The trip to Taiwan by former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton shows there are at least a few people in the upper tiers of Washington who are prepared to speak in support of Taiwan and to act on their words by visiting and affording respect to the office of Taiwanese president. So, more strength to him and those like him.
But Bolton knows, as much as any informed friend or foe of Taiwan, that Taiwan's bid to join the UN is about the performance, not the result. When conclusions are foregone, sometimes there is hay to be made from the ritual of failure.
Regrettably, all too often this hay is left in the barn, so to speak, by diplomats who simply do not know how to communicate with Washington's jumpier officials.
Taiwan should therefore offer its gratitude to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, whose recent misuse of the UN Charter and UN Resolutions can only harm the credibility of the UN and assist Taiwan's cause. When Ban refused to accept a letter from President Chen Shui-bian (
Only a mistake of this seriousness could possibly take the heat off Chen and place it squarely on the UN itself -- even among pro-China forces in the US.
Even better, China has threatened to introduce a motion to the UN to affirm that Taiwan is a province of the People's Republic of China, an action that would be as strategically inept as any that Beijing has come up with in recent years. And this comes just as many begin to wake up to Beijing's attitude toward the rest of the world: If you have what we want, then we can be friends; if you dare cast light on our atrocities and neglect, then we can not.
If Beijing is stupid enough to up-end the "status quo" that pro-China forces in the US use to keep Taiwan in line, it will find little joy.
In the unlikely event that the matter goes to the Security Council, it will be vetoed by the US and possibly other nations. More likely, however, it would be put to the General Assembly, and this is where the fun would begin.
What would happen? Countries rich in natural resources that depend on China for investment will fall into line quite happily, though some in Asia might balk at the prospect of ramping up tensions. Communist states would also follow the party line. Meanwhile, Taiwan's two dozen allies would most likely vote against the motion. No surprises there.
China's problem lies in the majority that remains. Most countries have been happy to follow along with China's blustering and demagoguery because most of it has seemed to be hot air. Humor Beijing a little and keep things calm, so the reasoning goes, and economic benefits will be there for everyone.
But in demanding that this pragmatism turn into support for a symbolic statement that would authorize Chinese violence, Beijing will likely discover that many countries -- possibly most -- will be less tolerant. The result: a humiliating majority of abstentions and a number of "no" votes sprinkled among them, and a severe blow to the credibility of China's claim to Taiwan both at home and abroad.
Advocates of Taiwanese independence must be salivating at the thought of it: an international repudiation of Beijing's imperial agenda sparked by China's own stupidity.
Some in China must realize that there is this risk, and the whole affair may quietly disappear. But it remains tempting to say to China, and to its UN cheer squad: Bring it on, you oafs. Do your worst.
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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