With Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (
Yet the trips have proceeded smoothly. Instead, this week it was the Holy See, Taiwan's sole European ally, that continued to provide lessons in anti-diplomacy by sending hostile signals to its own rivals: moderate Catholics, Muslims, Jews and, thanks to Pope Benedict's most recent broadside, Protestants and Orthodox Christians.
For all of its platitudes on peace, the Vatican is in a fighting mood. Such a shame, then, that it could not be more aggressive in combating genuine tyranny. One would have thought that failing states and dictators -- such as Zimbabwe and President Robert Mugabe -- might be more deserving of a papal campaign than the devout on the other side of the fence.
Apparently not.
Zimbabwe, a former economic success story, is close to collapse now that the government has sunk to the point of arresting shopowners who heed inflation. A lot of innocent lives are on the line. But few governments seem to be taking the situation seriously to the extent that they would act.
Among others, South African President Thabo Mbeki deserves contempt for giving years of solace to a sociopath who has torn his country apart. South Africa, for one, may yet rue the consequences of this moral outrage and tactical stupidity.
Indeed, the Zimbabwe debacle teaches us a number of lessons about this part of Africa. Perhaps the most fundamental is that obvious omens for the ruination of a country -- co-opting of the courts by the government, an unhinged military and police force, xenophobic economic policy, rigged elections -- can stare neighboring countries in the face for years with nary a complaint. Evicting whites from farms and other locations seemed at the time to be a political tactic to appeal to the moronic element and even to other governments; in retrospect, it seems to have been the only tactic available to a man who would prefer destroying his country to relinquishing power.
Second, Zimbabwe is another example of just how fanciful the idea of a United States of Africa is -- with or without the likes of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi at the helm.
Third is the culpability of the UN. This organization continues to shield tyrants such as Mugabe from meaningful pressure because of the pervasive influence of despotic regimes -- in this case, the presence of a primary Mugabe benefactor, China, on the UN Security Council. Only a few years ago we heard top UN officials sighing that more should have been done in Rwanda to save the lives of the victims of genocide. But those people's successors in today's UN bureaucracy are silent on Zimbabwe as it prepares to commit suicide.
Yet there is one courageous Catholic, Archbishop Pius Ncube, who has shown himself to have the stuff of heroes -- unlike his religious masters and most of the rest of the world's governments -- by putting his life on the line in calling for international intervention to remove Mugabe and his thugs from power.
If Taiwan can learn anything from this disgraceful saga and from such people, it is that commitment and honor offer hope and inspiration in the shadow of the worst oppression. Faced with violence and terror, the good, wise man speaks the truth and speaks firmly, while carefully preparing for the consequences.
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
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