The ‘Singapore experience’
Dear Johnny,
I totally agree with your article in the Taipei Times last week (“If only Singapore had knick-knacks,” Feb. 14, page 8), especially the critical part about Singapore. I studied at the National University of Singapore last year, but I gradually realized that Singaporeans’ lives are not as idyllic as Taiwanese think.
Many Taiwanese have the wrong impression of Singapore. Your article clarified what I have tried to explain to my friends who believe that the Taiwanese government should copy the “Singapore experience.” Can I share your article with my friends in my blog?
CHEN CHEN-YU
Johnny replies: As it happens, Chen-yu, we are not in Singapore, which means that if I say anything about the government that is sarcastic, unfriendly or contemptuous, I won’t have the Taiwanese equivalent of Minister Mentor Lee Kwan Yew breaking down my door, locking me up, suing my ass and lecturing me on Chinese magnificence. You can do whatever you like on your blog.
Lest I be accused of making a crude attack on that city-state’s smug Armani despots, let me say that some of my best friends come from Singapore. Now, back to the crude attack.
As the economic Leviathan hits the region, it will be interesting to see if Singapore’s working class change their tune on how their government goes about its business.
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
RSS