Small nation standing tall
Taiwan is still very unknown in the world. One reason is its uniqueness. It stands alone, hidden in the shadows of its neighbors. It is small, but still bigger than Hong Kong or Singapore, who somehow manage to be more expensive and more famous, despite their smaller size.
It is between two big countries who are also the second and third-largest economies in the world: China and Japan. It is cheaper living here than the US or Europe, but Vietnam and the Philippines are even cheaper than Taiwan. And [South] Korean pop culture is big now.
Shelley Rigger observes in her book, Why Taiwan Matters: Small Island, Global Powerhouse, that Taipei 101 is a tall building standing alone amid much smaller buildings.
She also says that Taiwan is a kind of reverse analogy: a lesser-known country alone among many countries that are more widely known.
Andres Chang
Taipei
Court corruption overcome
As a foreigner having lived in Taiwan since 1964 and having experienced legal battles at the Taipei court for more than five years, with an average of one court appearance a month, I completely agree with Taiwan Jury Association chairman Chang Ching (張靜).
A bulldozer started digging a ditch on our beach community private land without authorization.
Is there a more simple legal case? You prove the ownership of the land, take pictures of the ditch, ask the bulldozer driver to testify on who hired him and it is the end of the story.
Why did it take so long? I won because the National Security Bureau got involved. With them putting a magnifying glass on the case, the judges were afraid of being shown to be corrupt.
Corruption not only financial, but also political. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) at the time were running the courts, like all of Taiwan.
In my case, political.
The chief of staff of the military was behind the defendant protecting him. An amazing place Taiwan.
Pierre Loisel
New Taipei City
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
On Wednesday last week, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) asserting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) territorial claim over Taiwan effective 1945, predicated upon instruments such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation. The article further contended that this de jure and de facto status was subsequently reaffirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly issued a statement categorically repudiating these assertions. In addition to the reasons put forward by the ministry, I believe that China’s assertions are open to questions in international
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of
As strategic tensions escalate across the vast Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as more than a potential flashpoint. It is the fulcrum upon which the credibility of the evolving American-led strategy of integrated deterrence now rests. How the US and regional powers like Japan respond to Taiwan’s defense, and how credible the deterrent against Chinese aggression proves to be, will profoundly shape the Indo-Pacific security architecture for years to come. A successful defense of Taiwan through strengthened deterrence in the Indo-Pacific would enhance the credibility of the US-led alliance system and underpin America’s global preeminence, while a failure of integrated deterrence would
RSS