Department of Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) lost control when Taiwanese students confronted him in Geneva, where he was attending the World Health Assembly (WHA) earlier this month. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said the accusations against Yeh were “intolerable,” so he could understand Yeh’s feelings, while Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said the government had no choice but to accept “Chinese Taipei.” They clearly didn’t know what they were saying.
Their reaction only highlights the guilty conscience of the Ma administration, which is lying in its attempts to gain credit while treating Taiwan’s sovereignty as child’s play.
Yeh said he felt “great” as he participated in the WHA as an observer and acted pleased with himself, while ignorantly claiming it was the first time in 38 years Taiwan participated in a UN “event” despite the fact that the Republic of China (ROC) was still a member of the World Bank and the IMF in 1980. In seeking credit for Ma, Yeh put down Ma’s mentor, former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), by ignoring events that occurred during Chiang’s presidency.
The government can be flexible on the title under which it participates in international organizations, but it must uphold the principles of independence and reciprocity. Although Chiang agreed that Taiwan maintained membership as “Chinese Taipei” in the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on the advice of former US president Ronald Reagan’s administration, he refused to send a delegation to attend bank meetings. When former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) decided to send delegations to the ADB meetings, he insisted that the delegation lodge a protest and cover the title “Chinese Taipei” on their name tags.
Taiwan’s national status is in a special predicament, so participation in international events only makes sense if they are beneficial to the open or tacit recognition of Taiwan’s sovereignty. If the way in which the government participates in international organizations implies that Taiwan is part of China, then participation brings disgrace to the nation.
Despite China’s attempts to annex Taiwan, the Ma government goes along with the “one China” framework while Yeh made innane remarks while sitting as an observer at the WHA. The WHO has listed Taiwan as a province of China and included Taiwan’s cases of A(H1N1) influenza under China’s listing. The Ma government sold out Taiwan for participation in an international event.
In 1971, “the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石)” were expelled from the UN and all its related organizations. Yang Hsi-kun (楊西崑), then- deputy foreign minister, told US officials that the wording of UN Resolution 2758 proposed by Albania and 22 other countries was “to expel forthwith the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek” instead of “the ROC,” and thus if a future government in Taiwan declared jurisdiction over Taiwan alone, it might easily gain sympathy and acceptance as a member at UN specialized agencies.
Two elected governments — those of former presidents Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Lee Teng-hui — declared that the “ROC” was simply the national title of Taiwan, that neither the People’s Republic of China nor the ROC had jurisdiction over the other, and that the ROC was actively seeking international recognition.
Ma, however, restored the party-state system and is conforming to the “one China” framework. He is implementing the “one country, two systems” model according to China’s directives. If Yang knew, he would have heckled Ma too.
James Wang is a media commentator.
TRANSLATED BY TED YANG
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not
RSS