The question of whether China's rise represents an opportunity or a threat to the world has been a topic of heated debate.
In 2003, Beijing came up with the slogan "China's peaceful rise," successfully triggering international thinking and debate about what a peaceful China means.
This concept, however, differs from the lesson that history teaches us.
Slogans about peace can themselves never bring about peace. World peace can only be achieved on the basis of democracy, and the rise of democracy is the best guarantee for peace.
Only when China rises democratically can it become a responsible stakeholder.
In 2000, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was elected president, completing the transition of power in Taiwan.
In 2004, Chen was re-elected, which allowed the DPP to continue with its efforts to consolidate and deepen Taiwan's democracy.
Although the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is no longer in power, it and other old forces and groups still enjoy a legislative majority. Therefore, the DPP government has yet to secure full power.
If the KMT wins the 2008 presidential election, I venture to predict that the influence of Chinese nationalism will cause the KMT leadership to move toward a more centered position between China and the US, and weaken the relationship between Taiwan and Japan.
This would not only mean that Taiwan will move toward China politically, but also and more importantly that democracy in Taiwan would regress in the same way it has regressed in Hong Kong, leading people to start doubting their faith in democracy.
The international community has always hoped to engage with China and transform the country into a mature market economy and a democracy. China has now opened up economically. But it is also attacking democracy.
It has even intensified its attacks and wantonly interferes with Taiwan's domestic political affairs and attempts to destroy the functioning of Taiwan's democracy. There is an abundance of examples that attest to this situation.
Taiwan's experience shows that a growing, undemocratic and authoritarian China will wield economic power to damage the democratic system of another country.
If it can hurt Taiwan, it can of course do the same to other nations. I believe that China is working to gradually erode the foundations of the alliance of democratic nations established by the US.
Let me reiterate that Taiwan's hard-won democratic achievements are now facing a serious threat.
Taiwan is the most important base for promoting democracy in China. The consolidation of democracy in Taiwan is crucial to enlarging the Asian democratic community.
The international community should therefore consider Taiwan an asset for democratic enlargement and give it firm support against China's threats and the crisis China is creating in Taiwan.
Yu Shyi-kun is the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party. Translated by Daniel Cheng
The EU’s biggest banks have spent years quietly creating a new way to pay that could finally allow customers to ditch their Visa Inc and Mastercard Inc cards — the latest sign that the region is looking to dislodge two of the most valuable financial firms on the planet. Wero, as the project is known, is now rolling out across much of western Europe. Backed by 16 major banks and payment processors including BNP Paribas SA, Deutsche Bank AG and Worldline SA, the platform would eventually allow a German customer to instantly settle up with, say, a hotel in France
On August 6, Ukraine crossed its northeastern border and invaded the Russian region of Kursk. After spending more than two years seeking to oust Russian forces from its own territory, Kiev turned the tables on Moscow. Vladimir Putin seemed thrown off guard. In a televised meeting about the incursion, Putin came across as patently not in control of events. The reasons for the Ukrainian offensive remain unclear. It could be an attempt to wear away at the morale of both Russia’s military and its populace, and to boost morale in Ukraine; to undermine popular and elite confidence in Putin’s rule; to
A traffic accident in Taichung — a city bus on Sept. 22 hit two Tunghai University students on a pedestrian crossing, killing one and injuring the other — has once again brought up the issue of Taiwan being a “living hell for pedestrians” and large vehicle safety to public attention. A deadly traffic accident in Taichung on Dec. 27, 2022, when a city bus hit a foreign national, his Taiwanese wife and their one-year-old son in a stroller on a pedestrian crossing, killing the wife and son, had shocked the public, leading to discussions and traffic law amendments. However, just after the
With escalating US-China competition and mutual distrust, the trend of supply chain “friend shoring” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fragmentation of the world into rival geopolitical blocs, many analysts and policymakers worry the world is retreating into a new cold war — a world of trade bifurcation, protectionism and deglobalization. The world is in a new cold war, said Robin Niblett, former director of the London-based think tank Chatham House. Niblett said he sees the US and China slowly reaching a modus vivendi, but it might take time. The two great powers appear to be “reversing carefully
RSS