American Institute in Taiwan Director Stephen Young put the cat among the pigeons last Thursday when he held a press conference to talk frankly about the arms procurement bill.
The gist of his message was that after five years the Bush administration is getting fed up with the string of broken promises and inaction from the opposition concerning passage of the bill.
Young's words were unusually blunt, but as he told those present, China has not been wasting time in upgrading its military arsenal during the same period, and Taiwan should appreciate that the US is willing to sell it arms at all.
The US wants and needs Taiwan to have an adequate defense capability so that Taipei can one day bargain with Beijing from a position of strength or, in the event of any conflict with China, hold on until the US arrives to help the nation defend itself.
Young's words unsurprisingly upset the pan-blue camp, but since the budgets have been revised in accordance with its demands, the pan-blues have no excuse to vacillate any longer.
The linking of the bill to prosecutor Eric Chen's (
All this latest episode has done is again underline Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) impotence in the face of party hardliners. All his talk of a "reasonable" arms budget and promises to review the bill have amounted to nothing.
In response to Young, Ma said: "The Republic of China [ROC] is a sovereign country ... The right of the Legislative Yuan to review the bill should be respected."
But it is the pan-blue camp that has not respected that right, blocking the bill from being reviewed.
Ma and the rest of the pan-blues no doubt harbor profound unease at the fact that the ROC remains a "sovereign country" only because of US support. Those KMT legislators who show blatant disregard for Taiwan's security by blocking the bill would not occupy their privileged positions today were it not for the US' economic and military commitment to this country.
One possible reason for their recent behavior is that they are trying to sabotage relations with the US to make the Democratic Progressive Party government look incompetent in the eyes of the electorate and Washington. But this could backfire, as many in Taiwan value a strong relationship with the US.
On the other hand, it could be part of a naive plan to unseat Young, who is disliked by the pan-blue camp because of his perceived pro-Taiwan stance and the fact that he is knowledgeable about local affairs.
The People First Party became upset after he criticized Chairman James Soong's (
What it boils down to is that the pan-blues do not like the US having a clued-up man in Taiwan who tells Washington exactly what is going on and does not pander to their every whim.
Thankfully, the State Department's statement on Friday indicates that Young has the full backing of the US government. So, if that is the pan-blues' aim, then they are likely to fail.
If the electorate takes the State Department's words to heart and "hold their leaders responsible" for these shenanigans, the political space for pan-blue hardliners will shrink. The first test of this process will be the Taipei mayoral election.
Why is Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) not a “happy camper” these days regarding Taiwan? Taiwanese have not become more “CCP friendly” in response to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) use of spies and graft by the United Front Work Department, intimidation conducted by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Armed Police/Coast Guard, and endless subversive political warfare measures, including cyber-attacks, economic coercion, and diplomatic isolation. The percentage of Taiwanese that prefer the status quo or prefer moving towards independence continues to rise — 76 percent as of December last year. According to National Chengchi University (NCCU) polling, the Taiwanese
It would be absurd to claim to see a silver lining behind every US President Donald Trump cloud. Those clouds are too many, too dark and too dangerous. All the same, viewed from a domestic political perspective, there is a clear emerging UK upside to Trump’s efforts at crashing the post-Cold War order. It might even get a boost from Thursday’s Washington visit by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. In July last year, when Starmer became prime minister, the Labour Party was rigidly on the defensive about Europe. Brexit was seen as an electorally unstable issue for a party whose priority
US President Donald Trump is systematically dismantling the network of multilateral institutions, organizations and agreements that have helped prevent a third world war for more than 70 years. Yet many governments are twisting themselves into knots trying to downplay his actions, insisting that things are not as they seem and that even if they are, confronting the menace in the White House simply is not an option. Disagreement must be carefully disguised to avoid provoking his wrath. For the British political establishment, the convenient excuse is the need to preserve the UK’s “special relationship” with the US. Following their White House
US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House has brought renewed scrutiny to the Taiwan-US semiconductor relationship with his claim that Taiwan “stole” the US chip business and threats of 100 percent tariffs on foreign-made processors. For Taiwanese and industry leaders, understanding those developments in their full context is crucial while maintaining a clear vision of Taiwan’s role in the global technology ecosystem. The assertion that Taiwan “stole” the US’ semiconductor industry fundamentally misunderstands the evolution of global technology manufacturing. Over the past four decades, Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), has grown through legitimate means
RSS