“Never say never” are words to live by, not only for ordinary people, but especially for politicians.
When President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) declared in a recent interview with CNN that “We will never ask the Americans to fight for Taiwan,” he committed a big blunder, especially as the president of a country.
In this instance, he did not speak for the overwhelming majority of Taiwanese.
In fact, what he said is contrary to the popular will of the Taiwanese and contradicts the enlightened national interest of Taiwan.
The overwhelming majority of Taiwanese understand and appreciate that the US’s defense commitment, as expressed in the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, has contributed enormously to the peace, security and stability of Taiwan for over 30 years, enabling Taiwan to achieve economic growth and to experience political transformation from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) oppression under “the perpetual martial law” to a free, democratic country committed to protecting and honoring human rights.
As Benjamin Franklin wrote, “God helps those who help themselves.” We the Taiwanese people realize that we must do our utmost to defend and protect our island nation.
But in a globalized world of ever-increasing interdependence and danger, which country can really stand alone? Collective security for mutual defense and assistance is the answer.
The Taiwanese are a democratic, peace-loving people. For decades, though, we have been constantly threatened by a rising, powerful neighbor — the People’s Republic of China — that has more than 1,400 missiles aimed at Taiwan.
Internally, we now have a president who has shown every sign of leaning on China and of submitting to China’s will in his pursuit of the so-called “ultimate unification with China” — betraying his campaign promises and acting against the popular will of the Taiwanese people.
Taiwan must remain strong and courageous, but we do need friends in this dangerous world.
The US has been a real friend of Taiwan. We cherish its friendship and appreciate its defense assistance and commitment, and will continue to do so.
Together, we can continue to keep Taiwan a free, democratic country, contributing to peace, security and democracy in the Asia-Pacific community.
Chen Lung-chu is the chairman of the Taiwan New Century Foundation.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) has caused havoc with his attempts to overturn the democratic and constitutional order in the legislature. If we look at this devolution from the context of a transition to democracy from authoritarianism in a culturally Chinese sense — that of zhonghua (中華) — then we are playing witness to a servile spirit from a millennia-old form of totalitarianism that is intent on damaging the nation’s hard-won democracy. This servile spirit is ingrained in Chinese culture. About a century ago, Chinese satirist and author Lu Xun (魯迅) saw through the servile nature of
In their New York Times bestseller How Democracies Die, Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt said that democracies today “may die at the hands not of generals but of elected leaders. Many government efforts to subvert democracy are ‘legal,’ in the sense that they are approved by the legislature or accepted by the courts. They may even be portrayed as efforts to improve democracy — making the judiciary more efficient, combating corruption, or cleaning up the electoral process.” Moreover, the two authors observe that those who denounce such legal threats to democracy are often “dismissed as exaggerating or
Monday was the 37th anniversary of former president Chiang Ching-kuo’s (蔣經國) death. Chiang — a son of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), who had implemented party-state rule and martial law in Taiwan — has a complicated legacy. Whether one looks at his time in power in a positive or negative light depends very much on who they are, and what their relationship with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is. Although toward the end of his life Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law and steered Taiwan onto the path of democratization, these changes were forced upon him by internal and external pressures,
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus in the Legislative Yuan has made an internal decision to freeze NT$1.8 billion (US$54.7 million) of the indigenous submarine project’s NT$2 billion budget. This means that up to 90 percent of the budget cannot be utilized. It would only be accessible if the legislature agrees to lift the freeze sometime in the future. However, for Taiwan to construct its own submarines, it must rely on foreign support for several key pieces of equipment and technology. These foreign supporters would also be forced to endure significant pressure, infiltration and influence from Beijing. In other words,
RSS