At this writing, consumer goods, ranging from toothpaste to cough suppressant medicine containing poisonous diethyleneglycol have been uncovered in four Central American countries, Singapore, Australia and the US.
More than three months ago, contaminated pet food containing toxic protein enhancer resulted in the deaths of many pets. On June 11, Wal-Mart and Tyson Food Co recalled 450,000kg of ground beef. On June 14, Colgate-Palmolive Co issued a warning about counterfeit toothpaste carrying the Colgate label found in four US states. All these incidents have one thing in common -- the source of poison was China.
In November 2002, the SARS epidemic broke out. On March 15, 2003, the WHO issued a global alert about the disease, which originated in Guangdong, China. At the time, scientists suspected the disease was caused by a biogenesis from a wild animal.
In the years since then, doubts about the hypothesis of the transmission from animals to humans began to surface. Some experts said the disease may have been a biochemical reaction at the fundamental genetic material level ?? the rearrangement of human genes in chromosomes caused by industrial pollutants.
Over the past two decades, China has completely abandoned its previous economic policy and pursued socio-capitalism at the expense of its environment and social ethics. As a result, many of its major cities lead the list of the worst polluted cities in the world; 25 percent of deaths in China are caused by respiratory diseases.
Blatant disregard of intellectual property rights is rampant in China. Counterfeit medicine and food stuffs are produced and sold under the eyes of Chinese Communist Party officials.
China has been trying to regain its nationalistic glory by imitating Western approaches to both economic development and military expansion. However, misguided fanaticism, for instance showing off its military capability by knocking down an orbiting space object, will not earn China the respect it seeks. At the same time, the image emanated by a toxic trail circling the globe will earn China nothing but disrespect.
As for Taiwan, given the painful memories of the SARS epidemic, it is highly advisable for the government and the people to seriously consider cutting back existing and possible future ties with China. The risk of any contact with China is too high.
A temporary gain in any shape or form is not worth risking one's health or one's life.
Kengchi Goah is a research fellow of Taiwan Public Policy Council in the US.
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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