President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Oct. 30 met with nearly 200 students from senior-high schools nationwide. At the event, students raised a variety of issues, such as the current international situation and a potential Chinese invasion.
Tsai answered that the world is closely watching whether Taiwanese have a strong will to protect themselves.
Under such circumstances, the international situation might be more favorable toward Taiwan.
Taiwanese should first increase their determination to defend themselves, so that they can win others’ support, she said.
I was a senior-high school student more than 30 years ago, and I cared about Taiwan’s future and national development.
At the time, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government told us that the Chinese Communist Party regime was bringing calamity to China and its people, and we should boost our determination to defeat the communists and “recover the mainland.”
Our teachers taught us to strive for the unification of China under the Three Principles of the People (三民主義), while our military instructors paid attention to our words and actions at all times, and were also concerned about our “patriotic sentiments.”
In the past, school principals were unlikely to meet and talk with the president, while it was completely impossible for senior-high school students to do so.
Three decades ago, the government wove a fantasy of “defeating communism and recovering the mainland” (反共復國) for us, and Taiwan’s national development goals were all aimed at achieving that goal. The president was like a god on high, who could not be questioned, criticized or challenged.
Education had been downgraded to a political tool. Historical truths were nowhere to be found in history classes, while Chinese mountains, rivers, provinces and cities were taught extensively in geography classes.
In essays, students often concluded with references to “recovering the mainland and saving compatriots from hardship” to encourage Chinese teachers to give them a high score.
Three decades later, senior-high school students are no longer like this, as they are able to discuss the international situation and cross-strait development with teachers, while military instructors no longer care about whether students have said something “unpatriotic.”
Today, education fully respects individual development and self-expression, and students have more chances to chat with principals and even to be selected to meet with the president.
This is exactly the value of democracy and freedom.
However, these changes did not happen by accident; they were a result of hardships and should be safeguarded.
If Taiwanese want to continue to enjoy living in freedom, they need to have the strong will emphasized by Tsai during her meeting with the students. They need to demonstrate their will to safeguard the nation.
Chen Chi-nung is principal of Shuili Junior High School in Nantou County.
Translated by Eddy Chang
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
When a recall campaign targeting the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators was launched, something rather disturbing happened. According to reports, Hualien County Government officials visited several people to verify their signatures. Local authorities allegedly used routine or harmless reasons as an excuse to enter people’s house for investigation. The KMT launched its own recall campaigns, targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, and began to collect signatures. It has been found that some of the KMT-headed counties and cities have allegedly been mobilizing municipal machinery. In Keelung, the director of the Department of Civil Affairs used the household registration system
RSS