President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has transited through the US on each of his past visits to Latin America. His most recent journey to Paraguay, however, came in the wake of the changes to the National Unification Council and guidelines, and the visits to the US by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤). The transit issue was therefore especially sensitive.
Before Chen's departure, observers were dizzied by the constantly changing information regarding the location and mode of the transit. In the end, Chen broke with tradition and chose to stop in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The US is trying to sell arms to Taiwan at extremely high prices so that Taiwan can handle its enemies. Taiwan, however, has only ever had one enemy: China. And while the US is not telling China to withdraw the missiles it has aimed at Taiwan, it is attempting to stop the Taiwanese from launching a referendum to decide their own future.
For the sake of maintaining its dominant position in the UN, it has now even yielded to China by embarrassing Chen. To Washington's surprise, Chen steeled himself and chose not to transit through the US.
While the pan-blue camp laughed at the pan-green camp's misfortune and demanded that Chen apologize for humiliating the nation, it became apparent that the visits to the UAE by Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳), Minister of Transportation and Communications Kuo Yao-chi (郭瑤琪) and their families not long ago -- which drew strong criticism -- were actually a diplomatic achievement disguised as a holiday trip, as was demonstrated by Chen's transit through Abu Dhabi.
This means the transit through the UAE was the successful implementation of Plan B, and not a mistake resulting from panic, as the pan-blue camp claimed.
We are positively surprised by Chen's maturing diplomatic strategies and want to ask the pan-blue camp to offer a public apology for their fictitious claims of Chen's confused odyssey.
More significantly, Chen decided that he would no longer endure humiliations and orders from the US. The greatest pride of Americans -- their belief in freedom and democracy -- is a complex issue, and their pride at times is somewhat misplaced. In particular, situations where the US' economic interests conflict with its belief in justice are a problem for the US.
Taiwan and the US are two independent countries with their own respective national interests. When these overlap, the two can cooperate, but when they conflict, Taiwan must not hesitate to follow its own path.
Chen is adopting the style he used during his term as Taipei mayor. Taiwan's diplomatic problems are not of his doing, but it takes considerable intelligence to resolve them while upholding the nation's dignity.
We were glad to see Chen's brave and resourceful display. The performance was also a signal to anyone with ambitions to lead the nation in future: They must manifest the will to lead Taiwan down its own path to win public respect and support.
Chen Gau-tzu is deputy director of the Northern Taiwan Society.
Translated by Eddy Chang and Perry Svensson
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not
RSS