I suggest we rename the "one China" policy to emphasize its true intent. Henceforth, we should call it the "we hope China doesn't bomb Taiwan, wipe out Tibet and turn Hong Kong into Tiananmen Square" policy.
It is inconceivable that any more than a handful of countries could believe Taiwan or Tibet belong to China, or that democracy in Hong Kong should be squashed and its democratic advocates jailed. Surely the overwhelming majority of nations in the world know this policy for what it is -- a policy for avoiding war.
But the world is playing the dangerous game of appeasement. It is dangerous because we saw the fruits of this approach in Germany 50 years ago. Appeasement only gives tyrants power, and more power makes tyrants dizzy, and they are apt to do provocative things to exercise their new-found strength. Only by calling a spade a spade and declaring out loud what the world is doing -- mollifying a communist dictatorship for fear it will make war -- can we gradually change the world's attitude toward that policy to one of repugnance.
The "one China" policy is nothing more than a pretense, and by honoring it the world remains in denial about the communists' intentions.
Lee Long-hwa
United States
US President Donald Trump has gotten off to a head-spinning start in his foreign policy. He has pressured Denmark to cede Greenland to the United States, threatened to take over the Panama Canal, urged Canada to become the 51st US state, unilaterally renamed the Gulf of Mexico to “the Gulf of America” and announced plans for the United States to annex and administer Gaza. He has imposed and then suspended 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico for their roles in the flow of fentanyl into the United States, while at the same time increasing tariffs on China by 10
As an American living in Taiwan, I have to confess how impressed I have been over the years by the Chinese Communist Party’s wholehearted embrace of high-speed rail and electric vehicles, and this at a time when my own democratic country has chosen a leader openly committed to doing everything in his power to put obstacles in the way of sustainable energy across the board — and democracy to boot. It really does make me wonder: “Are those of us right who hold that democracy is the right way to go?” Has Taiwan made the wrong choice? Many in China obviously
US President Donald Trump last week announced plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on eight countries. As Taiwan, a key hub for semiconductor manufacturing, is among them, the policy would significantly affect the country. In response, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) dispatched two officials to the US for negotiations, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) board of directors convened its first-ever meeting in the US. Those developments highlight how the US’ unstable trade policies are posing a growing threat to Taiwan. Can the US truly gain an advantage in chip manufacturing by reversing trade liberalization? Is it realistic to
About 6.1 million couples tied the knot last year, down from 7.28 million in 2023 — a drop of more than 20 percent, data from the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs showed. That is more serious than the precipitous drop of 12.2 percent in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the saying goes, a single leaf reveals an entire autumn. The decline in marriages reveals problems in China’s economic development, painting a dismal picture of the nation’s future. A giant question mark hangs over economic data that Beijing releases due to a lack of clarity, freedom of the press
RSS