Being in Hong Kong, I can view KMT Chairman Lien Chan's upcoming trip to China with detachment, so I am amused by the controversy surrounding the trip.
Since Lien is neither a government official nor a legislator, he can only represent his party.
To pretend to speak for the government or the Taiwanese people will only reinforce the perception that he and his party still ignore the fact that they have lost two presidential elections, yet believe that they rule Taiwan.
Negotiating with Lien other than as KMT chairman would prove that Beijing is stuck in a time warp, is yet to come to terms with Taiwan's democratic changes and is still peddling the fiction that Taiwan is ruled by refugees of the civil war.
What can Lien discuss with his counterpart in the Chinese Communist Party? The only issue that remains open is the the civil war. The world has long accepted the CCP's victory in the civil war, but the KMT seems unable to grasp this reality.
Because the KMT has never formally admitted defeat, Beijing has been denied the closure it needs in this historical chapter.
So, Lien should use the opportunity to admit that his party lost.
Removing this old obstacle will permit both sides of the Strait to move ahead.
This will be the greatest contribution Lien can make and will help establish the legacy he seeks.
Instead of condemning a "so-called journey of peace," the ruling party should urge Lien to make the trip a true journey of peace.
Kenneth Choy
Hong Kong
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
World leaders are preparing themselves for a second Donald Trump presidency. Some leaders know more or less where he stands: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy knows that a difficult negotiation process is about to be forced on his country, and the leaders of NATO countries would be well aware of being complacent about US military support with Trump in power. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would likely be feeling relief as the constraints placed on him by the US President Joe Biden administration would finally be released. However, for President William Lai (賴清德) the calculation is not simple. Trump has surrounded himself
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
RSS