At the World Health Assembly in Geneva last month, Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi (
These officials are unwilling to apologize for having spread the SARS virus throughout their country and to the rest of the world. When did they ever care about diseases from China that have beset this nation over the years? The foot-and-mouth outbreak of six years ago and today's SARS epidemic have both dealt serious blows to the lives of Taiwanese.
With SARS, Taiwan's need to join international groups such as the World Health Organization (WHO) has become even more urgent. However, apart from relying on the government's diplomatic prowess, we also need a clear-cut endorsement from the public to serve as a legal basis for pushing more aggressive government action on the one hand, and on the other, to stop certain political parties from using excuses to prevent the government from acting on public opinion.
During the KMT era, government power was primarily controlled by the Chiang family and its key proteges, backed by mainlanders who moved to Taiwan along with the KMT government. They constituted only 15 percent of the population and were fearful of referendums because they stood to lose the legal basis for their rule. For this reason the government always opposed the passage of any referendum law.
The government used to view referendums as tools for deposing the Chiang family or the KMT government. As a result, the channels through which people could express their will to the international community were blocked. The failure of government policies to fully reflect public opinion constitutes a major dereliction of duty on the part of public representatives.
If people do not act quickly to defend their civil rights, we will face the serious threat of them being sold out by politicians. PFP Chairman James Soong (
Didn't their efforts fail? How can they claim with such certainty that they can get Taiwan into the WHO? Soong needs to clearly explain his clever plans to the public. Otherwise, people will worry about what he is actually trying to sell, or that he might be offering a poisonous recipe that will cause Taiwan to lose its independence and self-determination forever. In view of this, the need for the public to demand a referendum has become even more urgent.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long been expansionist and contemptuous of international law. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the CCP regime has become more despotic, coercive and punitive. As part of its strategy to annex Taiwan, Beijing has sought to erase the island democracy’s international identity by bribing countries to sever diplomatic ties with Taipei. One by one, China has peeled away Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic partners, leaving just 12 countries (mostly small developing states) and the Vatican recognizing Taiwan as a sovereign nation. Taiwan’s formal international space has shrunk dramatically. Yet even as Beijing has scored diplomatic successes, its overreach
In her article in Foreign Affairs, “A Perfect Storm for Taiwan in 2026?,” Yun Sun (孫韻), director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington, said that the US has grown indifferent to Taiwan, contending that, since it has long been the fear of US intervention — and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) inability to prevail against US forces — that has deterred China from using force against Taiwan, this perceived indifference from the US could lead China to conclude that a window of opportunity for a Taiwan invasion has opened this year. Most notably, she observes that
For Taiwan, the ongoing US and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets are a warning signal: When a major power stretches the boundaries of self-defense, smaller states feel the tremors first. Taiwan’s security rests on two pillars: US deterrence and the credibility of international law. The first deters coercion from China. The second legitimizes Taiwan’s place in the international community. One is material. The other is moral. Both are indispensable. Under the UN Charter, force is lawful only in response to an armed attack or with UN Security Council authorization. Even pre-emptive self-defense — long debated — requires a demonstrably imminent
Since being re-elected, US President Donald Trump has consistently taken concrete action to counter China and to safeguard the interests of the US and other democratic nations. The attacks on Iran, the earlier capture of deposed of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and efforts to remove Chinese influence from the Panama Canal all demonstrate that, as tensions with Beijing intensify, Washington has adopted a hardline stance aimed at weakening its power. Iran and Venezuela are important allies and major oil suppliers of China, and the US has effectively decapitated both. The US has continuously strengthened its military presence in the Philippines. Japanese Prime
RSS