As the conflict over the presidential election continued, China on Tuesday declared that it had established relations with one of Taiwan's diplomatic allies, Dominica. This was an attempt to shame President Chen Shui-bian (
This is no new trick. Anyone familiar with diplomatic affairs understood that China would find some way to take revenge. It was simply a question of where it would apply its efforts.
We are reminded that Liberia severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan a mere three days after last year's Double Ten National Day celebrations. Word later came from Liberia that China had wanted the decision to be announced on Oct. 10 to produce maximum embarrassment for Taiwan, but Liberia chose to make the announcement on the 13th since it had no intention of also ending its friendly relations with Taiwan.
Although we think it shameful that the largest country in East Asia would resort to such treacherous diplomatic behavior, this has long been the norm. As Taiwan knows from its experience in the international arena, China is small-minded in its behavior, although it claims to be an example of benevolence and morality. It really would be strange if Beijing didn't try to avenge Chen's re-election. But this act of pettiness in fact puts the lie to China's claim that it didn't care who won the election.
China, a face-loving country, finds it a loss of face that Chen, despite all challenges, managed to organize the referendum and win the hard-fought campaign. China thus poured financial aid into Taiwan's ally to regain some of its beloved face.
This is certainly regrettable. Not long ago, Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) promised to work to create an opportunity for peaceful cross-strait dialogue. His remarks, so refreshing, gave us hope that he intended to leave past Chinese sabre-rattling behind.
However, trust has once again been sabotaged by this sneaky move from Beijing. We cannot but wonder if Hu is truly different from his predecessors, or if he only is better at applying the cosmetic of rhetoric.
Putting aside the cross-strait issue, Taiwan's contribution to developing countries is widely acknowledged. Tired of raising the stakes in this game with China, Taiwan has changed the way it aids its allies. Starting with former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), Taiwan stopped giving fish to its allies and instead started teaching them how to fish. In particular, a lot has been achieved in helping underdeveloped countries develop farming and fishing technologies.
Last year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cooperated with a publisher to produce a bilingual book entitled Greening the Sahel: The Taiwan Experience in Burkina Faso (
We are not trying to toot our own horn by praising the achievements of Taiwan's agricultural technical teams. Rather, we are reminding the international community that although Taiwan's main diplomatic goal is its international survival space, its other, equally important diplomatic goal, is to contribute to progress in the underdeveloped world.
Taiwan has never forgotten the financial and technical aid provided by the UN and the US when we experienced hardship. In fact, the nation's economic miracle is founded on the generous assistance provided by the international community. Chinese pressure will never make us forget our promises.
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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