Taiwan from above
What do you see in Taiwan from above? Filmmaker Chi Po-lin (齊柏林) said it is beyond beauty. Yes, this green island is just like a boat floating on the ocean — it is calm, romantic and attractive in the evening, and vibrant, joyful and green during the day.
What do you see in Taiwan from the Pacific Ocean? In 1542, Portuguese sailors sighted the main island of Taiwan and named it Ilha Formosa: beautiful island. It is indeed a beautiful island, but has suffered a very tough life since then.
What do you see in Taiwan from the northern ocean? The Qing ceded Formosa and the Pescadores Islands to Japan under the Shimonoseki Treaty. Japan renounced all right, title and claim to Formosa and the Pescadores under the San Francisco Peace Treaty, which became effective on April 28, 1952.
What do you see in Taiwan from the Taiwan Strait? Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) took over Formosa under General Order No. 1 on Sept. 2, 1945, and began a military occupation on Oct. 10. Chiang’s government became an exiled government in Taiwan when the San Francisco Peace Treaty went into force.
However, he brainwashed Taiwanese that the Republic of China (ROC) is a sovereign nation and Taiwan is part of it. Sadly, today, the majority of Taiwanese still believe Taiwan is owned by the ROC.
What do you see in Taiwan from the south? All South Asian neighbors realize that Taiwan is governed by the ROC, but is not a sovereign nation. All of them fought for their independence, but they realize Taiwan has never declared itself a sovereign nation.
What do you see in Taiwan from within the island? All publicly elected political leaders relate Taiwan to the ROC. Former presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said ROC on Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said the ROC is Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said the ROC owns Taiwan, while President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) says Taiwan is the ROC.
They all believe Taiwan or the ROC is an independent, sovereign nation.
That is not true, for the ROC Constitution has never adopted Taiwan into its territory, nor is there a legal document to prove that Taiwan’s sovereignty was transferred from Japan to the ROC.
The major problem is to distinguish Taiwan from ROC: Taiwan is not the ROC and the ROC is not Taiwan, but after 70 years of brainwashing, everyone suffers from Stockholm syndrome and see Taiwan as the ROC.
They ignore the fact that the ROC was officially replaced by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the UN by UN Resolution 2758, and the US publicly derecognized the ROC, accepting only the Taiwan governing authority under the Taiwan Relations Act.
Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維) on Tuesday expressed deep anger and regret about Panama’s switching century-old diplomatic ties to China. Lee also criticized Panama for keeping him in the dark until the last moment.
Unbelievably, Lee and his ministry only blamed Panama for switching diplomatic recognition while not protesting against their accepting Taiwan as part of one China.
Taiwan has never built diplomatic relations with Panama or any other diplomatic ally, which all recognize the ROC, not Taiwan, but the ROC is simply an exiled government, not a sovereign nation.
It is time for Tsai to call a national emergency meeting to clarify Taiwan’s national identity. The ROC is but an illusion. It is time for Taiwanese to get rid of the exiled ROC government, which is simply a dead end for Taiwan.
John Hsieh
Hayward, California
The EU’s biggest banks have spent years quietly creating a new way to pay that could finally allow customers to ditch their Visa Inc and Mastercard Inc cards — the latest sign that the region is looking to dislodge two of the most valuable financial firms on the planet. Wero, as the project is known, is now rolling out across much of western Europe. Backed by 16 major banks and payment processors including BNP Paribas SA, Deutsche Bank AG and Worldline SA, the platform would eventually allow a German customer to instantly settle up with, say, a hotel in France
On August 6, Ukraine crossed its northeastern border and invaded the Russian region of Kursk. After spending more than two years seeking to oust Russian forces from its own territory, Kiev turned the tables on Moscow. Vladimir Putin seemed thrown off guard. In a televised meeting about the incursion, Putin came across as patently not in control of events. The reasons for the Ukrainian offensive remain unclear. It could be an attempt to wear away at the morale of both Russia’s military and its populace, and to boost morale in Ukraine; to undermine popular and elite confidence in Putin’s rule; to
A traffic accident in Taichung — a city bus on Sept. 22 hit two Tunghai University students on a pedestrian crossing, killing one and injuring the other — has once again brought up the issue of Taiwan being a “living hell for pedestrians” and large vehicle safety to public attention. A deadly traffic accident in Taichung on Dec. 27, 2022, when a city bus hit a foreign national, his Taiwanese wife and their one-year-old son in a stroller on a pedestrian crossing, killing the wife and son, had shocked the public, leading to discussions and traffic law amendments. However, just after the
With escalating US-China competition and mutual distrust, the trend of supply chain “friend shoring” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fragmentation of the world into rival geopolitical blocs, many analysts and policymakers worry the world is retreating into a new cold war — a world of trade bifurcation, protectionism and deglobalization. The world is in a new cold war, said Robin Niblett, former director of the London-based think tank Chatham House. Niblett said he sees the US and China slowly reaching a modus vivendi, but it might take time. The two great powers appear to be “reversing carefully
RSS