavior. Restricting a teacher’s right to discipline deprives students of the opportunity to learn proper conduct. If parents are also restricted from instilling discipline, would children still have a sense of ethics, morality or responsibility, or carry the right legal and family values? Discipline is different from domestic violence or child abuse. The latter two involve improper emotional control and mental issues in adults, while discipline is about teaching children the right conduct, manners and behavior. This should be the responsibility of parents, not the justice ministry. There was an incident in Kaohsiung in which a father, after being informed that his son had skipped more than 100 classes in less than one semester, questioned his son about his behavior. When the son, a high-school student, talked back, the father punched him. Enraged, the son sued his father for domestic violence. The court sentenced the father to three months in prison for breaching the Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act (兒童及少年福利與權益保護法). The punishment is not commutable to a fine, but the father has a right to appeal. Even though
The legislative review of the draft law for the establishment of a “Bilingual Nation Development Center” scheduled for March 15 was put on hold due to a lack of quorum. The low headcount was a result of objections to the bill by members of opposition parties and civic groups, such as the Republic of China National Federation of Teachers’ Unions. The stark reality of Taiwan’s bilingual policy is that, since its implementation almost three years ago, it has been beset by a wave of opposing voices. When I was taking up doctoral studies in Australia the supervising professor told local Australian students during a study session that international students have an advantage in their linguistic ability. He said that I, for example, can speak not only Mandarin, but also English, while the local students, even though their English is good, cannot speak any other languages, and that could be a problem for them. Despite the linguistic advantage, the education sector in Taiwan is not in good health. With the nation’s birthrate declining, schools and universities throughout the country are finding it difficult to attract enough students, and many private schools and universities are having to close. For the past two years, universities have been promoting all-English courses in hopes of pushing Taiwanese students to improve their communication skills while attracting more foreign students All-English courses have long been the way things are going in higher education internationally, with many universities in countries and territories such as Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau offering courses taught entirely in English, from university level through postgrad institutes. The main reason for this is that English remains the major lingua franca of the world. Bilingual education is the international trend. The traditional ways of teaching and of advancing through higher education are gradually losing their
Against the backdroP of mounting tensions between the US and China, Taiwan finds itself at the epicenter of a rapidly changing regional dynamic. As one of the most likely flashpoints for conflict, it is of paramount importance that Taiwan devises a strategy to defend itself. However, there is a growing chorus in Taiwan for acquiescence to foreign threats in the name of opposing war. This is a perilous narrative that would leave the nation vulnerable to invasion and devoid of its inherent capability to defend itself against China. Advocates of this sentiment suggest that Taiwan’s fortification of its defense mechanisms is provocative and risks inflaming tensions with China. This flawed reasoning disregards Beijing’s inexorable ambition to annex Taiwan and expand its authoritarian influence in the region. Surrendering Taiwan’s ability to defend itself only serves to embolden China in its pernicious objectives. Moreover, in the absence of a prepared defense, Taiwan could be forced to capitulate and negotiate peace in the event of a conflict. However, the likelihood of negotiations with the Chinese Communist Party being successful is questionable, as the regime has demonstrated a lack of credibility by failing to honor Hong Kong’s promised autonomy, and by systematically violating human rights in Xinjiang and Tibet — just to name a few examples in its long history of disregarding previous promises. The only recourse for Taiwan to withstand Chinese aggression is to collaborate with allies, bolster national defense and prepare for war. This entails maintaining a robust military presence and pursuing economic and social prosperity, while deepening ties with those who oppose China’s authoritarian expansion. Preparedness for war does not equate to actively seeking it out, but rather signifies readiness to deter aggression and reduce the likelihood of conflict. Succumbing to this “anti-resistance sentiment” is counterproductive and a guise for increasing the probability
