President Chen Shui-bian (
However, the Chinese Communist Party was quick to fire up its propaganda machine and stoke the flames of Chinese nationalism, hurling invective at Chen and making military threats. The attempts by Beijing and its pro-unification toadies in Taiwan to harass Taiwan's democratic system explains how utterly unrealistic the international community's expectations are of a peaceful transition of political power in China.
After Bill Clinton became US president, academia and political circles in the US reversed the political, military and economic sanctions adopted by the previous president, George Bush, after the Tiananmen Square massacre. They started a new pro-Beijing bent, talking about a peaceful transition of power within the communist regime. Massive amounts of US capital and technology moved into China. Europe, Japan and other Asian nations were quick to follow, thereby fattening China with foreign investment and solidifying the Communist Party's hold on power. Beijing was able to continue its brutal suppression of demands for democratic rule and violations of human rights, while the People's Liberation Army (PLA) rapidly modernized with the support of foreign capital and technology.
However, the US idea of using economic incentives to promote systemic change in China is doomed to failure because the PLA has been the biggest beneficiary of the country's dramatic economic growth, solidifying the military's loyalty to the regime. The party's monopoly on power remains unchanged. In fact, with the standard of living improving in China's coastal regions, what urgent need is there for the party to change the status quo?
However, the modernization of the Chinese military is planting the seeds for armed conflict in Asia, especially in the Taiwan Strait. To reverse the effects of past US policy mistakes, Washington needs to maintain a military balance in Asia and help Taiwan improve its defense capability in order to prevent the Chinese military from becoming too arrogant and threatening.
The US should therefore change its ambivalent "one China" policy because it will only mislead the international community and perpetuate Beijing's delusions about Taiwan being its territory. The US should clearly state that it will respect the people of Taiwan's choice regarding their future, so that they can exercise their free will and choose between unification and independence by means of a public referendum. The US should also help the people of China free themselves from communist rule and formulate its China investment policy with a longterm view, so it won't shoot itself it the foot by aiding in the creation of a military power capable of threatening Asia.
The Cabinet on Nov. 6 approved a NT$10 billion (US$318.4 million) four-year plan to build tourism infrastructure in mountainous areas and the south. Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) on Tuesday announced that the Ministry of Transportation and Communications would offer weekday accommodation discounts, birthday specials and other domestic travel incentives beginning next March, aiming to encourage more travel outside the usual weekend and holiday peaks. The government is right to focus on domestic tourism. Although the data appear encouraging on the surface — as total domestic trips are up compared with their pre-COVID-19 pandemic numbers — a closer look tells a different
For more than seven decades, the Chinese Communist Party has claimed to govern Tibet with benevolence and progress. I have seen the truth behind the slogans. I have listened to the silences of monks forbidden to speak of the Dalai Lama, watched the erosion of our language in classrooms, and felt the quiet grief of a people whose prayers are monitored and whose culture is treated as a threat. That is why I will only accept complete independence for Tibet. The so-called “autonomous region” is autonomous in name only. Decisions about religion, education and cultural preservation are made in Beijing, not
Apart from the first arms sales approval for Taiwan since US President Donald Trump took office, last month also witnessed another milestone for Taiwan-US relations. Trump signed the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act into law on Tuesday. Its passing without objection in the US Senate underscores how bipartisan US support for Taiwan has evolved. The new law would further help normalize exchanges between Taiwanese and US government officials. We have already seen a flurry of visits to Washington earlier this summer, not only with Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), but also delegations led by National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu
I recently watched a panel discussion on Taiwan Talks in which the host rightly asked a critical question: Why is the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) spearheading a robust global movement to reject China’s ongoing distortion of UN Resolution 2758? While the discussion offered some context, a more penetrating analysis and urgent development was missed. The IPAC action is not merely a political gesture; it is an essential legal and diplomatic countermeasure to China’s escalating and fundamentally baseless campaign to manufacture a claim over Taiwan through the deliberate misinterpretation of a 1971 UN resolution. Since the inauguration of Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) as
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