Open letter to Obama
To US President Barack Obama,
As the president of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs, a Taiwanese-American grassroots organization that promotes freedom, human rights and democracy in Taiwan, I write to relay to you the concerns of Taiwanese-Americans.
As you prepare to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to the White House, we appeal to you to reaffirm US support for freedom, democracy and human rights in Taiwan.
We understand that the US needs to engage China.
However, such engagement should not come at the expense of US core values — freedom, democracy and human rights.
Taiwanese have developed a vibrant democracy, and the nation is looking forward to presidential and legislative elections in January next year, which will likely see the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) gain power.
In the past few months, China has threatened “consequences” if the DPP wins.
We believe this interference in Taiwan’s internal affairs is unwarranted and urge you to prevail on Xi to accept Taiwan as a friendly neighbor and move toward normalized relations with its democratically elected government.
We ask that you remind Xi that it is of core interest to the US that Beijing’s interactions with Taiwan be resolved peacefully and with the express consent of Taiwanese.
We also urge you to refrain from proffering US respect for China’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity” as China’s claims to Taiwan’s sovereignty are unjustified.
We ask that you impress upon Xi that Beijing needs to dismantle its 1,600 missiles aimed at Taiwan, and renounce any use of force.
To safeguard Taiwan is to embrace freedom, democracy and human rights.
This is the best way to maintain peace and stability in Asia and is consistent with the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act.
Finally, it is essential that China end Taiwan’s international political isolation.
This is a peace-loving nation that is able and willing to carry out UN Charter obligations. Taiwan deserves an equal place in the international family of nations, and Taiwanese should be fully represented in international organizations such as the UN and the WHO.
Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you on these matters that are so important to our Taiwanese-American community.
Sincerely yours,
Mark Kao
President, Formosan Association for Public Affairs
Government chips are down
When China unilaterally announced that it was introducing its new integrated-chip “Taiwan compatriot travel document” on Monday, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesperson Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) brought out all the cliches, saying that, “compatriots on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are all one big family,” that the new card was meant to “further simplify cross-strait exchanges between compatriots” and that there had been no changes to its functionality.
When Mainland Affairs Council Minister Andrew Hsia (夏立言) said that there had not been sufficient talks about the implications of the card, but that the spokesperson’s explanation “removed the doubts that many people have had,” it was clear that Beijing was leading Hsia by the nose.
Incomprehensibly, during a question-and-answer session in the legislature, Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said that he only found out about the announcement when he read it in the newspaper.
He said that China cannot make major unilateral announcements when decisions are pending, adding that Taiwan has not ruled out calling an international press conference to address the issue.
The council said that Beijing gave Taiwan an explanation in June, and that it also informed the council several days ago, but authorities felt they should have been given more detailed information.
Since there was “intelligence information,” why not ask the premier and the president to gain an understanding of that information before they start yapping like dogs?
It seems this administration is completely useless.
Chi An-hsiu
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,
Former minister of culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) has long wielded influence through the power of words. Her articles once served as a moral compass for a society in transition. However, as her April 1 guest article in the New York Times, “The Clock Is Ticking for Taiwan,” makes all too clear, even celebrated prose can mislead when romanticism clouds political judgement. Lung crafts a narrative that is less an analysis of Taiwan’s geopolitical reality than an exercise in wistful nostalgia. As political scientists and international relations academics, we believe it is crucial to correct the misconceptions embedded in her article,
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
RSS