Naive or stupid? Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is visiting China, where he plans to stay until Friday next week to pay respects to his ancestors around Tomb Sweeping Day. He is also leading a delegation of Taiwanese university students to carry out exchanges with their Chinese counterparts. Ma’s office said the visit is non-political, as he would not visit Beijing and there would not be a second meeting between him and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said it welcomes a visit by “Mr Ma” to fulfill a traditional Chinese custom, and promised to assist him if needed. Meanwhile, the Presidential Office called on Ma to demonstrate Taiwan’s democratic freedoms, as well as the principles of “reciprocity and dignity” when engaging in cross-strait exchanges. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also drawn the world’s attention to China’s threats against Taiwan. It is not a good time for a former Taiwanese president to visit China, which has repeatedly threatened Taiwan with military aggression. Although Ma’s visit is a “private and family” affair, it seriously damages Taiwan’s interests and public sentiment. Even though Ma has been trying to keep a low-profile and make his visit non-political, is it possible to do so? Such wishful thinking indicates he is either naive or stupid. Once he steps on Chinese soil, how can he ask the Chinese government and media not to make a big deal out of his visit? Would they not seize on the opportunity to use Ma as a tool for their “united front” work? If Beijing sends high-ranking officials to meet with Ma, would he be able to refuse? And when they address Ma as “Mr Ma” in public and brag about the so-called “1992 consensus” or unification between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, would Ma dare say that each side
EDITORIAL CARTOON
All eyes are rightly fixated on Russia’s war in Ukraine, but that is no excuse for ignoring another crisis that is brewing on Europe’s doorstep. Tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan are rising again, raising the prospect of another war. I visited the Lachin corridor the previous week. It is the only road linking the ethnic Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia and the outside world. Since December, access to the corridor has been blocked by Azerbaijanis under the pretext of an environmental protest. This is clearly happening with the backing of the regime in Baku. With the “protesters” blocking all civilian or commercial traffic into Nagorno-Karabakh, Amnesty International said that about 120,000 ethnic Armenian residents are being deprived of essential goods and services, including life-saving medicines and healthcare. Under the ceasefire agreement that ended the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Baku pledged to ensure free movement along the road in both directions. Recognizing that Azerbaijan is violating its commitment by refusing to lift the blockade, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Feb. 22 issued an order demanding that Azerbaijan take all steps necessary to do so. However, a month has passed, and nothing has changed. RUSSIAN APATHY Although Russian peacekeeping forces stationed along the corridor are supposed to protect the route, they have failed to act. Unless Europe and the wider international community pressure Azerbaijan to lift the blockade, the current humanitarian crisis could become a humanitarian catastrophe. Azerbaijan is using the blockade and other measures to strangle Nagorno-Karabakh. Residents are often prevented from returning to their homes, and gas and electricity are regularly cut off without warning or explanation. The intent, clearly, is to make life as difficult as possible for the Armenian population, and there is a serious risk of imminent ethnic cleansing. We must not divert our gaze from
It is the stuff of nightmares for those who promote the new, dynamic France: Giant mounds of stinking garbage bags overflow from bins near the Notre-Dame cathedral in the heart of Paris, violent demonstrators in Bordeaux set fire to the majestic doors of city hall and teargas-laced battles break out in major cities between ranks of riot police and protesters who set alight whatever they can lay their hands on. Such images flashing on television screens across the globe show a country set back to its demons of angry street protests that brought political crises and economic inertia to successive French presidents. And the trigger for this latest regression is the architect of change: French President Emmanuel Macron, whose stubborn insistence on ramming through an increase in the retirement age reignited labor unrest, deepened fissures in parliament, nearly brought down his government and now threatens paralysis for the four remaining years he gets to stay in office. “We are in a dead-end, with no clear way out,” said Christelle Craplet, head of French pollster BVA Opinion. “This is a tense situation in which there is no majority to govern and no majority to topple the government either.” As the opposing sides dig in, the stage is set for extended strikes in some key sectors and the specter of prolonged and violent demonstrations — even King Charles III was forced to postpone a planned visit to France. The turmoil risks making Macron a lame-duck president, forcing him to drop new business-friendly initiatives after his earlier policies helped make France Europe’s top destination for foreign investment and arguably the biggest beneficiary of Brexit, providing another base for financial institutions away from the UK’s political vicissitudes. “Every other person I meet is asking about these images,” Antoine Papiernik, chairman and managing partner at Sofinnova Partners, a French
