KMT’s senseless move
Further to your story “KMT calls to cut budgets for US, Czech missions” (Jan. 23, page 1): Taiwan’s Representatives to the US and the Czech Republic, Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and Ke Liang-ruey (柯良叡) respectively, made tremendous efforts to improve Taiwan’s position in the international system.
Was it perhaps a mere coincidence that, during the past year, we witnessed the signing of the Taiwan Assurance Act by former US president Donald Trump, several visits by senior US officials and last but not least, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo’s announcement of the lifting of all bans on contacts between US and Taiwanese diplomats and other officials?
Or was it just a coincidence that Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil, leading an 89-member delegation, paid a visit to Taiwan and spoke at the Legislative Yuan?
Every serious policy analyst understands that such diplomatic achievements cannot come out of the blue. Hsiao — an energetic diplomat and a truly charismatic person in terms of communication skills — and Ke, a first-class diplomat with a solid knowledge and experience background, must have played an important role.
I therefore cannot understand the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) bewildering move.
Frankly, I always thought that discord for the sake of discord, and a national split had been, alas, a negative feature of Greek politics only, since ancient times.
Ilias Iliopoulos,
Professor,
National University of Athens
Media scrum
As a communication professional, I read with interest — and some concern — the Taipei Times’ recount of Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Su Chen-ching’s (蘇震清) scuffle with the media eager to report on his exit from the Taipei District Court (“One hurt in scrum over Su Chen-ching,” Jan. 31, page 2). Sadly, fault can be found on both sides of the issue.
First, of course, Su knew full well that there would be intense interest from the media following his release from custody. He had been advised to use a less perilous departure route, but instead chose a path that would guarantee his being directly confronted by the waiting media.
He knew the media were there, yet he chose to walk directly into their midst. So shame on him.
Second, we have the media behaving exactly how negative stereotyping displays them — as manic, unruly herds of uncivilized individuals.
This behavior is not new. As a public relations representative for various organizations over the past half-century, I have witnessed this behavior. (I’m also happy to say that, as a part-time journalist assigned to cover various stories, I never stooped to this level.)
Su certainly — or should have — understood the “rules of the game.”
He is not an unknown figure, and his release from custody is not “just another story.”
Yet he chose to thrust himself and his apparently overzealous bodyguards directly into the path of the foaming-at-the-mouth media. Yet another story with which to entertain my University of Tampa public relations students.
Kirk Hazlett,
Adjunct professor,
University of Tampa
Apart from the first arms sales approval for Taiwan since US President Donald Trump took office, last month also witnessed another milestone for Taiwan-US relations. Trump signed the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act into law on Tuesday. Its passing without objection in the US Senate underscores how bipartisan US support for Taiwan has evolved. The new law would further help normalize exchanges between Taiwanese and US government officials. We have already seen a flurry of visits to Washington earlier this summer, not only with Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), but also delegations led by National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu
When the towers of Wang Fuk Court turned into a seven-building inferno on Wednesday last week, killing 128 people, including a firefighter, Hong Kong officials promised investigations, pledged to review regulations and within hours issued a plan to replace bamboo scaffolding with steel. It sounded decisive. It was not. The gestures are about political optics, not accountability. The tragedy was not caused by bamboo or by outdated laws. Flame-retardant netting is already required. Under Hong Kong’s Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme — which requires buildings more than 30 years old to undergo inspection every decade and compulsory repairs — the framework for
President William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced a plan to invest an additional NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.8 billion) in military spending to procure advanced defense systems over the next eight years, and outlined two major plans and concrete steps to defend democratic Taiwan in the face of China’s intensifying threat. While Lai’s plans for boosting the country’s national security have been praised by many US lawmakers, former defense officials, academics and the American Institute in Taiwan, the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan, they were not equally welcomed by all Taiwanese, particularly among the opposition parties. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman
President William Lai’s (賴清德) historic announcement on Wednesday, Nov. 26, of a supplemental defense budget valued in excess of US$40 billion is a testament to the seriousness with which Taiwan is responding to the relentless expansionist ambitions of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Chinese Communist Party and its People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Lai is responding to the threat posed to Taiwan sovereignty along with US President Donald Trump’s insistence that American partners in good standing must take on more responsibility for their own defense. The supplemental defense budget will be broken into three main parts. The first and largest piece
RSS