According to a recent nationwide poll, 45 percent of Taiwan's people support Lien Chan's visit to China while 42.5 percent are against it.
The poll result is amazing in the current situation in Taiwan and around the world. It must be the effect of Stockholm Syndrome.
On Aug. 23, 1973, two machine-gun toting criminals entered a bank in Stockholm, Sweden. The two bank robbers held four hostages, three women and one man, for the next 131 hours. The hostages had dynamite strapped to them and were held in a bank vault until they were rescued on Aug. 28.
After their rescue, the hostages exhibited a shocking attitude notwithstanding that they were threatened and abused and feared for their lives for more than five days. In their media interviews, the hostages said they had begun to feel their captors were actually protecting them from the police. One of the female hostages later became engaged to one of the criminals and another started a legal-defense fund to help their captors pay their lawyers. Clearly, the hostages had "bonded" emotionally with their captors. This emotional "bonding" with captors is known as "Stockholm Syndrome" in psychology.
Since 1949 until its defeat in the 2000 election, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has kidnaped, tortured and murdered hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese. After half a century of captivity and after becoming a free nation, the Taiwanese are still bonding emotionally with their former captor, the KMT.
The Taiwanese people are confused and need help to heal from the Stockholm Syndrome.
Ken Huang
Memphis, Tennessee
To The Honorable Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜): We would like to extend our sincerest regards to you for representing Taiwan at the inauguration of US President Donald Trump on Monday. The Taiwanese-American community was delighted to see that Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan speaker not only received an invitation to attend the event, but successfully made the trip to the US. We sincerely hope that you took this rare opportunity to share Taiwan’s achievements in freedom, democracy and economic development with delegations from other countries. In recent years, Taiwan’s economic growth and world-leading technology industry have been a source of pride for Taiwanese-Americans.
Next week, the nation is to celebrate the Lunar New Year break. Unfortunately, cold winds are a-blowing, literally and figuratively. The Central Weather Administration has warned of an approaching cold air mass, while obstinate winds of chaos eddy around the Legislative Yuan. English theologian Thomas Fuller optimistically pointed out in 1650 that “it’s always darkest before the dawn.” We could paraphrase by saying the coldest days are just before the renewed hope of spring. However, one must temper any optimism about the damage being done in the legislature by the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), under
To our readers: Due to the Lunar New Year holiday, from Sunday, Jan. 26, through Sunday, Feb. 2, the Taipei Times will have a reduced format without our regular editorials and opinion pieces. From Tuesday to Saturday the paper will not be delivered to subscribers, but will be available for purchase at convenience stores. Subscribers will receive the editions they missed once normal distribution resumes on Sunday, Feb. 2. The paper returns to its usual format on Monday, Feb. 3, when our regular editorials and opinion pieces will also be resumed.
This year would mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the India Taipei Association (ITA) in Taipei and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center (TECC) in New Delhi. From the vision of “Look East” in the 1990s, India’s policy has evolved into a resolute “Act East,” which complements Taiwan’s “New Southbound Policy.” In these three decades, India and Taiwan have forged a rare partnership — one rooted in shared democratic values, a commitment to openness and pluralism, and clear complementarities in trade and technology. The government of India has rolled out the red carpet for Taiwanese investors with attractive financial incentives
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