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
The return of US president-elect Donald Trump to the White House has injected a new wave of anxiety across the Taiwan Strait. For Taiwan, an island whose very survival depends on the delicate and strategic support from the US, Trump’s election victory raises a cascade of questions and fears about what lies ahead. His approach to international relations — grounded in transactional and unpredictable policies — poses unique risks to Taiwan’s stability, economic prosperity and geopolitical standing. Trump’s first term left a complicated legacy in the region. On the one hand, his administration ramped up arms sales to Taiwan and sanctioned
The Taiwanese have proven to be resilient in the face of disasters and they have resisted continuing attempts to subordinate Taiwan to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Nonetheless, the Taiwanese can and should do more to become even more resilient and to be better prepared for resistance should the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) try to annex Taiwan. President William Lai (賴清德) argues that the Taiwanese should determine their own fate. This position continues the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) tradition of opposing the CCP’s annexation of Taiwan. Lai challenges the CCP’s narrative by stating that Taiwan is not subordinate to the
US president-elect Donald Trump is to return to the White House in January, but his second term would surely be different from the first. His Cabinet would not include former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and former US national security adviser John Bolton, both outspoken supporters of Taiwan. Trump is expected to implement a transactionalist approach to Taiwan, including measures such as demanding that Taiwan pay a high “protection fee” or requiring that Taiwan’s military spending amount to at least 10 percent of its GDP. However, if the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) invades Taiwan, it is doubtful that Trump would dispatch
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has been dubbed Taiwan’s “sacred mountain.” In the past few years, it has invested in the construction of fabs in the US, Japan and Europe, and has long been a world-leading super enterprise — a source of pride for Taiwanese. However, many erroneous news reports, some part of cognitive warfare campaigns, have appeared online, intentionally spreading the false idea that TSMC is not really a Taiwanese company. It is true that TSMC depositary receipts can be purchased on the US securities market, and the proportion of foreign investment in the company is high. However, this reflects the
RSS