`Go south' the way to go
The Liberty Times editorial ("It's time to heed the `go south' call," Aug. 18, page 8) was right on the mark in its argument that Taiwan should be investing more in Southeast Asia.
Taiwan's previous "go south" call failed as the region was struck by the 1997 Asian crisis. The timing was wrong, but the idea was right.
Southeast Asian economies have gone through a major restructuring since the debacle and now they are recovering with a vengeance. Taiwan would only benefit by investing more in these economies which are increasingly moving toward a free-trade block similar to NAFTA and the EU.
Trade within the Southeast Asian region is set to increase in the coming months, which would help reduce Taiwan's high level of economic dependence on the US and Europe. Of course, it would also spread the risk, because Taiwan would not be putting all its eggs in the Chinese basket. Going south would help Taiwan to kill two birds with one stone.
Tsering Namgyal
Taipei
Cleaning up Taipei's rivers
My brother caught a 1.6kg trout in pristine condition last week in the River Rother in South Yorkshire, England (he returned it alive). So, you might ask, what's that got to do with Taiwan?
Let me explain: Not so many years ago years ago the River Rother was one of the most polluted rivers in Europe. It had been used as a receptacle for human and industrial waste for 200 years. Its waters were black and smelly and practically the only things that lived in it were insect larvae and rats. It was the last place where people would go to spend their leisure time.
Industry (mainly mining and steel) along its banks, however, had been in decline from the 1970s, which lowered industrial pollution entering the river. Ten years ago the local water authority also invested in new facilities to allow them to treat sewage more effectively and cut the pollution from treated sewage that was dumped in the river. Water quality in the river improved markedly. Fish were released into the river and bred. Trout (which can only live in clean water) moved in from the unpolluted streams that feed into the river and much of the original native wildlife returned. Kingfishers can now be seen on the banks.
These improvements have also been seen in other rivers in the area. For example, it is now possible to fish in the Don, a river that was once also very polluted and devoid of life, in the center of Sheffield.
It is no exaggeration to say that the heavily polluted rivers of Taipei are a disgrace and a terrible monument to man's long-term abuse of nature. The city government has tried to make the rivers play a bigger role in people's lives by building parks along the banks. Recently a new boat tour service opened. Most sane people, however, are not keen to go anywhere near the rivers because the hard truth is that the rivers of Taipei are black, smelly and repellent after years of uncontrolled pollution.
But the rivers of Taipei don't have to be sewers if the government is willing to act and spend some money. The River Rother was as badly polluted a decade ago as the Tamshui and other Taipei rivers are now. The example of the Rother's recovery shows that nature can recover quickly if given the chance.
If the pollution dumped into rivers were cut by investment in water-treatment facilities and enforcement of strict environmental protection laws to prevent industrial waste from being released, within a few years the Tamshui and other rivers could be clean. Then the boat rides on the river would be much more enjoyable and people would be more willing to play along the riverbanks.
If you set up a rod and line on the bank of the river now you would probably be certifiably insane, but in a few years it would be possible to do this ... and perhaps even to catch a trout.
Kev Lax
Taipei
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
The military is conducting its annual Han Kuang exercises in phases. The minister of national defense recently said that this year’s scenarios would simulate defending the nation against possible actions the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) might take in an invasion of Taiwan, making the threat of a speculated Chinese invasion in 2027 a heated agenda item again. That year, also referred to as the “Davidson window,” is named after then-US Indo-Pacific Command Admiral Philip Davidson, who in 2021 warned that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the PLA to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. Xi in 2017