Taiwan, not ROC
As National Day celebrations went ahead on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Chinese intimidation of Taiwan rose, with military jets nearly invading Taiwanese national territory. This is to be expected of Beijing, simply just to show off its capability.
China keeps insisting that Taiwan is its territory. Taiwan lost its opportunity to remain in the UN because of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) insistence that it cannot be in the same organization as China. That was when the KMT was a one-party dictatorship in Taiwan.
Now a democratic nation, Taiwan has spent 50 years trying to get back in and to participate in international diplomacy, but mostly to no avail.
That Taiwan has never been governed by China is not well-known among the US public and elsewhere in the world. President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) government must make this clear and fast to the world.
The name Taiwan, instead of Republic of China (ROC), must be used whenever possible domestically and in international settings. The public must not lose the enthusiasm it felt when other countries use the name Taiwan during the Tokyo Olympics. Although it went nowhere, one can clearly see Taiwanese’s insistence on it.
The 2024 Paris Olympics is not far off. We must begin campaigning, starting domestically, to promote the use of the name Taiwan, instead of the ROC.
Lin Yu-chong
Honolulu, Hawaii
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