On Sunday, President Chen Shui-bian (
The state visits coincide with the upcoming sit-in initiated by former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Shih Ming-teh (
Shih's camp has urged Chen to cancel his trip and stay home to accept the protesters' demands. The pan-blue camp has slandered the president's trip, describing it as "running away."
The government has been planning the summit and state visits for more than six months. It is a pity to see all this over-politicization of domestic issues impacting on the nation's foreign affairs.
The Chen-haters' reaction to his diplomatic agenda, as well as the pan-blue camp's sabotaging of Taiwan's diplomatic efforts, are nonsense. They ignore the increasing imbalance between Taiwan and China in terms of diplomatic strength.
The timing of Chen's tour of the South Pacific is significant in a strategic way, given that Beijing bought off former ally Chad early last month. The fact that China has reached out to the world and exerted increasing influence in global affairs in recent years through frequent state visits to its allies constitutes a tremendous challenge to Taiwan's already-fragile foreign relations.
As China targets Taiwan's South Pacific allies, it is imperative that Chen increase diplomatic efforts to consolidate the nation's relationship with its diplomatic allies.
Chen's trip has two important functions. One is to correct any perception that opposition kowtowing to Beijing is representative of public opinion in this country. It is necessary for the government to launch an extensive international campaign to counter Beijing's divide-and-conquer strategy.
More importantly, Taiwan must develop a new foreign policy agenda in reaction to China's incorporation of "great nation diplomacy."
Since last year, Chinese leaders have toured South Asia, the South Pacific, the Middle East, Europe, the US and Africa. Constructive and strategic partnerships have been strengthened between China and many countries.
What can Taiwan do to counteract Beijing's growing international presence, particularly as China accelerates its activities rooting out Taiwan's allies in Africa and the South Pacific?
An increase in high-level official visits is a fundamental step in curing the regions of spreading China fever and strengthening Taiwan's diplomatic relations.
It is shameful to witness the pan-blue opposition and the Shih camp using Chen's overseas tour for domestic political ends.
Taiwan is a free and pluralist society. Demonstrations are protected by the law.
However, having the right to speak does and putting the nation at risk are different things.
In addition to maintaining a level of support from its allies, Taiwan should move beyond the narrow focus of political interests or the China factor to focus on creating long-term, stable relationships with members of the international community.
This must take place if the international community is to acknowledge the importance of Taiwan's democratic achievements and if Taiwan is to participate in the international order.
Liu Kuan-teh is a Taipei-based political commentator.
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,
RSS