Translation questioned
As someone who finds blatant attacks on Taiwan’s dignity unacceptable, I nevertheless question the veracity of the accusation in your editorial that mentioned Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai (彭帥) as having “interrupted Hsieh [Su-wei (謝淑薇)] during an interview and said that she could not accept that Taiwan is a country” (“Chinese arrogance hits new heights,” July 10, page 8).
If the author of the editorial is referring to this interview from Wimbledon — www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/news/interviews/2013-07-06/201307071373203770512.html — after Hsieh describes the tennis environment in Taiwan, the interviewer then asked: “But your country...” to which Peng responded, “I’m sorry, because I sit here I cannot say how is country. I’m sorry.”
At best, it is unclear in English what Peng is referring to; it is at least possible that she is referring to the tennis environment in her country, China.
Please double-check the facts and clarify whether Peng indeed meant to insist that Taiwan is not a country, or if she simply meant something else altogether. It would be a shame to tarnish the journalistic integrity of the newspaper over a simple translation misunderstanding.
Yeh Chieh-ting
Mountain View, California
The first Donald Trump term was a boon for Taiwan. The administration regularized the arms sales process and enhanced bilateral ties. Taipei will not be so fortunate the second time around. Given recent events, Taiwan must proceed with the assumption that it cannot count on the United States to defend it — diplomatically or militarily — during the next four years. Early indications suggested otherwise. The nomination of Marco Rubio as US Secretary of State and the appointment of Mike Waltz as the national security advisor, both of whom have expressed full-throated support for Taiwan in the past, raised hopes that
There is nothing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) could do to stop the tsunami-like mass recall campaign. KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) reportedly said the party does not exclude the option of conditionally proposing a no-confidence vote against the premier, which the party later denied. Did an “actuary” like Chu finally come around to thinking it should get tough with the ruling party? The KMT says the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is leading a minority government with only a 40 percent share of the vote. It has said that the DPP is out of touch with the electorate, has proposed a bloated
Authorities last week revoked the residency permit of a Chinese social media influencer surnamed Liu (劉), better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), who has more than 440,000 followers online and is living in Taiwan with a marriage-based residency permit, for her “reunification by force” comments. She was asked to leave the country in 10 days. The National Immigration Agency (NIA) on Tuesday last week announced the decision, citing the influencer’s several controversial public comments, including saying that “China does not need any other reason to reunify Taiwan with force” and “why is it [China] hesitant
A media report has suggested that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) was considering initiating a vote of no confidence in Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) in a bid to “bring down the Cabinet.” The KMT has denied that this topic was ever discussed. Why might such a move have even be considered? It would have been absurd if it had seen the light of day — potentially leading to a mass loss of legislative seats for the KMT even without the recall petitions already under way. Today the second phase of the recall movement is to begin — which has
RSS