Fear of Taiwan’s future
As a foreigner living in Taiwan, I find myself grappling with the uncertainty surrounding the ongoing tensions between Taiwan and China. At times, I feel disconnected from the reality of that conflict, not fully understanding why China wants to invade Taiwan. Yet, every day, as I walk to school or go about my daily life, there is an undeniable sense of fear that stems from the frequent reports of Chinese military aircraft entering Taiwan’s air defense identification zone.
I constantly hear rumors about the possibility of an impending conflict. I find myself carrying my passport everywhere out of fear of the unknown and of what could happen next.
Would China really start a war with Taiwan? What plans does the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have for its people? What plans does my home country, St Vincent and the Grenadines, have for its citizens living in Taiwan?
I have not received any clear communication on what foreigners should do in the event of a crisis. That uncertainty is unsettling, and at times I feel paralyzed by it. I did not want to think about the worst-case scenario, but eventually I had no choice but to confront it. What would I do if war broke out? Would I stay in Taiwan, or would I try to leave? If I stay, would I have to live in constant fear, not knowing what the future holds?
It is not just about school; it is about everyday life here. Walking around Taiwan, no matter where I go, I cannot escape the fear and the uncertainty that hovers over all of us.
Would I be caught up in the conflict? Would Taiwan eventually join an alliance with another country or would it stand alone? I also wonder about the broader consequences of living in fear.
I want to continue living in Taiwan, but I cannot help but wonder if I would ever feel safe here. Would the shadow of uncertainty always hang over my daily life?
Rhea Smith
Kaohsiung
Chinese agents often target Taiwanese officials who are motivated by financial gain rather than ideology, while people who are found guilty of spying face lenient punishments in Taiwan, a researcher said on Tuesday. While the law says that foreign agents can be sentenced to death, people who are convicted of spying for Beijing often serve less than nine months in prison because Taiwan does not formally recognize China as a foreign nation, Institute for National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said. Many officials and military personnel sell information to China believing it to be of little value, unaware that
Before 1945, the most widely spoken language in Taiwan was Tai-gi (also known as Taiwanese, Taiwanese Hokkien or Hoklo). However, due to almost a century of language repression policies, many Taiwanese believe that Tai-gi is at risk of disappearing. To understand this crisis, I interviewed academics and activists about Taiwan’s history of language repression, the major challenges of revitalizing Tai-gi and their policy recommendations. Although Taiwanese were pressured to speak Japanese when Taiwan became a Japanese colony in 1895, most managed to keep their heritage languages alive in their homes. However, starting in 1949, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) enacted martial law
“Si ambulat loquitur tetrissitatque sicut anas, anas est” is, in customary international law, the three-part test of anatine ambulation, articulation and tetrissitation. And it is essential to Taiwan’s existence. Apocryphally, it can be traced as far back as Suetonius (蘇埃托尼烏斯) in late first-century Rome. Alas, Suetonius was only talking about ducks (anas). But this self-evident principle was codified as a four-part test at the Montevideo Convention in 1934, to which the United States is a party. Article One: “The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: a) a permanent population; b) a defined territory; c) government;
The central bank and the US Department of the Treasury on Friday issued a joint statement that both sides agreed to avoid currency manipulation and the use of exchange rates to gain a competitive advantage, and would only intervene in foreign-exchange markets to combat excess volatility and disorderly movements. The central bank also agreed to disclose its foreign-exchange intervention amounts quarterly rather than every six months, starting from next month. It emphasized that the joint statement is unrelated to tariff negotiations between Taipei and Washington, and that the US never requested the appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar during the
RSS