I would like to respond to an article in this paper on China's efforts to intimidate Taiwanese businesspeople ("PRC's pressure on Taiwanese businesses in vain: Chen," Dec. 14, page 3).
The world, especially Westerners, launched its fight against communism after the end of World War II. Since that time, we've seen the unification of Germany and the fall of the Soviet Union. The US sent troops to "liberate" Vietnam from communism, but failed.
The non-communist world failed to "conquer" the communist world. Today, much to the contrary, we are seeing trillions of dollars worth of investment from democratic countries -- and countries masquerading as democratic -- pouring into communist states in pursuit of economic growth, business opportunities and cheap labor.
But are these really good business investments or are they actually helping strengthen communist governments, with the result that communism will one day rule the world?
The US, UN and EU -- the so-called "free world" -- are good at imposing economic sanctions on countries that don't abide by their demands.
But when it comes to dealing with communist China, the same Western powers make compromises.
Even governments in East Asia compromise their anti-communist positions where economic opportunities are involved.
It is clear from reading the daily news from a variety of sources that communism is getting stronger each day -- and it is all thanks to the annual trillions of dollars in foreign investments funding communist governments!
Where is the fight against communism now? What of all the lives that were lost fighting communism? Has their sacrifice been compromised too?
Michael Teo
Singapore
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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