Neutral travelers fight back
CC: Johnny Neihu,
We were talking of the two English articles published recently in Taipei Times, which we are not very happy with, because the written content seems to favor the editor's own opinion, and some of our answers were even misinterpreted ("Swiss couple fall in love with Taiwan," Nov. 13, page 4, and Johnny Neihu's NewsWatch: "Truly the next best thing to China," Nov. 17, page 8).
But there was another article in the China Post, which matched more our feelings ("Global nomads make sojourn in Taiwan," Nov. 17).
Sometimes it's sad to spend so much time for interviews if the result can be so disappointing. Having said this, we are happy that all the other newspapers, which followed the DPP's press release of Oct. 13, are related more to the facts and realities of our world record journey and don't carry the "smell of politics."
We still want and have to point out that we don't carry any missions around the world, e.g. with political, religious, commercial or any other possible content.
We are and remain as neutral as Switzerland!
Emil and Liliana Schmid
Johnny replies: When I wrote about you guys it was obviously all in good fun. Now I'm not so sure. As neutral as Switzerland, eh? You gotta admire a country that has given safe haven to dirty money for decades but handed 25,000 Jews back to the Nazis.
Now that's neutrality.
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
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