All Taiwanese should be proud that Lee Wu-Ling will be graduating from the US Military Academy at West Point, New York, on May 29, 2004.
Through nation-to-nation agreements, the US government has allowed selected foreign cadets to be enrolled at its service academies. Some of the more famous foreign cadets to have graduated from West Point since its founding in 1802 include former Philippine president Fidel Ramos and former Nicaraguan president Anastacio Somoza Debayle.
Lee Wu-Ling's graduation from West Point is a historic milestone for Taiwan. It is a recognition that there is a need to have junior officers in the military of an ally (like Taiwan) understand the military educational system of the greatest economic, political and military power in the world.
For a Taiwanese to be accepted into this prestigious institution is also an achievement. In the 20 years since I was a cadet there, the mission of West Point has not changed much: "To Train Leaders." The biggest change is the increased competition to win an appointment to the academy. As the New Jersey state coordinator for West Point's admissions office, I participate in the admissions process; approximately one out of every 15 applicants is accepted.
I met Lee Wu-Ling when he was a freshman and have seen him mature through his years at West Point. As the first Taiwanese-born American to graduate from West Point, I am proud to welcome him as a fellow member of the Long Gray Line!
As a Taiwanese-American, I urge all Taiwanese to cherish the accomplishments of Lee Wu-Ling and give him the support he will need to be one of the young leaders of Taiwan.
Dean Chang
New Jersey
China has successfully held its Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, with 53 of 55 countries from the African Union (AU) participating. The two countries that did not participate were Eswatini and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which have no diplomatic relations with China. Twenty-four leaders were reported to have participated. Despite African countries complaining about summit fatigue, with recent summits held with Russia, Italy, South Korea, the US and Indonesia, as well as Japan next month, they still turned up in large numbers in Beijing. China’s ability to attract most of the African leaders to a summit demonstrates that it is still being
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Thursday was handcuffed and escorted by police to the Taipei Detention Center, after the Taipei District Court ordered that he be detained and held incommunicado for suspected corruption during his tenure as Taipei mayor. The ruling reversed an earlier decision by the same court on Monday last week that ordered Ko’s release without bail. That decision was appealed by prosecutors on Wednesday, leading the High Court to conclude that Ko had been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and it ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Video clips
The Russian city of Vladivostok lies approximately 45km from the Sino-Russian border on the Sea of Japan. The area was not always Russian territory: It was once the site of a Chinese settlement. The settlement would later be known as Yongmingcheng (永明城), the “city of eternal light,” during the Yuan Dynasty. That light was extinguished in 1858 when a large area of land was ceded by the Qing Dynasty to the Russian Empire with the signing of the Treaty of Aigun. The People’s Republic of China founded by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has never ruled Taiwan. Taiwan was governed by the
The Japanese-language Nikkei Shimbun on Friday published a full-page story calling for Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) leadership hopefuls to be aware of and to prepare for a potential crisis in the Taiwan Strait. The candidates of the LDP leadership race must have a “vision” in case of a Chinese invasion in Taiwan, the article said, adding that whether the prospective president of the LDP and the future prime minister of Japan have the ability to lead the public and private sectors under this circumstance would be examined in the coming election. The “2027 Theory” of a Taiwan contingency is becoming increasingly
RSS