The fast-moving events of the past few days are forcing everyone in Taiwan to ask themselves: What side am I on? How Taiwanese answer this question will be crucial for the future of the country.
On one side, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wants to push Taiwan closer to China not only economically, but also politically. During the past few days, Ma has tried hard to force the Legislative Yuan to pass the cross-strait service trade agreement that his administration signed with China on June 21 last year.
Ma and his administration are trying to make it appear as if the trade agreement is beneficial for Taiwan, and without it, the Taiwanese economy will go downhill. That is simply false. Ma is putting all his eggs in one (Chinese) basket, which at some point will have disastrous consequences for Taiwan. Rather than making the economy more dependent on a repressive China, Taiwan needs to diversify its trade options.
On the other side we see the students and their supporters occupying the Legislative Yuan, They are national heroes as they have stood up against the manipulative tactics of a government that really does not care about democracy, tries to keep itself in power, and is not interested in doing a fair and balanced assessment of the trade agreement. Ma simply wants to pass the agreement, no matter what the cost is to Taiwan and its democracy.
These students are making a big difference for the nation and its future, because this issue is bigger than just the passage of the trade agreement. The real issue is what kind of society Taiwan wants to be. Does it want to maintain its hard-won democracy, freedom and independence? Or does it want to drift into a Hong Kong-like dependency on China?
If Taiwan continues to follow the prescriptions of the Ma government, then “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” will be increasingly threatened by an oppressive Chinese government. Taiwanese have a choice, and need to decide which side they are on.
Are they going to stand up for what is right — as the students are doing now — or will it be business as usual?
As Taiwanese-Americans who have worked hard for Taiwan’s transition to democracy in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, we care deeply about Taiwan and its future, and we fully support the students and their peaceful occupation of the legislative chamber. This was a tough, but necessary move designed to tell the government: “Stop, we’ve had enough.”
We hope that a great majority of Taiwanese will choose the right path for the future of the nation and express their support for those brave students. This is a crucial moment in Taiwan’s history, and we want to be able to tell our children and grandchildren: “I was there when Taiwan needed me.”
Mark Kao is president of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs in Washington.
US President Donald Trump has gotten off to a head-spinning start in his foreign policy. He has pressured Denmark to cede Greenland to the United States, threatened to take over the Panama Canal, urged Canada to become the 51st US state, unilaterally renamed the Gulf of Mexico to “the Gulf of America” and announced plans for the United States to annex and administer Gaza. He has imposed and then suspended 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico for their roles in the flow of fentanyl into the United States, while at the same time increasing tariffs on China by 10
As an American living in Taiwan, I have to confess how impressed I have been over the years by the Chinese Communist Party’s wholehearted embrace of high-speed rail and electric vehicles, and this at a time when my own democratic country has chosen a leader openly committed to doing everything in his power to put obstacles in the way of sustainable energy across the board — and democracy to boot. It really does make me wonder: “Are those of us right who hold that democracy is the right way to go?” Has Taiwan made the wrong choice? Many in China obviously
US President Donald Trump last week announced plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on eight countries. As Taiwan, a key hub for semiconductor manufacturing, is among them, the policy would significantly affect the country. In response, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) dispatched two officials to the US for negotiations, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) board of directors convened its first-ever meeting in the US. Those developments highlight how the US’ unstable trade policies are posing a growing threat to Taiwan. Can the US truly gain an advantage in chip manufacturing by reversing trade liberalization? Is it realistic to
About 6.1 million couples tied the knot last year, down from 7.28 million in 2023 — a drop of more than 20 percent, data from the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs showed. That is more serious than the precipitous drop of 12.2 percent in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the saying goes, a single leaf reveals an entire autumn. The decline in marriages reveals problems in China’s economic development, painting a dismal picture of the nation’s future. A giant question mark hangs over economic data that Beijing releases due to a lack of clarity, freedom of the press
RSS