During his first policy report at the Legislative Yuan on Monday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Hung-mao
His remark drew immediate criticism from both DPP and opposition lawmakers. The DPP legislators even called Tien's remarks an indication that "Taiwan's foreign diplomacy is going nowhere."
Beijing's response came yesterday -- from foreign ministry spokesperson Zhang Qiyue
If not for the confrontational nature of cross-strait relations, Taiwan would not have needed to toil so hard to expand its diplomatic support and safeguard relations with its allies. If not for the heavy-handed pressure Beijing has applied to isolate Taiwan in the international arena, Taipei would not have had to engage in expensive "money diplomacy" in the face of cynical criticism from its own populace.
Diplomacy has been a nightmare for Taiwan ever since its downward spiral toward international isolation began in the early 1970s. The frustrations on the diplomatic front -- and their impact on public morale -- stand in stark contrast to Taiwan's self-confidence in its economic prowess.
The depth of Taiwan's diplomatic pains reminds us of Friedrich Nietzsche's famous line: "Those suffering have no right to be pessimistic." Of course, facing China's pressure and diplomatic siege, we have no right to agree to a truce or forgo our rights. This would be tantamount to handing over our guns and surrendering to China.
We understand Tien's phrase "diplomatic truce" to mean the two sides should not continue wasting resources competing over the number of diplomatic allies they have. While Taiwan has the economic wherewithal to shoulder such a competition, China has yet to meet the basic needs of a vast number of its own people in the countryside. Beijing would do better to shift the resources spent on its diplomatic war with Taiwan to improving the lives of its own populace.
But the Chinese public has no hope of monitoring and restraining the behavior of the hawkish factions in Beijing's foreign ministry. They will continue to squeeze Taiwan on the diplomatic front. They will not loosen their grip.
The diplomatic arena is a place for "zero-sum" wars. In the past, the KMT never eased up on China when it had the upper hand against Beijing. Now it is true the other way around.
We believe that the way to resolve the cross-strait dispute is for Beijing to respond to Taiwan's show of goodwill, compromise and demonstrate, as Mencius said, the magnanimity of "the big treating the small with kindness"
Only then can there be the possibility of peaceful coexistence across the Taiwan Strait.
The first Donald Trump term was a boon for Taiwan. The administration regularized the arms sales process and enhanced bilateral ties. Taipei will not be so fortunate the second time around. Given recent events, Taiwan must proceed with the assumption that it cannot count on the United States to defend it — diplomatically or militarily — during the next four years. Early indications suggested otherwise. The nomination of Marco Rubio as US Secretary of State and the appointment of Mike Waltz as the national security advisor, both of whom have expressed full-throated support for Taiwan in the past, raised hopes that
Whether in terms of market commonality or resource similarity, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co is the biggest competitor of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC). The two companies have agreed to set up factories in the US and are also recipients of subsidies from the US CHIPS and Science Act, which was signed into law by former US president Joe Biden. However, changes in the market competitiveness of the two companies clearly reveal the context behind TSMC’s investments in the US. As US semiconductor giant Intel Corp has faced continuous delays developing its advanced processes, the world’s two major wafer foundries, TSMC and
Authorities last week revoked the residency permit of a Chinese social media influencer surnamed Liu (劉), better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), who has more than 440,000 followers online and is living in Taiwan with a marriage-based residency permit, for her “reunification by force” comments. She was asked to leave the country in 10 days. The National Immigration Agency (NIA) on Tuesday last week announced the decision, citing the influencer’s several controversial public comments, including saying that “China does not need any other reason to reunify Taiwan with force” and “why is it [China] hesitant
We are witnessing a sea change in the government’s approach to China, from one of reasonable, low-key reluctance at rocking the boat to a collapse of pretense over and patience in Beijing’s willful intransigence. Finally, we are seeing a more common sense approach in the face of active shows of hostility from a foreign power. According to Article 2 of the 2020 Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法), a “foreign hostile force” is defined as “countries, political entities or groups that are at war with or are engaged in a military standoff with the Republic of China [ROC]. The same stipulation applies to
RSS