Time to recognize Taiwan
Once again, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發) and the Taiwanese have taught the world a lesson in dignity (“Troops would never back down: Yen,” Sept. 30, page 1).
Taiwan is a sovereign state with solid democratic institutions, marvelous political, social, technological and cultural achievements, formidable defense forces and one of the world’s largest economies — and it is high time the major geostrategic actors of the international system recognized this plain fact.
The recent intensification of Beijing’s military provocations reflects the increased frustration of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) state and ruling elite with Tsai’s triumphal re-election in January, the entirely deserved and expanding respect that Taiwan has received for how Tsai’s administration has faced the COVID-19 pandemic, and the realization that, propaganda notwithstanding, the 23,500,000 Taiwanese will not be fooled by the CCP promises of “peaceful unification” under the notoriously fraudulent “one country, two systems” formula — even less so in the light of the recent, dramatic Hong Kong experience.
Yet, mainland China’s military pressure on Taiwan could well escalate, and dangerously so, given the bellicose jingoism that despotic Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and the CCP and ruling elite have been cultivating for years.
The distinguished historian Victor Davis Hanson said that “throughout history, conflict had always broken out between enemies when the appearance of deterrence … vanished”; indeed, history provides numerous examples of “weaker bellicose states [which] could convince themselves of the impossible because their fantasies were not checked earlier by cold reality.”
Translated into the current geopolitical reality, this means that, to effectively dissuade Beijing from Herostratus’ path, clarity is in order.
The time has come for the US and its European allies to apply a strategy of containment of mainland China’s radicalized revisionism — and proceed with full diplomatic recognition, and subsequent full-scale support of Taiwan.
Ilias Iliopoulos
iprofessor of history, National University of Athens
Latecomers ruin play
On Sept. 26, I finally got to see the stage play Crystal Boys (孽子), which I had been looking forward to seeing for six years.
However, I had no use for the tissues I had prepared to wipe my tears away.
The theater — the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) — repeatedly dispatched its ushers to escort people who had arrived late to their seats, spoiling the performance and ruining the experience for those who had arrived and sat down in good time.
This kind of thing has happened before. When the French ensemble Les Arts Florissants performed Handel’s Messiah at Weiwuying on Oct. 19 last year, latecomers prompted conductor William Christie to temporarily halt the performance and place his hands on his hips as he waited for them to sit down.
I would like to ask Weiwuying artistic director Chien Wen-pin (簡文彬) who was responsible for such an international embarrassment — himself, Weiwuying or Kao-hsiungers in general.
According to international etiquette, to ensure the best possible performance and avoid disturbing the artists and audience, no audience members are allowed to enter an auditorium once a performance has started.
How hard could it be to ask late arrivers to wait quietly until the intermission before entering the auditorium?
While some well-known members of the original cast of Crystal Boys were absent from the Sept. 26 performance, the current cast played their roles with equal devotion.
However, the show was marred by the latecomers, some of whom did annoying things such as answering their cellphone and taking off masks. Consequently, I was not moved by this play that I had been awaiting so long to see.
If Weiwuying had not let those tardy and rude theatergoers into the auditorium at the start, at least I could have enjoyed the 100 minutes of the first half, and my ticket would have been worth the NT$3,000 I paid for it. Unfortunately, however, I felt very disappointed.
As a Kaohsiunger, I greatly cherish the high-class venue that we have in Weiwuying, but I really regret that it could cause Christie to halt his ensemble’s performance.
Even the Pingtung Performing Arts Center expects and gets better behavior from its audiences, so how can Weiwuying expect to be counted as a truly world-class venue when it allows such actions?
Lin Fang-shih
Kaohsiung
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