Mao Zedong (毛澤東) said he would solve the Taiwan problem in 100 years. Well, in some respects we could say the problem has been solved. Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and his KMT have passed up any chance of invading China. We (the US) refused to support his plans to attack in the 1950s. In Taiwan, the KMT is in decline as an increasingly literate public learns to practice democracy.
Democracy conjures up many nightmares to traditional Chinese. We must understand that undermining the Confucian model instills such fears. Taiwan is very Chinese. Mao simplified the written language. Taiwan kept the old writing system. Taiwan is a mix of the very old China and the most progressive Chinese culture in the world.
All this is to say that there are mixed feelings about losing the world's first Chinese democracy. Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger sold the Taiwanese down the river during former US president Richard Nixon's reign. Prior to that the Japanese ruled the island for quite a long time. It was their garden.
Currently, there is a native-born Taiwanese running the island. Taiwan wants to keep the status quo. Those out-of-town KMT people have a different view. So do they really have a right to determine Taiwan's future? Or is it about time the Taiwanese took over those chores? In view of the economic miracle their democracy has wrought, one would concur.
Why does China continue to demand inclusion in its communist empire? Well, if we look at the miracles Taiwanese businessmen have contributed to the economy we can understand much better. Now economic zones exist in all the major markets there.
Bill Parkhurst
USA
In the event of a war with China, Taiwan has some surprisingly tough defenses that could make it as difficult to tackle as a porcupine: A shoreline dotted with swamps, rocks and concrete barriers; conscription for all adult men; highways and airports that are built to double as hardened combat facilities. This porcupine has a soft underbelly, though, and the war in Iran is exposing it: energy. About 39,000 ships dock at Taiwan’s ports each year, more than the 30,000 that transit the Strait of Hormuz. About one-fifth of their inbound tonnage is coal, oil, refined fuels and liquefied natural gas (LNG),
On Monday, the day before Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) departed on her visit to China, the party released a promotional video titled “Only with peace can we ‘lie flat’” to highlight its desire to have peace across the Taiwan Strait. However, its use of the expression “lie flat” (tang ping, 躺平) drew sarcastic comments, with critics saying it sounded as if the party was “bowing down” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Amid the controversy over the opposition parties blocking proposed defense budgets, Cheng departed for China after receiving an invitation from the CCP, with a meeting with
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) is leading a delegation to China through Sunday. She is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing tomorrow. That date coincides with the anniversary of the signing of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), which marked a cornerstone of Taiwan-US relations. Staging their meeting on this date makes it clear that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intends to challenge the US and demonstrate its “authority” over Taiwan. Since the US severed official diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979, it has relied on the TRA as a legal basis for all
The two major opposition parties, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), jointly announced on Tuesday last week that former TPP lawmaker Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) would be their joint candidate for Chiayi mayor, following polling conducted earlier this month. It is the first case of blue-white (KMT-TPP) cooperation in selecting a joint candidate under an agreement signed by their chairpersons last month. KMT and TPP supporters have blamed their 2024 presidential election loss on failing to decide on a joint candidate, which ended in a dramatic breakdown with participants pointing fingers, calling polls unfair, sobbing and walking
RSS