Letter full of prejudice
There are many points to respond to in Pai Po-Hsueh’s letter (“Foreigners need to behave,” March 18, page 8).
Taiwanese are not Chinese, they are Taiwanese.
Both the vast majority of Taiwanese and immigrants behave in an appropriate matter, as evidenced by the fact that violent crime is extremely low in Taiwan. Immigrants are less than 4 percent of the population of Taiwan. Therefore, violent crime, or any crime, in Taiwan would most likely be committed by a Taiwanese person and not a recent immigrant.
Pai gives no statistics to justify his concerns. Pai only cites his own anecdotal experience.
There is no evidence that foreigners are publicly loud, publicly drunk or littering more than Taiwanese.
If Po does not like people loitering at train stations, then Po thinks there are just too many Muslims and Filipinos at Taipei Railway Station on Sundays. Wow. Racist.
Yes, foreign English teachers party on the weekends. So do Taiwanese.
There is no evidence that foreigners party more than Taiwanese. Taiwanese do not party or get drunk on weekends?
Yes, immigrants in Taiwan should learn at least some Mandarin, but enough Taipei people speak English that anyone who only speaks English can live in Taipei.
Andres Chang
Davao, the Philippines
Free nations must unite
Chinese President for life Xi Jinping (習近平) says that democratic Taiwan will “face the punishment of history” for declining association with its totalitarian neighbor.
Xi should know that history has its own way of dealing with tyrants, be they Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Napoleon, Nero or Attila the Hun.
I suspect that Xi will end up exactly the same way they did.
The free nations of the world must stand together against the bullying of China, as a matter of principle.
They should also send a strong statement to China by scrapping the absurd “one China” policy and according recognition to both China and Taiwan.
Gavan Duffy
Edens Landing,
Queensland, Australia
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
RSS