During an online interview in July conducted on behalf of the Hudson Institute, British MP Iain Duncan Smith was asked whether the so-called “Golden Era” of China-UK relations that then-UK prime minister David Cameron heralded during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) visit to London in 2015 was a “major strategic mistake.”
Talking to an experienced politician, the interviewer was likely expecting a long-winded answer, but Duncan Smith gathered his thoughts for less than a second before simply answering: “Yes.”
The past three years have been trying times for the international community. Tectonic changes are occurring in the international world order, coinciding with an ever-more assertive China under Xi. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) offers its own version of what a revised international world order should look like, which would mean abiding by rules of the party’s own making.
So, here is an admirable idea: Democratic nations the world over should coordinate their responses to an increasingly assertive, confident and aggressive CCP to “preserve a marketplace of ideas free from distortion” and maintain a “free, open and rules-based international order that supports human dignity,” with the idea that “persistence of such an order requires like-minded countries to participate actively in its governance and enforcement.”
Such a concerted effort should be seen as a no-brainer, and yet it still has to materialize in any meaningful form.
The quotes are taken from the mission statement of the alliance formed on June 4 by more than 100 lawmakers from 19 countries and blocs, including Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, the EU, Japan, the UK and the US, which calls itself the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC). It seeks to reform democratic countries’ approach to China.
Duncan Smith is a cofounder of the IPAC.
Here is another idea that really should be a no-brainer: Given Taiwan’s experience, expertise and success in containing the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Assembly (WHA) should allow the nation to participate in, and have access to, the WHO, not just regarding the pandemic, but in all things pertaining to global public health.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that, in terms of COVID-19, “no one is safe until everyone is safe.” He is right, but could it be that the organization he leads is not listening to him?
Tedros’ words were quoted in IPAC’s “Statement on Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly and World Health Organization,” posted on Monday. The statement describes Taiwan’s control of the outbreak as “a successful model that others around the world can aspire to,” noting that the nation last month marked 200 days without a single domestic case.
It also says that the international community could benefit greatly from the “world leading expertise Taiwan has developed” to control the pandemic.
A final quote: “This not only threatens the health and well-being of Taiwan’s citizens, but also creates a dangerous gap in the global network.”
As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday in a response to letters from lawmakers from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia urging Tedros to invite Taiwan to this month’s WHA — which is to be held virtually: “Denying Taiwan participation at the WHA is a violation of the human rights of the 23 million Taiwanese and is detrimental to global cooperation in the fight against COVID-19.”
So, yes, it would be nice for Tedros to allow politics to be set aside and for Taiwan to participate in WHA and WHO activities and mechanisms, and listen to those members of the international community concerned about the deleterious effects of the CCP’s influence on the international world order, not to say his own words.
This editorial has been corrected to note that Iain Duncan Smith is a British lawmaker, not the leader of the UK's Conservative Party. The Taipei Times regrets the error.
Taiwan is not an orphan nation in need of someone to adopt it. Taiwan is not a foundling nation wandering the streets of the world looking for a home. It is not even a poor waif of a nation unable to take care of itself in that same big, bad world. Finally, Taiwan is certainly not terra nullius, a nationless land that is open and waiting to be explored and possessed by those who dare. Taiwan is a mid-sized, democratic nation that by GDP, profitability, location and even microchip production punches far above its weight in its region and in international commerce.
While Taiwan still has a long way to go regarding cultural sensitivity and respecting differences, an incident last week involving discrimination against Aborigines was malicious and should not be condoned. It is even sadder to see that the offenders are students at Fu Jen Catholic University (FJU), one of the top private schools in the nation, and that not only did their hateful words not receive any mainstream media coverage, but most of them remain unapologetic. Aboriginal members of the Fu Jen Lumah Association were practicing singing outside due to a lack of space. Their late-night practice bothered some students in
Do you remember where you were last year at this time? Do you remember what it was like? Here in the leafy suburbs of Washington, D.C., we were in lock-down mode. The streets were bleak and empty. Schools, offices, malls, theaters, churches … all were closed. The essentials were in short supply. Grocery stores rationed the good stuff. Signs read: “One jumbo pack of toilet paper, two cartoons of eggs per family please!” Some days those signs mocked us from barren shelves. It was a lonely and anti-social time. Families and friends had to weigh the rewards of gathering together to celebrate Christmas
Not one, but three cheating scandals have come to light over the past few weeks at three Taipei universities. Reactions have ranged from threats to shrugs, with some students writing online that it is a “common occurrence.” A trend this clear is indeed indicative of a greater problem, but much of the commentary swirling in its wake has missed the point. In the most hotly discussed case, an anonymous student at National Taiwan University on Nov. 26 posted a photograph on the popular online forum Dcard showing a group of students. The poster said the image, which has since been deleted,
RSS