China has committed a rascality! Last month, China notified Taiwan through the Civil Aeronautics Administration of Hong Kong that it is planning a flight route through the Taiwan Strait. With no permission from the International Civil Aviation Organization, China's decision not only upsets stability in Asia but also endangers the security of air traffic.
The new air lane China has designated off the record is about 42 nautical miles off the central line of the Taiwan Strait. It is close to the air defense training zone. If unidentified civil airplanes fly came too close, inevitable disputes will erupt across the Taiwan Strait. Apparently, China's intention is to compress our air defense identification zone and further force us to render our air territory to it.
China's determination has seriously violated international regulations. Its slogan "peaceful rising" is just sarcasm.
I want to sincerely appeal to Taiwanese to understand that while it seems to offer all kinds of benefits to us, China is swallowing Taiwan on the sly. How can we just accept this action without being aware of the hypocrisy behind it?
We really need to think about what China has brought to us. Is it beneficial or just an inescapable trap?
Hsiao Wei-Hung
Beitou, Taipei
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,
Former minister of culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) has long wielded influence through the power of words. Her articles once served as a moral compass for a society in transition. However, as her April 1 guest article in the New York Times, “The Clock Is Ticking for Taiwan,” makes all too clear, even celebrated prose can mislead when romanticism clouds political judgement. Lung crafts a narrative that is less an analysis of Taiwan’s geopolitical reality than an exercise in wistful nostalgia. As political scientists and international relations academics, we believe it is crucial to correct the misconceptions embedded in her article,
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
RSS