Conforming to China
It has long been the stance of the large moderate center of Taiwan’s electorate that if and after China progresses from its present communist party-state, to become a multi-party participatory democracy, Taiwan could consider merging with China.
We have watched President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for more than a year as he busily erases boundaries and differences between Taiwan and China’s communist party-state and economy. The obvious thrust of his actions is to change Taiwan to closely conform to China’s authoritarian party-state model. He is not willing to wait, in accordance with the wishes of the Taiwanese electorate, for China to progress. His insistence on changing Taiwan as he does, without hearing any of the voices of Taiwan’s diverse democracy, is the behavior of a dictator — thinly dressed up in specious statements and false promises that purport to minimize his insult to the people.
But the insult is obvious and it is real. The people of Taiwan accept the insult of Ma’s dictatorship day by day at the risk of finding one day soon that they have lost their vibrant country.
MARTIN WOLFF
Taipei County
Media reports disappointing
Thanks for your article on the newly discovered files about the violent death of Chen Wen-chen (陳文成). [See “Report sheds light on 1981 mystery,” July 2, page 1].
What strikes me as odd is the continuing contrast between Taiwanese and US reports about this tragic event. US reports were much more detailed about the crime, and more openly critical of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). By US, I refer to a series of reports and harsh editorial commentary by the Washington Post about the KMT’s involvement in Chen’s murder in 1981; official memos from the AIT’s Mark Pratt during that grim summer of 1981; an autopsy report by US forensic expert, Cyril Wecht; and finally to a US congressional hearing into Chen’s death the same year, led by US representatives Stephen Solarz and Jim Leach.
These US reports are summarized and documented, along with other sources and interviews, in well-researched book titled Fires of the Dragon: Politics, Murder and the Kuomintang, published by investigative journalist David Kaplan in 1992.
Many more details are available in his reporting, such as how James Soong (宋楚瑜) as then head of the Government Information Office repeatedly tried to censor and spin what was clearly a murder; and how this murder and others were connected to the “Iron Blood Patriot” gang, who were close friends with none other than the president’s son, Alex Chiang (蔣孝武).
That congressional hearing into Chen’s murder was part of a legislative process that eventually led to far-reaching consequences for Taiwan-US relations: the 1985 passing of the Solarz Amendment to the US Arms Export Control Act, which made it illegal for the US to sell weapons to any government that had so systematically violated US laws as the KMT had. In other words, the threat to cut off all weapons shipped to Taiwan became a legal reality. This effectively shook up the KMT government and helped to usher in the liberalization process in the late 1980s. Solarz aimed this amendment specifically at the Republic of China because of the assassination of Chen Wen-chen and numerous other violations such as spying on and intimidating Taiwanese students and Taiwanese-Americans on US soil, including the KMT assassination of journalist Henry Liu near San Francisco in October 1984.
In sum, the contrast is the reticence and lack of detail in Taiwan’s media reports, even after more than 30 years. Taiwanese media today could do more investigative reporting than in the 1980s, and not leave so much detail to the US media to uncover.
ERICK HEROUX
Taipei
Inviting the Pope
On Dec. 6, the archbishop of the Taipei archdiocese issued a formal invitation to the Vatican requesting that Pope Benedict XVI visit Taiwan sometime this year, which marks the 150th year of the establishment of the Roman Catholic Church in Taiwan.
I cannot overstate the importance of Taiwanese-Vatican ties. The Holy See is Taiwan’s sole remaining European diplomatic ally.
The Vatican is truly a “micro state.” In fact, it is a city within the city of Rome, and the smallest sovereign nation in the world. But the Holy See has power, prestige, wealth and influence.
It is crucial that Taiwan maintain its formal diplomatic ties with the Vatican as long as possible. The Taiwanese government must do everything in its power to ensure that Pope Benedict XVI does indeed visit Taiwan this year, perhaps as part of an “Asian tour” that might include South Korea, Japan, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Not only should Taiwanese officials make every effort to bring the pope to Taiwan, they should also push for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to visit Rome this year.
All this should be accomplished before communist China lays waste to the delusion that is currently being termed the “diplomatic truce” between China and Taiwan.
MICHAEL SCANLON
Connecticut
China has not been a top-tier issue for much of the second Trump administration. Instead, Trump has focused considerable energy on Ukraine, Israel, Iran, and defending America’s borders. At home, Trump has been busy passing an overhaul to America’s tax system, deporting unlawful immigrants, and targeting his political enemies. More recently, he has been consumed by the fallout of a political scandal involving his past relationship with a disgraced sex offender. When the administration has focused on China, there has not been a consistent throughline in its approach or its public statements. This lack of overarching narrative likely reflects a combination
Father’s Day, as celebrated around the world, has its roots in the early 20th century US. In 1910, the state of Washington marked the world’s first official Father’s Day. Later, in 1972, then-US president Richard Nixon signed a proclamation establishing the third Sunday of June as a national holiday honoring fathers. Many countries have since followed suit, adopting the same date. In Taiwan, the celebration takes a different form — both in timing and meaning. Taiwan’s Father’s Day falls on Aug. 8, a date chosen not for historical events, but for the beauty of language. In Mandarin, “eight eight” is pronounced
US President Donald Trump’s alleged request that Taiwanese President William Lai (賴清德) not stop in New York while traveling to three of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, after his administration also rescheduled a visit to Washington by the minister of national defense, sets an unwise precedent and risks locking the US into a trajectory of either direct conflict with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) or capitulation to it over Taiwan. Taiwanese authorities have said that no plans to request a stopover in the US had been submitted to Washington, but Trump shared a direct call with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平)
It is difficult to think of an issue that has monopolized political commentary as intensely as the recall movement and the autopsy of the July 26 failures. These commentaries have come from diverse sources within Taiwan and abroad, from local Taiwanese members of the public and academics, foreign academics resident in Taiwan, and overseas Taiwanese working in US universities. There is a lack of consensus that Taiwan’s democracy is either dying in ashes or has become a phoenix rising from the ashes, nurtured into existence by civic groups and rational voters. There are narratives of extreme polarization and an alarming
RSS