Hung’s Zelenskiy comment
I was shocked to hear [former KMT chairwoman] Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) mocking of Ukrainian President [Volodymyr] Zelenskiy, who is fulfilling his duty as a president by doing what the Ukrainian people want him to do: protecting the country’s sovereignty.
In a democratic country, such as Ukraine, the president listens to his people and honors their wishes. This is Democracy 101.
Since the Russian invasion, Ukrainians have made it clear that they want national sovereignty and are fighting very hard for it. President Zelenskiy stays with his people and advocates their wishes to the world to get help.
Unfortunately, Ms Hung fails to understand the meaning of democracy and believes President Zelenskiy has options other than fighting for what Ukrainians want.
While all democratic countries in the world are praising the courage of Ukrainians and their president, Ms Hung, while enjoying the freedom of a democratic society, disrespects what Ukrainians are doing.
I hope Ms Hung can consider revising her comments to show the world that we honor the same values that other democratic countries do.
Gwoing Tina Yu
Taipei, Taiwan
108 curriculum
The Taipei Times editorial “108 curriculum a knotty experiment” caught my attention as a public relations professional turned university professor (March 11, page 8).
Looking back over more than 50 years of professional and professorial experience, I most definitely can understand the goal of the Ministry of Education to, as I term it, “ramp up” prospective university students’ preparedness for life after graduation.
Over the past 20 years, I have observed countless young men and women who were entering their final year of college with no clear idea of what exactly they wanted to be doing after graduation.
I can also easily identify with them because I, too, had absolutely no idea what I really wanted. Starting out as an engineering major, I graduated with an English major, thinking “maybe” I would be an English teacher, and, following my US Air Force service, segued into a public relations career.
Now, as a university professor, I make it a point to emphasize to any student who wanders across my path the critical importance of gaining a focus as soon as possible: Do not wait until after graduation.
This includes internships to gain a clearer focus on what one not only likes to do, but also what one is good at doing.
This process would be greatly simplified if students were encouraged to begin thinking about and planning for their professional future before embarking on an often costly college education.
Hats off to the Ministry of Education for its foresight.
Kirk Hazlett
Adjunct professor of
communication,
University of Tampa
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not
RSS