President Chen Shui-bian (
For the sake of the dignity of the Taiwanese people, Chen refused this humiliating arrangement and instead took the westward route to the South American nation. He also decided not to transit through the US on his way home.
It's rough for Taiwan to follow it's own road, but as an independent state whose national sovereignty has often been oppressed, this is the path that we have to take sooner or later and -- the sooner the better.
Of course, the US humiliation of Chen was a result of Chinese pressure and a desire by the US to teach Taiwan a lesson. China has repeatedly attempted to besiege, oppress and isolate Taiwan with the ultimate goal of annexing it.
China has had conflicts not only with Taiwan, but with almost all of its regional neighbors. Today, with the help of Taiwanese businesspeople who do not have their country's best interests at heart, China's economic strength is on the rise and breaking through the US' "island chain" in the western Pacific Ocean has become Beijing's ultimate goal. Due to its geographic position, Taiwan has become China's first target.
When the Soviet Union was still strong, then-US president Ronald Reagan publicly fought against it, calling it an "evil empire." Reagan stood by his democratic principles and opposed appeasement of the communists, bravely confronting the Soviet Union even though the arms competition was a heavy burden on the US Treasury.
Thanks to Reagan's steady leadership, the Soviet Union finally collapsed. And the US is now the world's only superpower mainly thanks to Reagan's stewardship.
Today, China has replaced the Soviet Union to become another evil empire. Its vicious methods are even worse than those of its predecessor. Communist China ignores universal values such as human rights, the rule of law, democracy and freedom.
It follows the traditional demagogic path of oriental empires. Domestically, it is implementing autocratic and dictatorial rule over unarmed civilians. Externally, it is striving to expand its territory to gain world hegemony. Due to its brutal and warlike nature, communist China has become a new source of chaos. Unfortunately, none of today's democratic leaders dare to follow Reagan's example and treat it as an evil empire.
US President George W. Bush's government has been playing along with China in order to gain minor benefits. It has treated democratic Taiwan as a servant who is always at its beck and call.
The Bush administration cannot compare to the Reagan administration. Is the Statue of Liberty standing in New York Harbor simply a decoration?
Kuo Cheng-deng is the director of the Graduate Institute of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine at National Yang-Ming University.
Translated by Eddy Chang
The first Donald Trump term was a boon for Taiwan. The administration regularized the arms sales process and enhanced bilateral ties. Taipei will not be so fortunate the second time around. Given recent events, Taiwan must proceed with the assumption that it cannot count on the United States to defend it — diplomatically or militarily — during the next four years. Early indications suggested otherwise. The nomination of Marco Rubio as US Secretary of State and the appointment of Mike Waltz as the national security advisor, both of whom have expressed full-throated support for Taiwan in the past, raised hopes that
Whether in terms of market commonality or resource similarity, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co is the biggest competitor of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC). The two companies have agreed to set up factories in the US and are also recipients of subsidies from the US CHIPS and Science Act, which was signed into law by former US president Joe Biden. However, changes in the market competitiveness of the two companies clearly reveal the context behind TSMC’s investments in the US. As US semiconductor giant Intel Corp has faced continuous delays developing its advanced processes, the world’s two major wafer foundries, TSMC and
There is nothing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) could do to stop the tsunami-like mass recall campaign. KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) reportedly said the party does not exclude the option of conditionally proposing a no-confidence vote against the premier, which the party later denied. Did an “actuary” like Chu finally come around to thinking it should get tough with the ruling party? The KMT says the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is leading a minority government with only a 40 percent share of the vote. It has said that the DPP is out of touch with the electorate, has proposed a bloated
Authorities last week revoked the residency permit of a Chinese social media influencer surnamed Liu (劉), better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), who has more than 440,000 followers online and is living in Taiwan with a marriage-based residency permit, for her “reunification by force” comments. She was asked to leave the country in 10 days. The National Immigration Agency (NIA) on Tuesday last week announced the decision, citing the influencer’s several controversial public comments, including saying that “China does not need any other reason to reunify Taiwan with force” and “why is it [China] hesitant