China recently proposed drawing up an "anti-secession" law, which is basically a unification law. The target of this law is Taiwan.
For many years now, each side of the Taiwan Strait has developed in their own way, one as a free country and the other as an authoritarian one.
Those in Taiwan who oppose China's attempts to achieve hegemony have called for the formulation of an "anti-annexation" law, and six delegations have been planned to explain to people in the US, Asia and Europe that China is using the law against Taiwan, and that in doing so it is altering the status quo and putting regional peace at risk.
A few days ago, Taiwan and China came to an agreement over charter flights for the Lunar New Year. These are direct transport links in all but name. Despite the fact that China still has 600 missiles targeting Taiwan, and that it is drawing up an anti-secession law to wage a war against Taiwan through legal means, both the government and the opposition are delighted with the deal. With this kind of attitude, how can we even talk about opposing the anti-secession law? China has consistently insisted that the flights are "domestic," which is just a consequence of their "one China" principle.
In the past, political figures who called for protecting the Republic of China have now shifted from opposing the People's Republic of China to toadying up to it. They have recognized a thief as their father, and even go so far as to declare "long live [Chinese President] Hu Jintao (
Reports indicate that there are now over 67,000 Chinese spies operating in Taiwan. Even as the US is increasing its support for Taiwan, we ourselves are failing to be self-reliant, and instead are willing to flirt with Beijing. This is degrading.
From former president Lee Teng-hui's (
Taiwan must choose between becoming self-reliant or becoming slaves of a communist regime. In his book How We Lost the Vietnam War, former prime minister of the Republic of Vietnam Nguyen Cau Ky said that his regime's defeat was a crime committed by the US. But in fact, the former Republic of Vietnam must bear considerable responsibility for the defeat. Even with all the manpower and the material support the US provided, the South Vietnamese government was unable to become self-reliant. This is what brought about their defeat.
Rampant defeatism and the opposition's rejection of the US arms bill has led the US to doubt Taiwan's commitment to holding off an invasion. Now, with calls for "three links," Lee's "no haste, be patient" approach has been abandoned in favor of a "go west" policy.
This has been called "efficient management," but it is all hot air. For all we are doing is strengthening China's economy at the expense of our own, and helping them build missiles that can be used to target us. We will get what we deserve.
In the face of China's anti-secession law, all politicians -- whatever their affiliation -- should think deeply about the nation's future and not fall victim to dangerous illusions.
Tseng Chao-chang is chairman of the National Bar Association
Translated by Ian Bartholomew
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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