Where is Taiwan heading?
On Oct. 20, more than 130,000 Formosans loudly voiced their overdue claim of self-determination in front of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) headquarters in Taipei, demanding an amendment to the Referendum Act (公民投票法) to allow for a poll promoting Taiwanese independence and rejecting Chinese annexation.
The angry protesters shouted slogans such as “Taiwan yes, China no” and “[We] want a referendum.”
They waved a green flag with the image of Taiwan on it.
There were dignitaries, Taiwanese democratic pioneers and seniors on stage.
“We should tell the world that we want to establish an independent country,” alliance convener and Formosa TV chairman Kuo Bei-hung (郭倍宏) said.
“To strive for a better future, Taiwanese should fight against China’s attempts to swallow the nation,” political veteran Peng Ming-min (彭明敏) said.
Wu Li-pei (吳澧培), founder and honorary chairman of the Formosa Foundation, criticized the Referendum Act as an iron cage transformed from a bird cage, as it does not even allow Taiwanese to rectify the name of their own land and nation.
He warned people not to let Taiwan became the second Hong Kong.
“We are at a critical juncture of history. There might be a long way to go to achieve Taiwanese independence, but everyone should play his or her own part to realize the goal,” he said.
Headline news on the front page of Reuters: Thousands rally in Taiwan, call for referendum on independence from China. South China Morning Post: Taiwan independence protesters take to the street in Taipei. ABC News: Thousands of pro-independence demonstrators rally in Taiwan. The Washington Post: Thousands of pro-independence demonstrators rally in Taiwan. DW: Taiwan’s independence rally draws thousands, irks China. The Financial Times: Taiwanese protesters step up calls for independence.
More than 80 world media organizations reported about the Oct. 20 event, but it was totally ignored or blocked inside Taiwan. Only Formosa TV, Taiwan People News and the Taipei Times published the headline the following day.
Self-determination is a right that has been overdue for Taiwanese since the end of World War II. However, it has been labeled the biggest unforgivable crime thanks to the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) seven decades of brainwashing.
No, Taiwanese are not Chinese and China does not have any right over Taiwan. There is no legal document or international treaty to prove its nonsense claim.
It is time for Taiwanese to seriously face their own political legal status. Taiwan needs to build itself up as a new nation, but not ask for independence from China — it simply does not have any right to it.
It was sad seeing only a few young Taiwanese showing up on the day of the rally; maybe they are totally unaware of the truth of Taiwan’s history.
Education providing correct information about Taiwan after World War II is urgently needed. The Taiwanese government should offer an open forum to discuss the de jure sovereignty of Taiwan, and not just act like an ostrich burying its head and running office under ROC law.
It is wasting time, and Taiwan will go nowhere under it.
John Hsieh
Hayward, California
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
RSS