Opposing Taiwanese independence is a front for opposing Taiwanese freedom of choice. The whole world knows this -- except for KMT Chairman Lien Chan and his followers, as their reaction to the "Anti-Secession" Law showed. The pan-blue camp said the law targeted Taiwanese independence supporters, and therefore refused to participate in the protest on March 26, which, like Lien's trip, confused KMT followers and the world.
Peace without dignity or freedom is what the pan-blue camp protested for at CKS International Airport. But Lien and his supporters will never speak the truth about how they intend to bring about this "peace."
If "peace" is all the KMT wants, then former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) could have secured it decades ago. But Lien is trying to say that today's Chinese Communist Party is different to before.
The world knows, however, that the only difference in the communists today is that they are richer and stronger.
The number of people who protested the trip at the airport compared with those who supported it, according to police reports, was about 3,000 to 900, roughly the same ratio of those think the trip will sell out Taiwan against those who would want "peace" at the expense of freedom and democracy.
The most objectionable thing about the airport scuffle was the presence of organized-crime gangs, like at every other pan-blue gathering, and their attacks on pan-green camp members, and Taiwanese independence supporters in particular. These thugs have not been punished, and were not even challenged by the authorities or the police on the scene. Watching these cowards gang up on the elderly and beat isolated pan-green camp supporters was sickening.
Unless Lien states clearly that he supports freedom of choice for Taiwanese people, he will go down in history as selling out Taiwan, selling out freedom, selling out democracy as well as selling out the hope of Chinese who yearn for democracy and freedom.
Chen Ming-chung
Chicago, Illinois
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not