The formal severing of diplomatic ties between Taiwan and Honduras over the weekend has laid bare China’s game of dollar diplomacy, played to isolate and humiliate Taiwan on the global stage. Despite Beijing’s willingness to throw around billions of US dollars, the political winds are shifting in Taiwan’s favor, exposing the rapidly diminishing relevance of traditional diplomatic ties to Taiwan’s global standing. The past week has given a rare peek into the diplomatic machinations between nations. So often reflexively denied, the Honduran leadership has been relatively transparent about its request for US$2.44 billion from Taiwan to maintain relations, although it insisted it was to be a “negotiated refinancing mechanism,” not a donation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the request of “opaque” cash aid and said it would not engage in a bidding war with China, leading to the switch in recognition. While Honduran President Xiomara Castro has her people’s best interests in mind, the shortsighted cash grab could end up being more destructive in the long run. Even Honduran Vice President Salvador Nasralla on Saturday warned that switching relations could result in severe consequences and lead the country into poverty, while the opposition National Party decried the move as selling the nation’s sovereignty and dignity to “the highest bidder.” As recipients of Belt and Road loans can attest, becoming financially beholden to Beijing could in the long run challenge a nation’s sovereignty, as unfavorable conditions give China control over key infrastructure and land. For Taiwan, the loss of a diplomatic ally is not the blow it once was. Rather than being humiliating, Beijing is the one cast in a bad light for its blatant engagement in dollar diplomacy, especially as its list of debt-trapped “partners” grows. Instead of isolating it, the move comes while Taiwan is engaging in more substantive exchanges than
Czech Chamber of Deputies Speaker Marketa Pekarova Adamova arrived in Taiwan on Saturday, leading a delegation of more than 160 people. This is the second visit to the nation by a Czech parliamentary leader after Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil’s visit in 2020, and it is the largest Czech business delegation to travel overseas in the past five years. Together with the plan to commence direct flights between Taiwan and the Czech Republic in the middle of July, this visit shows how quickly the two countries’ relations are warming. As well as attending a bilateral economic cooperation conference, Adamova is scheduled to visit the Legislative Yuan today and deliver a speech. Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫?) welcomed Adamova’s visit in advance, saying that she would be the first-ever female speaker of a country that does not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan to address the Legislative Yuan in person. As well as having similar views on many issues, Taiwan and the Czech Republic have a strong motivation to establish all-round relations, with the Czech Republic helping Taiwan to deepen relations with Europe, and Taiwan being the Czech Republic’s springboard into the Indo-Pacific region. On the day Adamova arrived, Honduras severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan — a decision instigated behind the scenes by China that leaves the nation with only two diplomatic partners in Central America: Guatemala and Belize. After Honduran President Xiomara Castro was inaugurated in January last year, Taiwan and Honduras engaged in negotiations about cooperation plans. Honduras requested a hefty US$2 billion in economic assistance from Taiwan and simultaneously asked China for US$6 billion, a Taiwanese source said. On March 13, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) received a letter from Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina amounting to an “ultimatum,” and increasing Honduras’ aid request to US$2.5 billion.
Ever since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in 2016, China has intensified efforts to poach Taiwan’s remaining allies. Honduras’ decision on Sunday to sever a bilateral relationship of more than 80 years came as a major setback. Beijing’s political and economic clout makes it an irresistible attraction to Taiwan’s few allies. When China offered huge amounts of financial assistance that Taiwan was unable to match, Honduras switched allegiance to pursue Chinese investment in costly infrastructure projects. As a result, Taiwan has 13 diplomatic allies remaining, including the Central American nations of Belize and Guatemala. Beijing’s hardball diplomacy displays an obsession to force the world’s acceptance of China’s dominance over Taiwan as the new geopolitical norm. A key winner of this diplomatic warfare is the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Each diplomatic gain against Taiwan is a major departmental success. For each nation that changed diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China, the ministry would secure additional resources to build a new embassy and launch new outreach programs abroad. However, China’s diplomatic gains have outraged Taiwanese, who consider China more an aggressive bully than a peaceful neighbor. As next year’s presidential election nears, the hardball diplomacy is bound to jeopardize Beijing’s attempt to gain support for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and other pro-unification parties. Despite the odds, all is not lost for Taiwan. Tsai’s transit through the US to Guatemala and Belize this week is immensely important as China squeezes Taiwan’s presence in international affairs. The trip is an integral part of Tsai’s diplomatic activism, solidifying ties with allies in the western hemisphere and countering China’s mounting pressure. In light of China’s missile launches and military drills following then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taipei in August last year, US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has agreed to
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