It was no surprise that the US State Department should declare its opposition to the announcement by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) that he is pushing for a referendum on the question of whether Taiwan should make a bid for UN membership under the name of "Taiwan."
Nevertheless, if the US were able to obtain a deeper understanding of the underlying meaning of the proposed referendum bid, it would see that there are no grounds for its opposition.
First, if the US is opposed to using the name "Taiwan" for a UN membership bid, then it is overreacting because this has nothing to do with changing the nation's title.
It is worth noting that among the more than 190 UN member states, more than 80 applied for UN membership using a name other than their official national title. Thus, it is clear that using the name "Taiwan" to apply for UN membership has nothing to do with changing the country's national title.
Second, if the reason for US opposition is that it opposes Taiwanese membership in the UN, that would be totally unreasonable.
Since 1993, Taiwan has made continued efforts to join the UN, so this aspiration is not something new.
The US has never given its support for UN membership for Taiwan, and there is no need to change that stance into one of outspoken opposition.
Third, if the US' opposition stems from concern over Taiwan holding a national referendum, there is even less ground for concern from that standpoint.
Referendums are an important link in Taiwan's democratization process. In addition, the threshold for initiating and approving a referendum is very high, which means that the result of such a referendum would be a product of careful public choice.
The US should not show such a lack of confidence in Taiwan's democracy and public opinion. It is not difficult to see that Washington's opposition is a result of China's reaction to Chen's announcement and pressure on Washington.
Officials in Beijing have found that the shortest way to Taipei is through Washington.
US response to Chinese pressure on Taiwan shows that Washington has walked straight into an elaborate Chinese trap.
Clearly, the only result of Washington helping Beijing put pressure on Taiwan will be a deterioration of Taiwan-US relations that leaves Beijing the sole victor.
Several opinion polls conducted by Taiwan Thinktank have showed that Taiwanese have less positive feelings for the US than they have for Japan, and that this is a growing trend possibly connected to Washington's negative attitude toward Taiwan on a series of issues such as referendums and the writing of a new constitution.
Washington must wake up to the reality that the US is losing the support and friendship of Taiwanese.
In the end will have face an even more cruel question: Who lost Taiwan?
Lo Chih-cheng is the director of the department of political science at Soochow University.
Translated by Lin Ya-ti
It is employment pass renewal season in Singapore, and the new regime is dominating the conversation at after-work cocktails on Fridays. From September, overseas employees on a work visa would need to fulfill the city-state’s new points-based system, and earn a minimum salary threshold to stay in their jobs. While this mirrors what happens in other countries, it risks turning foreign companies away, and could tarnish the nation’s image as a global business hub. The program was announced in 2022 in a bid to promote fair hiring practices. Points are awarded for how a candidate’s salary compares with local peers, along
China last month enacted legislation to punish —including with the death penalty — “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists.” The country’s leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), need to be reminded about what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has said and done in the past. They should think about whether those historical figures were also die-hard advocates of Taiwanese independence. The Taiwanese Communist Party was established in the Shanghai French Concession in April 1928, with a political charter that included the slogans “Long live the independence of the Taiwanese people” and “Establish a republic of Taiwan.” The CCP sent a representative, Peng
Japan and the Philippines on Monday signed a defense agreement that would facilitate joint drills between them. The pact was made “as both face an increasingly assertive China,” and is in line with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s “effort to forge security alliances to bolster the Philippine military’s limited ability to defend its territorial interests in the South China Sea,” The Associated Press (AP) said. The pact also comes on the heels of comments by former US deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, who said at a forum on Tuesday last week that China’s recent aggression toward the Philippines in
The Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday announced that the military would hold its annual Han Kuang exercises from July 22 to 26. Military officers said the exercises would feature unscripted war games, and a decentralized command and control structure. This year’s exercises underline the recent reforms in Taiwan’s military as it transitions from a top-down command structure to one where autonomy is pushed down to the front lines to improve decisionmaking and adaptability. Militaries around the world have been observing and studying Russia’s war in Ukraine. They have seen that the Ukrainian military has been much quicker to adapt to