Thanks to the efforts of many US lawmakers, the Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative (TAIPEI) Act was unanimously passed by the US House of Representatives on Wednesday last week, following the US Senate’s unanimous passage of a slightly different version of the bill in October last year.
As both houses of the US Congress must pass identical versions of a bill before it can be sent to the president for signature, the version passed by the House now has to be passed by the Senate again before being signed into law by US President Donald Trump.
Once that happens, the TAIPEI Act would provide a legal foundation for the US government to help Taiwan strengthen its official diplomatic relationships and support the nation’s participation in international organizations.
In response to this expression of friendship, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) met with American Institute in Taiwan Chairman James Moriarty.
In addition to expressing gratitude, Tsai said that “Taiwan is willing and able to work side-by-side with the international community and contribute even more to fight against COVID-19.”
At this moment, it is hard to not think about the statement Palauan President Tommy Remengesau posted on Facebook on Wednesday last week.
The statement originated from an incident involving a US health worker with flu symptoms, who was suspected of having been infected with COVID-19, being admitted to Belau National Hospital, and a test later returned negative for the coronavirus.
In the statement, Remengesau extended his gratitude to the agencies — including “the Republic of China, Taiwan and Taiwan Centers for Disease Control” — that had provided necessary assistance and support in determining whether the patient was infected.
It concluded with a sentence that caused mixed feelings: “As in so many situations like this, fear — not a germ — is our biggest enemy.”
As the COVID-19 outbreak spreads, the number of global infection cases had reached more than 113,000 as of yesterday. The disease has effectively become the greatest fear factor in the international community, which abounds with fear about the lack of awareness, protection, hospitalization and treatment.
However, Taiwan does not have time to be afraid.
Since Taiwan confirmed its first COVID-19 case on Jan. 21, a research report published by Johns Hopkins University estimated that the nation would have the second-highest number of imported COVID-19 cases due to its proximity to China.
It has been more than a month since that prediction and Taiwan has managed to keep the number of confirmed cases to 47, as of yesterday.
On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, the US — under the pressure of free population flow — has reported 607 confirmed cases of COVID-19, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data showed.
Although the number of confirmed cases is not necessarily a sign of a nation’s disease-prevention capabilities, a rising number of infections could become a source of public fear.
As the TAIPEI Act is likely to be passed by both houses of Congress, Taiwan should adopt a more active role and take the initiative in providing feedback on its disease-prevention experience to help its friend.
This is the stance Taiwan should take and the obligation that Taiwan should fulfill in protecting itself and providing assistance to US, a friendly nation.
Shih Ya-hsuan is an associate professor of geography at National Kaohsiung Normal University.
Translated by Chang Ho-ming
Jan. 1 marks a decade since China repealed its one-child policy. Just 10 days before, Peng Peiyun (彭珮雲), who long oversaw the often-brutal enforcement of China’s family-planning rules, died at the age of 96, having never been held accountable for her actions. Obituaries praised Peng for being “reform-minded,” even though, in practice, she only perpetuated an utterly inhumane policy, whose consequences have barely begun to materialize. It was Vice Premier Chen Muhua (陳慕華) who first proposed the one-child policy in 1979, with the endorsement of China’s then-top leaders, Chen Yun (陳雲) and Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平), as a means of avoiding the
The last foreign delegation Nicolas Maduro met before he went to bed Friday night (January 2) was led by China’s top Latin America diplomat. “I had a pleasant meeting with Qiu Xiaoqi (邱小琪), Special Envoy of President Xi Jinping (習近平),” Venezuela’s soon-to-be ex-president tweeted on Telegram, “and we reaffirmed our commitment to the strategic relationship that is progressing and strengthening in various areas for building a multipolar world of development and peace.” Judging by how minutely the Central Intelligence Agency was monitoring Maduro’s every move on Friday, President Trump himself was certainly aware of Maduro’s felicitations to his Chinese guest. Just
A recent piece of international news has drawn surprisingly little attention, yet it deserves far closer scrutiny. German industrial heavyweight Siemens Mobility has reportedly outmaneuvered long-entrenched Chinese competitors in Southeast Asian infrastructure to secure a strategic partnership with Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate, Vingroup. The agreement positions Siemens to participate in the construction of a high-speed rail link between Hanoi and Ha Long Bay. German media were blunt in their assessment: This was not merely a commercial win, but has symbolic significance in “reshaping geopolitical influence.” At first glance, this might look like a routine outcome of corporate bidding. However, placed in
China often describes itself as the natural leader of the global south: a power that respects sovereignty, rejects coercion and offers developing countries an alternative to Western pressure. For years, Venezuela was held up — implicitly and sometimes explicitly — as proof that this model worked. Today, Venezuela is exposing the limits of that claim. Beijing’s response to the latest crisis in Venezuela has been striking not only for its content, but for its tone. Chinese officials have abandoned their usual restrained diplomatic phrasing and adopted language that is unusually direct by Beijing’s standards. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the
RSS