The US employs a policy of maintaining the status quo across the Taiwan Strait and opposing any unilateral change in the relationship between Taiwan and China. This policy is lopsided.
In the last few years, the number of China's ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan has doubled to 784. Last year, China put its "Anti-Secession" Law into effect, authorizing its military leaders to attack Taiwan at any time without even first getting permission from Chinese President Hu Jintao (
Today, Taiwan is more militarily threatened, epidemically unprotected and diplomatically isolated by China than ever before. The so-called "Red Storm" is blowing hard over Taiwan, Japan and other countries. The power balance is unequal.
US officials should express surprise at the failure of Taiwan's legislature to pass the arms procurement bill, rather than at President Chen Shui-bian's (
As a Taiwanese saying goes, "A spoiled pig will destroy your stove and a spoiled child will not be filial." The US should not spoil China in exchange for China's cooperation in fighting terror and controlling North Korea's nuclear program. Instead, the US should appreciate and encourage Taiwan for trying to reinforce its status quo, including rectifying its official name and deploying the mechanism of the popular vote as a free, democratic country like the US.
On March 22, 2023, at the close of their meeting in Moscow, media microphones were allowed to record Chinese Communist Party (CCP) dictator Xi Jinping (習近平) telling Russia’s dictator Vladimir Putin, “Right now there are changes — the likes of which we haven’t seen for 100 years — and we are the ones driving these changes together.” Widely read as Xi’s oath to create a China-Russia-dominated world order, it can be considered a high point for the China-Russia-Iran-North Korea (CRINK) informal alliance, which also included the dictatorships of Venezuela and Cuba. China enables and assists Russia’s war against Ukraine and North Korea’s
After thousands of Taiwanese fans poured into the Tokyo Dome to cheer for Taiwan’s national team in the World Baseball Classic’s (WBC) Pool C games, an image of food and drink waste left at the stadium said to have been left by Taiwanese fans began spreading on social media. The image sparked wide debate, only later to be revealed as an artificially generated image. The image caption claimed that “Taiwanese left trash everywhere after watching the game in Tokyo Dome,” and said that one of the “three bad habits” of Taiwanese is littering. However, a reporter from a Japanese media outlet
An article published in the Dec. 12, 1949, edition of the Central Daily News (中央日報) bore a headline with the intimidating phrase: “You Cannot Escape.” The article was about the execution of seven “communist spies,” some say on the basis of forced confessions, at the end of the 713 Penghu Incident. Those were different times, born of political paranoia shortly after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) relocated to Taiwan following defeat in China by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The phrase was a warning by the KMT regime to the local populace not to challenge its power or threaten national unity. The
Since taking office, President William Lai (賴清德) has been an active proponent of the Healthy Taiwan initiative. As a member of the Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee, I have also contributed recommendations on various pharmaceutical policies. After the committee concluded its seventh meeting on Saturday last week, Lai announced that the government is considering a three-year suspension on the Drug Expenditure Target (DET) system’s routine drug price surveys, highlighting the need to further support drug supply resilience. While I am supportive of this policy direction, I must also stress the importance of maintaining our original objective of improving the quality of
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