Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (
If the arms purchase bill is passed, the capability ratio will fall to a manageable and reassuring level. If an enemy has reasonable expectation of failure, then it will not likely order an attack.
China's national defense expenditure for this year is up 12.6 percent, but spending growth has been in double figures for several years now. In addition, other defense expenditures are tucked away in other areas of the budget which, if added to the official numbers, would amount to a quite astonishing figure.
In comparison, Taiwan's defense expenditure has increased by only 3 percent, leaving a worrying gap in the military spending of both countries. In addition, China has consistently lobbied a receptive Europe Union to lift its arms embargo, which will mean even more high-grade military equipment making its way across from Europe. The significant boost to China's military capability that would follow this abandonment of all propriety on the part of the EU cannot be ignored.
China is currently reviewing "anti-secession" legislation, which will make possible the use of "non-peaceful means" to counter Taiwanese independence, or even autonomy. These means could include a blockade or even invasion.
However it is manifested, the law is essentially a license to instigate hostilities against Taiwan.
Because the right of interpretation of the law lies with China, it can characterize any democratic activity within Taiwan as pro-independence, and use this as a basis for implementing these "non-peaceful means."
Coupled with the difference in cross-strait military capabilities, such acts of intimidation would amount to planting a time bomb. The foundations of peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region would be utterly compromised by it.
In the past, the People First Party (PFP) was the party most strongly opposed to the arms-procurement plan. But President Chen Shui-bian (
After February, Soong visited Washington, where he apparently learned of US concerns over Taiwan's security situation, and after the release of the joint statement of the US-Japan Security Consultative Committee, which made the issue regarding the Taiwan Strait a "common strategic objective," our responsibility for our own security has also increased.
Now that negotiations between the administration and the PFP have seen a degree of unity, the PFP should deliver on its commitment and pass the procurement plan. This is the fundamental way to avoid cross-strait conflict.
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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