What if the US had invaded Mexico? What if France had occupied Algeria? Or what if Australia had declared war on Papua New Guinea?
What if Japan had annexed Manchuria? What if Italy were to go back to Libya with gunboats? What if all of this happened in the year in which the Olympic Games were to be held in the US, France, Australia, Japan or Italy?
Would the Olympic Games still have gone ahead in these countries? On what grounds? In the name of the WTO? Globalization? Consumerism?
Humanity owes an enormous debt to Tibet, to its culture and to its inhabitants. Tibet has been left alone for almost 60 years, and this in the interests of realpolitik.
It is easy to see why this has happened. If you are big, you are able to go ahead and invade, destroy and exterminate. And if you are small but you have petroleum, then it’s deemed to be your own business.
A case in point is Chechnya. Another case in point is Iraq.
“Free Tibet. Stop the China Olympic Games.” Write an e-mail to the UN secretary-general and help spread the message.
Taiwan should be the first nation to boycott the Olympic Games. Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should do what he promised during his campaign. Do it for your people, for your own land. It is time to be brave for Taiwan so it won’t be the next Tibet.
Graziano Pia
Italy
On Sept. 3 in Tiananmen Square, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) rolled out a parade of new weapons in PLA service that threaten Taiwan — some of that Taiwan is addressing with added and new military investments and some of which it cannot, having to rely on the initiative of allies like the United States. The CCP’s goal of replacing US leadership on the global stage was advanced by the military parade, but also by China hosting in Tianjin an August 31-Sept. 1 summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which since 2001 has specialized
In an article published by the Harvard Kennedy School, renowned historian of modern China Rana Mitter used a structured question-and-answer format to deepen the understanding of the relationship between Taiwan and China. Mitter highlights the differences between the repressive and authoritarian People’s Republic of China and the vibrant democracy that exists in Taiwan, saying that Taiwan and China “have had an interconnected relationship that has been both close and contentious at times.” However, his description of the history — before and after 1945 — contains significant flaws. First, he writes that “Taiwan was always broadly regarded by the imperial dynasties of
A large part of the discourse about Taiwan as a sovereign, independent nation has centered on conventions of international law and international agreements between outside powers — such as between the US, UK, Russia, the Republic of China (ROC) and Japan at the end of World War II, and between the US and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) since recognition of the PRC as the sole representative of China at the UN. Internationally, the narrative on the PRC and Taiwan has changed considerably since the days of the first term of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the Democratic
A report by the US-based Jamestown Foundation on Tuesday last week warned that China is operating illegal oil drilling inside Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Island (Dongsha, 東沙群島), marking a sharp escalation in Beijing’s “gray zone” tactics. The report said that, starting in July, state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp installed 12 permanent or semi-permanent oil rig structures and dozens of associated ships deep inside Taiwan’s EEZ about 48km from the restricted waters of Pratas Island in the northeast of the South China Sea, islands that are home to a Taiwanese garrison. The rigs not only typify
RSS