Giant pandas Tuan-tuan (團團) and Yuan-yuan (圓圓) finally arrived in Taiwan late on Tuesday, along with the predictable media frenzy, before being whisked off to their new home at Taipei Zoo to begin a month-long quarantine period.
A lot has been said about the political connotations of the government’s acceptance of China’s “gift,” and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators have urged their Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) counterparts not to politicize the issue.
But the arrival of the animals — in light of China’s record of panda diplomacy around the globe and its very public intentions for Taiwan — is the latest manifestation of Beijing’s united front strategy and therefore an inescapably political move.
If, as KMT spokespeople have repeatedly stressed, the decision to accept these animals is not political, then questions must be raised about the benefits associated with housing them in Taiwan.
The most important point, given the current economic climate, is the cost of looking after them. Taipei Zoo director Jason Yeh (葉傑生) has said that the arrival of the pandas is not some kind of circus sideshow aimed at commercial gain.
If that is the case, then how does the zoo intend to pay for their upkeep?
DPP Taipei City Councilor Chien Yu-yen (簡余晏) has said that Taipei Zoo has budgeted NT$39 million (US$1.18 million) for panda maintenance for the first year alone. In its original 2005 budget statement, the Taipei City Government planned to put aside only NT$9 million per year for the first five years for panda research.
Whatever the true cost, the city government must be transparent and should be asked to justify why spending so much taxpayer money on two pandas is worthwhile when this money could have been invested in much more worthy and commercially viable projects.
The “research budget,” for its part, is bizarre, given that China already has a whole research station of its own devoted to the study of the animals.
Research on forest-dwelling animals forced into a cramped, air-conditioned, two-story concrete and glass building on the subtropical half of an island may produce publishable data, but unless the Chinese government has commissioned an analysis of depressed and homesick pandas, it is hard to see what scientific gains can be made.
Yeh has said that the arrival of the pandas demonstrates the zoo’s “devotion to wildlife preservation,” and may inspire people to pay more attention to the plight of endangered species and the harm that mankind is doing to the natural habitats of many of the world’s largest creatures.
All well and good. But if the zoo were really interested in running an aggressive preservationist line, then it would have lobbied for spectacularly well-funded research projects into endangered species closer to home — the Formosan black bear and the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin, for example. There could even be a program to reintroduce clouded leopards to Taiwan’s wilderness.
The zoo and Taipei City officials can beat around the bush as much as they like, but with such flimsy justifications failing to stand up to scrutiny, the benefits of housing these beasts quickly evaporate — and political significance is the only thing that remains.
US political scientist Francis Fukuyama, during an interview with the UK’s Times Radio, reacted to US President Donald Trump’s overturning of decades of US foreign policy by saying that “the chance for serious instability is very great.” That is something of an understatement. Fukuyama said that Trump’s apparent moves to expand US territory and that he “seems to be actively siding with” authoritarian states is concerning, not just for Europe, but also for Taiwan. He said that “if I were China I would see this as a golden opportunity” to annex Taiwan, and that every European country needs to think
Today is Feb. 28, a day that Taiwan associates with two tragic historical memories. The 228 Incident, which started on Feb. 28, 1947, began from protests sparked by a cigarette seizure that took place the day before in front of the Tianma Tea House in Taipei’s Datong District (大同). It turned into a mass movement that spread across Taiwan. Local gentry asked then-governor general Chen Yi (陳儀) to intervene, but he received contradictory orders. In early March, after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) dispatched troops to Keelung, a nationwide massacre took place and lasted until May 16, during which many important intellectuals
For years, the use of insecure smart home appliances and other Internet-connected devices has resulted in personal data leaks. Many smart devices require users’ location, contact details or access to cameras and microphones to set up, which expose people’s personal information, but are unnecessary to use the product. As a result, data breaches and security incidents continue to emerge worldwide through smartphone apps, smart speakers, TVs, air fryers and robot vacuums. Last week, another major data breach was added to the list: Mars Hydro, a Chinese company that makes Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as LED grow lights and the
US President Donald Trump is an extremely stable genius. Within his first month of presidency, he proposed to annex Canada and take military action to control the Panama Canal, renamed the Gulf of Mexico, called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy a dictator and blamed him for the Russian invasion. He has managed to offend many leaders on the planet Earth at warp speed. Demanding that Europe step up its own defense, the Trump administration has threatened to pull US troops from the continent. Accusing Taiwan of stealing the US’ semiconductor business, it intends to impose heavy tariffs on integrated circuit chips
RSS