Suggestion for Ma
The international community and most people in Taiwan have concluded that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) cares more for China than he does for Taiwan, as former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) has alleged.
If Ma and his administration want to prove this wrong and dispute a recent Associated Press report, they should write an open letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) to be published in the New York Times or the Washington Post which might read something like this:
Dear President Hu:
I believe that the majority of the people of Taiwan will agree to political dialogue between China and Taiwan under the following conditions:
1. China must release all political prisoners, including Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) and his fellow dissidents;
2. China must carry out political reform and adopt a multiparty system;
3. China must draft a new constitution that should incorporate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
4. China must strive to -preserve the languages and cultures of minority groups and grant them full autonomy on education and local affairs;
5. China must accept the historical facts about Taiwan and respect the right of its people to determine their own future by way of referendum.
JIM CHUNG
Southfield, Michigan
Open question to Washington
Dear Honorable AIT Director William Stanton:
I am a 90-year-old Taiwanese housewife. I received a Japanese education from elementary-school through college. I was treated very unfairly and discriminated against by the Japanese authorities because I did not have my own country. Ever since, I have yearned for a country to call my own and that will look after me.
Alas, my dream has yet to become a reality. I often see in the media that your great country, the US, refers to our government officials as “Taiwan authorities” and states openly that, “We do not support Taiwan independence.”
I wonder how you would feel if you were me?
In the international community, the country that has bullied Taiwan the most has been the People’s Republic of China. That said, only a minority of the populace in such nations as the US, Japan, Germany, the UK and the Netherlands could claim to understand and sympathize with Taiwan, while the majority remain indifferent to its fate.
At the end of World War II, when Japan was defeated, I was at a loss as to why your great nation would provide assistance to the “Republic of China” to gain control of Taiwan — without the consent of the Taiwanese people. That fateful move allowed Taiwanese to suffer through the 228 Massacre, White Terror and the longest period of martial law in human history. It has also made Taiwanese fearful and easily intimidated. To this day, Taiwanese are so politically numb that they live in a contradiction, fruitlessly begging the Ma administration to do this or that.
I am a Christian. Your great nation is also founded on Christian principles. During the presidential inauguration, your president put his hand on the Bible to show his respect for God. Is this tradition just a meaningless formality? Our Lord Jesus Christ is a loving God. I sometimes question where that love is to be found in your great country. I am aware that politics is often heartless, cruel, pragmatic and self-interested. I am begging you, however, to kneel before the Lord and answer my question: Does your great country have a loving heart? I earnestly hope to receive a positive answer, so that this old lady may feel comforted and reassured.
The US federal court has rendered a judgment that Taiwanese are stateless — people without nationality. For over 60 years, Taiwanese have been living in a kind of political prison. While Taiwanese cannot liberate themselves, I — with the few remaining years I have — would love to be the Esther of the Bible and help save them. I hope you will relay my letter to the president of your great nation, Mr Barack Obama. I am hopeful that he will provide assistance to my cause in finding a better future for Taiwan.
YANG LIU HSIU-HWA
Taipei
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
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