The US July 4 celebration
My fellow Americans, the best way to celebrate the 4th of July is to go to the US Institute in Taipei and register to vote. But it is not enough to register to vote. You must also vote via absentee ballot. When you vote, how will you vote? Where do you stand on the issues?
Do you stand with Hillary Rodham Clinton, who wants automatic universal voter registration? Or do you stand with Republican presidential candidates Jeb Bush, Rick Perry and Chris Christie, who support voter ID laws, which have taken the right to vote away from people? They claim they are fighting voter fraud, but voter fraud is less than 1 precent.
Do you stand with Obamacare, the Supreme Court that recently upheld Obamacare again, Democrats, Taiwan, Canada, Europe and Japan in having a national healthcare plan? Or do you stand with Republicans who want to repeal Obamacare and take away the healthcare that it gives to more than 10 million Americans?
Do you believe in an independent Supreme Court that is a check and balance to the power of the president and the US Congress? Or do you stand with Republican presidential candidate Bobby Jindal, who wants to disband the Supreme Court?
In the wake of yet another mass shooting, this time in a church in Charleston, South Carolina, do you stand with Democrats, Taiwan, Canada, Europe and Japan in having stricter gun laws and less gun violence? Or do you stand with Republicans and want easier access to guns?
Do you stand with Democrats in removing the Confederate flag from government symbols and buildings? Or do you stand with Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee who thinks a presidential candidate should not comment on the issue? Or do you stand with Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio, who thinks it is an issue for individual states to decide?
Yes, Democrats did support the Confederate flag, but then they turned against it. Yes, Republicans did fight the Confederate flag, but then they embraced it. And that is the difference between the two parties. Democrats evolve. Republicans degenerate.
Andres Chang
Boston
Our distopian present
George Orwell would have had a field day with this. In doublespeak of which Orwell himself would have been proud, the Environmental Protection Administration indeed had the cheek to call the continued long-term state-sanctioned mass poisoning with toxic air (“The club of civilized nations,” June 9, page 8) in the Kaohsiung-Pingtung area an “air quality zone” (“Kaohsiung-Pingtung air quality zone set to open,” June 27, page 3).
Let us see how this “air quality zone” pans out for the people afflicted by higher rates of cancer and other serious ailments related to toxic air (“Doctors warn on pollution risks,” Feb. 18, 2012, page 2). Department of Air Quality and Noise Control Director-General Chen Hsien-heng (陳咸亨) promised that, until June 2018, air pollution will drop by 5 percent. In other words, at this rate, people cannot expect to breathe healthy, unpolluted air until 60 years from now. In other words, millions of people continue to be poisoned for at least two generations because the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) continues to pander to the demands of corporations and not to protect people’s health and the environment.
Never mind that the promised 5 percent is unlikely to be achieved, because which corporation would be afraid of the penalties of NT$100,000 to NT$1 million (US$3,213 to US$32,134)? That sounds like the kind of back-pocket change that any corporate CEO has lying around. In any cost-benefit analysis, it is probably cheaper to just pay the penalty than to install filters. That is the insanity of economic logic for you.
Given the ridiculousness of the whole scheme, may I reiterate my rhetorical question: Has there ever been a more useless Environmental Protection Administration (“Stone Age climate policy,” Feb. 9, page 8)? In order to untangle the Orwellian double-speak, may we now call Chen Hsien-heng more accurately the director-general of the “Department of Corporate Stooges Doing Everything To Keep Air and Noise Pollution at Unhealthy Levels so Corporate Profits Remain Sacrosanct”?
This policy of miniscule steps of change is evident in the Ma administration policies concerning the environment, biodiversity (“The plight of sharks,” June 26, 2011, page 8), human rights, or economic inequality (“Environmental tax inequality,” June 22, 2012, page 8). In essence, nothing will change substantially until the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is removed. And then we must all pray that the Democratic Progressive Party has more guts to make substantial change for a more just and healthy society.
Flora Faun
Taipei
There is much evidence that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is sending soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and is learning lessons for a future war against Taiwan. Until now, the CCP has claimed that they have not sent PLA personnel to support Russian aggression. On 18 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskiy announced that the CCP is supplying war supplies such as gunpowder, artillery, and weapons subcomponents to Russia. When Zelinskiy announced on 9 April that the Ukrainian Army had captured two Chinese nationals fighting with Russians on the front line with details
On a quiet lane in Taipei’s central Daan District (大安), an otherwise unremarkable high-rise is marked by a police guard and a tawdry A4 printout from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicating an “embassy area.” Keen observers would see the emblem of the Holy See, one of Taiwan’s 12 so-called “diplomatic allies.” Unlike Taipei’s other embassies and quasi-consulates, no national flag flies there, nor is there a plaque indicating what country’s embassy this is. Visitors hoping to sign a condolence book for the late Pope Francis would instead have to visit the Italian Trade Office, adjacent to Taipei 101. The death of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), joined by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), held a protest on Saturday on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei. They were essentially standing for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is anxious about the mass recall campaign against KMT legislators. President William Lai (賴清德) said that if the opposition parties truly wanted to fight dictatorship, they should do so in Tiananmen Square — and at the very least, refrain from groveling to Chinese officials during their visits to China, alluding to meetings between KMT members and Chinese authorities. Now that China has been defined as a foreign hostile force,
On April 19, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) gave a public speech, his first in about 17 years. During the address at the Ketagalan Institute in Taipei, Chen’s words were vague and his tone was sour. He said that democracy should not be used as an echo chamber for a single politician, that people must be tolerant of other views, that the president should not act as a dictator and that the judiciary should not get involved in politics. He then went on to say that others with different opinions should not be criticized as “XX fellow travelers,” in reference to
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