On Saturday morning, 55,000 people from 32 countries gathered at Hiroshima Peace Park to commemorate the 60th anniversary of a tragic day in the history of the world -- the detonation of a nuclear bomb over Hiroshima -- and to call for an end to nuclear weapons. The people of Taiwan, who daily face the threat posed by China's 700 missiles, feel deeply the significance of this day.
Sixty years ago, the use of nuclear bombs brought forward the end of World War II and stopped Japan from engaging in a desperate defense of their homeland. But the terrible price paid on that day did not stop the further development of nuclear weapons. To the contrary, during the Cold War, the US and the USSR engaged in a nuclear face-off. This led to the building of enough nuclear weapons to destroy the planet hundreds of times over. Now China, India and Pakistan have also joined the nuclear club, putting the whole world under the shadow of nuclear destruction. That we have not destroyed ourselves is not because of our belief in peace. Instead, over the last decade or so, it has been the fear of mutually assured destruction and nuclear armageddon.
The "balance of terror" assumes that all participants are rational, and that they would not risk the lives and property of their people by a rash push toward nuclear war. But is the Chinese government really so rational? Mao Zedong (毛澤東) once said he'd rather the people went without trousers than that China had no nuclear weapons and that China could, with its huge population, afford to lose millions of people to nuclear war. Quite clearly, the lives and property of the people are not an important consideration for the Chinese leadership. And then there is the recent comment by Major General Zhu Chenghu (朱成虎), suggesting that China would destroy hundreds of American cities if the US intervened in a cross-strait conflict. Clearly China's military establishment has different standards and attitudes regarding the use of nuclear weapons to those of civilized nations.
China lacks respect for peace, human rights and democratic values. This is the main obstacle to unification and also the reason China's rise has caused such anxiety among neighboring countries. Both the US and Japan question the need for China's military buildup when it faces no external threats. It has 700 missiles targeting Taiwan, and its medium and long-range missiles can reach targets in Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia and even the US. In addition to creating anxiety, this rapid military buildup is driving an arms race in the region.
If China wishes to become a civilized country and let people believe that its "rising" is indeed peaceful, its first act should be to declare the Taiwan Strait a non-nuclear and demilitarized zone. If the two sides of the Strait could sign a peace treaty, this would be a manifestation of the ideal that Chinese do not fight other Chinese. If China could relinquish the 700 missiles targeting Taiwan, it would help immeasurably in reducing the distance between the two sides of the Strait.
Even the pro-China chairman-elect of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Ma Ying-jeou (
Nuclear weapons are of no use in cross-strait affairs and serve as a barrier to interaction. From late president Chiang Ching-kuo (
Recently, the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) published three of my articles on the US presidential election, which is to be held on Nov. 5. I would like to share my perspective on the intense and stalemated presidential election with the people of Taiwan, as well as Taiwanese and Chinese Americans in the US. The current consensus of both major US political parties is to counter China and protect Taiwan. However, I do not trust former US president Donald Trump. He has questioned the US’ commitment to defending Taiwan and explicitly stated the significant challenges involved in doing so. “Trump believes
The government is considering building a semiconductor cluster in Europe, specifically in the Czech Republic, to support Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) new fab in Dresden, Germany, and to help local companies explore new business opportunities there. Europe wants to ensure the security of its semiconductor sector, but a lack of comprehensive supply chains there could pose significant risks to semiconductor clusters. The Czech government is aggressively seeking to build its own semiconductor industry and showing strong interest in collaborating with Taiwanese companies. Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) on Friday said that Taiwan is optimistic about building a semiconductor cluster in
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
RSS