US President George W. Bush has enough headaches in taking care of the US. The war in Iraq is not over. The nuclear disarmament with North Korea is much more complicated. The war against terrorism never seems to end. Therefore, Bush was in a disturbed mood when he announced that he did not want Taiwan to hold a referendum during its March presidential election to address the future of Taiwan. His announcement was an attempt to please Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (
Taiwan is a democratic country. People there are as free as the people in the US. As a matter of fact, Taiwan is ranked the No. 1 free country in Asia.
China is a dictatorship. Bei-jing's policy is set by only a handful of people who are not chosen by the citizens. It currently has 496 missiles aimed at Taiwan. China will invade Taiwan by force if Taiwan declares independence through a referendum chosen by the Taiwanese people.
The US threatened the war against Cuba when Havana obtained missiles from Russia, which were aimed at the US during the Kennedy era. Eventually Russia dismantled the missiles and ended the crisis.
The Taiwanese in Taiwan want -- through the referendum -- China to dismantle those missiles. This is simply an exercise of democracy and an expression by the people to defend their own country.
Bush does not have to be nervous or uneasy about this situation. I believe on this issue his reaction was unexpected and a complete surprise. Rather, we expect that he will support free people to exercise their own will without intimidation.
Moreover, we expect Bush, peace-loving Americans and all other rational people on Earth will join the effort to denounce China for its terrorist act to have missiles aimed at a neighboring country. After all, the value of democracy, peace and human rights will connect everyone together and the dictatorship will be outlawed.
Cheng Tien-chu is a member of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission.
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