In Western tradition, Christmas should be the day when people the world over celebrate the Savior's descent to the human realm. People expect this message of joy to bring peace for all humanity. Unfortunately, the situation this year has been very different. The US, the UK and Japan have all issued high-level alerts for terrorist attacks for fear that international terrorists may take advantage of a time when most people are steeped in merrymaking to launch massive terrorist attacks like ones on Sept. 11, 2001. It is ironic that a time for merrymaking has turned into a time of anxiety.
In Taiwan, we have no choice but to raise a topic that detracts from the fun of Christmas celebrations. For both Westerners and Easterners, the threat they face is only "potential." Whether terrorists will have their way depends on a contest of wits between terrorists and security personnel in various countries. It will not be easy for this gang of criminals to achieve their goals.
In comparison, the threat facing Taiwan is far more serious. The Taiwanese people face a concrete military threat. The language of this threat has been coming continuously from the mouths of People's Liberation Army generals via open media channels, saying that the Chinese military will not hesitate to sacrifice 2 million people to attack and occupy Taiwan.
The American people should recall that soon after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, some Chinese military brass, in an interview with a Los Angeles Times reporter, threatened to fire long-range missiles at Los Angeles. The strong response from the US media at the time was impressive. Based on the same sentiment, we must reiterate that Beijing has been increasing the number of missiles deployed against Taiwan. The number of missiles is now close to 500. Taiwan certainly has the right and responsibility to tell the international community that Beijing is destroying peace in Asia with its missile deployments and that countries should not be duped by the Chinese Communist Party's charm offensive.
More importantly, President Chen Shui-bian (
In recent years, Chinese society seems to have been emulating the Western tradition of celebrating Christmas. While we are happy to see China's gradual integration into international society, we would also like to remind Beijing that Christmas is not merely about shiny decorations and partying. The day carries with it a message of peace. This is where the spirit of Christmas lies. Why won't China's leaders take the opportunity to consider the happiness and safety of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait?
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) has caused havoc with his attempts to overturn the democratic and constitutional order in the legislature. If we look at this devolution from the context of a transition to democracy from authoritarianism in a culturally Chinese sense — that of zhonghua (中華) — then we are playing witness to a servile spirit from a millennia-old form of totalitarianism that is intent on damaging the nation’s hard-won democracy. This servile spirit is ingrained in Chinese culture. About a century ago, Chinese satirist and author Lu Xun (魯迅) saw through the servile nature of
In their New York Times bestseller How Democracies Die, Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt said that democracies today “may die at the hands not of generals but of elected leaders. Many government efforts to subvert democracy are ‘legal,’ in the sense that they are approved by the legislature or accepted by the courts. They may even be portrayed as efforts to improve democracy — making the judiciary more efficient, combating corruption, or cleaning up the electoral process.” Moreover, the two authors observe that those who denounce such legal threats to democracy are often “dismissed as exaggerating or
Monday was the 37th anniversary of former president Chiang Ching-kuo’s (蔣經國) death. Chiang — a son of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), who had implemented party-state rule and martial law in Taiwan — has a complicated legacy. Whether one looks at his time in power in a positive or negative light depends very much on who they are, and what their relationship with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is. Although toward the end of his life Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law and steered Taiwan onto the path of democratization, these changes were forced upon him by internal and external pressures,
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus in the Legislative Yuan has made an internal decision to freeze NT$1.8 billion (US$54.7 million) of the indigenous submarine project’s NT$2 billion budget. This means that up to 90 percent of the budget cannot be utilized. It would only be accessible if the legislature agrees to lift the freeze sometime in the future. However, for Taiwan to construct its own submarines, it must rely on foreign support for several key pieces of equipment and technology. These foreign supporters would also be forced to endure significant pressure, infiltration and influence from Beijing. In other words,
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