Taiwan first lady Wu Shu-hen (
I believe the IPC's action is worthy of recognition from all who love Taiwan. The first lady and the entire Taiwan delegation are entitled to further support and encouragement from every Taiwanese.
Therefore, together with other progressive organizations, I have drafted an open letter to the IPC to commend it on its fair and just action, and to support the first lady -- who in spite of weak health continues to stand up for her people and country -- and all Taiwanese athletes.
This letter along with e-mail addresses are provided for public use, and I expect each Taiwanese send an e-mail to the IPC to support our delegation and speak out for the energetic Taiwan civil society. E-mails can be sent to the IPC at info@paralympic.org, or to the IPC's Executive Committee contact Leen Coudenys at leen.coudenys@paralympic.org.
Dear International Paralympic Committee President Craven,
I am writing this letter to commend the International Paralympic Committee for its courageous decision to respect first lady Wu as the head of the Taiwanese Delegation.
Both you and I have been expecting the positive inspiration that the Paralympic athletes' excellent performance will have on the global community of disabled people.
This will be demonstrated and appreciated through empowering outstanding disabled athletes to achieve sporting excellence in a fair and just competition.
The Paralympic spirit should above all be about fairness, which is often not given to people with disabilities. Today IPC's important decision to respect Taiwan's first lady as the head of the Taiwanese Delegation has demonstrated the true spirit of fairness and justice.
The vision of the IPC is "to enable Paralympic athletes to achieve sporting excellence, and inspire and excite the world."
The IPC creates the conditions for the empowerment of athletes with disabilities through self-determination. This vision is the reason why the IPC exists.
Today, your action demonstrates great moral strength and upholds this vision despite external intervention.
In this way you have helped protect the integrity and dignity of our athletes and their outstanding leader. For this, I highly commend you on your great moral courage and efforts.
I want to also express our appreciation and encouragement to the first lady and the entire Taiwanese team. Despite her weak health, first lady Wu has stood up for her people at a difficult time by committing herself to the enhancement of the human rights of the disabled, and the protection of national dignity.
I also appreciate our athletes' courage and confidence in supporting their leader and achieving sporting excellence in the coming games.
They have shown the best example possible for all disabled people around the world to stand up for a just cause and dignity.
Please convey my sincerest respect to the IPC, first lady Wu and the Taiwanese team.
Hsiu-min Wu
President of the Taiwan Northern Society, Taipei
The Donald Trump administration’s approach to China broadly, and to cross-Strait relations in particular, remains a conundrum. The 2025 US National Security Strategy prioritized the defense of Taiwan in a way that surprised some observers of the Trump administration: “Deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority.” Two months later, Taiwan went entirely unmentioned in the US National Defense Strategy, as did military overmatch vis-a-vis China, giving renewed cause for concern. How to interpret these varying statements remains an open question. In both documents, the Indo-Pacific is listed as a second priority behind homeland defense and
Every analyst watching Iran’s succession crisis is asking who would replace supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Yet, the real question is whether China has learned enough from the Persian Gulf to survive a war over Taiwan. Beijing purchases roughly 90 percent of Iran’s exported crude — some 1.61 million barrels per day last year — and holds a US$400 billion, 25-year cooperation agreement binding it to Tehran’s stability. However, this is not simply the story of a patron protecting an investment. China has spent years engineering a sanctions-evasion architecture that was never really about Iran — it was about Taiwan. The
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