I would like to respond to your report on "US wants Chen to keep promises" (Oct. 19, page 3).
The US State Department comments regarding Taiwan have long baffled me.
First of all, China has already unilaterally changed the status quo with its missile and military buildup and aggressive attempts to annex Taiwan. Whatever Taiwan does to decrease the threat and increase its autonomy would be bringing things closer to the status quo of earlier years.
And secondly, how could the US not want Taiwan to be a free and independent nation? It is the best thing for their strategic interests.
So why does the US keep making these statements? I think it must be because the US State Department is actually trying to help Taiwan. They don't really care if Taiwan moves toward formal independence. But they have decided that the best way to help Taiwan prevent war is if they say they do not want Taiwan to do anything. That way, China will hold off on war because they think there is outside international pressure on Taiwan.
If this is true, then what Taiwan should do is go full-speed ahead on democratization. President Chen should ignore past promises as part of a past (un)reality, and bring this country into a new republic fit for Taiwan. The US can keep saying, "We don't want anyone to change the status quo." And we'll know they are crossing their fingers behind their backs.
Joel Linton
Taipei
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) expressed “deep concern” over the staggering rise of COVID-19 cases in India, and offered to supply medical equipment and vaccine doses to the country, but his overtures sparked debate in India’s academic and political circles about his sincerity to help, particularly as it was followed by a vulgar display of schadenfreude over the hundreds of thousands of cremations of deaths caused by the virus in the country. The vast majority of Indians were already angry and frustrated with Beijing needling the country on a number of issues, including imports from China, which were abruptly stopped
Determined to keep a permanent grip on power, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has abandoned former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping’s (鄧小平) dogma of “hiding our capacities and biding our time” along with the “peaceful development” line that prevailed under former Chinese presidents Jiang Zemin (江澤民) and Hu Jintao (胡錦濤). Instead, he is treading a “wolf warrior” path of diplomacy that resorts to coercion, debt entrapment and hostage-taking. Externally, Xi’s China has claimed that it would never seek hegemony, yet it challenges the free, rules-based international order wherever it can. While insisting that it will not export its ideology, it has
As the US’ mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign continues at a record pace, one question under debate is what the administration of US President Joe Biden should do with its extra doses — and especially where to send them. One country that should be at the top of a donation list is Taiwan, in recognition of the help that it provided to the US at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. After weeks of pressure, the Biden administration announced that it is now “looking at options to share American-made AstraZeneca vaccine doses.” By summer, it is clear that anyone in the
Recent news has not been good for the image of Taiwan’s police. After a questionable arrest and detainment of a music teacher in Taoyuan made the headlines last week, news broke that officers at Songshan Precinct’s Zhonglun Police Station in Taipei allegedly deleted security footage showing a group of men storming into the station and damaging a computer on April 16. While the video incident is still being investigated, a group of people on Monday night released hundreds of cockroaches into a restaurant where Taipei’s voluntary police force was hosting a banquet. The guests included senior officers such as Taipei Police
RSS