Since the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 2758 on Oct. 25, 1971, recognizing the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government of China and expelling “the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) from the place which they unlawfully occupy at the United Nations and in all the organizations related to it,” Taiwan has been isolated from the international community and subjected to unfair treatment.
Following Beijing’s posturing that has repeatedly forced the issue of treating Taiwan as part of its territory, the vast majority of the international community has chosen to kowtow to China by denying Taiwan’s existence as a political entity, despite it having achieved all the rights of a full-fledged democracy. As a result, Taiwan has been constantly rejected at the doormat of international organizations, with its sovereignty belittled and its dignity trampled upon.
The list of ill-treatment is beyond impervious to reason, from Taiwanese being banned from entering the UN’s headquarters in New York and Taiwanese delegations being forced to leave meetings of international bodies, to the frustration of Taiwanese athletes who cannot compete with pride and honor for Taiwan, but must participate under the meaningless and absurd national title “Chinese Taipei.”
Despite all the unfairness and the majority of the international community having for decades chosen to look the other way, rather than stand up to China’s bullying and address the injustice facing Taiwan, groups of talented Taiwanese have been quietly and diligently making the nation proud, effectively promoting Taiwan’s many sides to the world, despite Beijing’s incessant efforts to squeeze Taiwan off the world stage.
Among these are world No. 1 badminton player Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎), who on Sunday claimed the Badminton World Federation’s Dubai World Superseries women’s singles title, her second victory in the world series; three-time Oscar-winning director Ang Lee (李安); violinist Tseng Yu-chien (曾宇謙), who last year won a silver medal in the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition and was in effect the top winner, as there was no candidate nominated for gold; and Kuo Chih-ling (郭植伶), a top-prize winner in the 2011 Asia-Pacific Bartender of the Year Cocktail Competition.
Other achievements include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co securing its place as the world’s largest contract chipmaker and the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s contribution of an uncrewed lunar lander to NASA’s Resource Prospector mission.
Granted, such successes are the result of hard work by individuals, which the government cannot take credit for. However, the government’s efforts have built Taiwan into the world’s 17th-largest trading nation, while dutifully fulfilling the nation’s role as a global citizen through efforts such as combating international crime and leading Taiwan’s emergence as a major contributor of humanitarian aid. Taiwanese and their government have collectively helped polish Taiwan’s name on the international stage.
Following a historic telephone conversation between President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and US president-elect Donald Trump earlier this month, Taiwan’s global visibility has been greatly enhanced, as evidenced by a dramatic spike in Google searches for “Taiwan,” along with expansive coverage of the nation by various international media outlets.
During her presidential election campaign, Tsai employed the slogan “Light Up Taiwan” — now is the time. It is important for the government to use its voice to let the world know the nation’s plight. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should seize this opportunity to launch international campaigns to highlight Taiwan’s achievements, as well as its predicaments, because any sort of silence or passivity would be exactly what China is counting on in its pursuit of unification.
US aerospace company Boeing Co has in recent years been involved in numerous safety incidents, including crashes of its 737 Max airliners, which have caused widespread concern about the company’s safety record. It has recently come to light that titanium jet engine parts used by Boeing and its European competitor Airbus SE were sold with falsified documentation. The source of the titanium used in these parts has been traced back to an unknown Chinese company. It is clear that China is trying to sneak questionable titanium materials into the supply chain and use any ensuing problems as an opportunity to
It’s not every month that the US Department of State sends two deputy assistant secretary-level officials to Taiwan, together. Its rarer still that such senior State Department policy officers, once on the ground in Taipei, make a point of huddling with fellow diplomats from “like-minded” NATO, ANZUS and Japanese governments to coordinate their multilateral Taiwan policies. The State Department issued a press release on June 22 admitting that the two American “representatives” had “hosted consultations in Taipei” with their counterparts from the “Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” The consultations were blandly dubbed the “US-Taiwan Working Group on International Organizations.” The State
The Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises, the largest naval exercise in the region, are aimed at deepening international collaboration and interaction while strengthening tactical capabilities and flexibility in tackling maritime crises. China was invited to participate in RIMPAC in 2014 and 2016, but it was excluded this year. The underlying reason is that Beijing’s ambitions of regional expansion and challenging the international order have raised global concern. The world has made clear its suspicions of China, and its exclusion from RIMPAC this year will bring about a sea change in years to come. The purpose of excluding China is primarily
The Chinese Supreme People’s Court and other government agencies released new legal guidelines criminalizing “Taiwan independence diehard separatists.” While mostly symbolic — the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has never had jurisdiction over Taiwan — Tamkang University Graduate Institute of China Studies associate professor Chang Wu-ueh (張五岳), an expert on cross-strait relations, said: “They aim to explain domestically how they are countering ‘Taiwan independence,’ they aim to declare internationally their claimed jurisdiction over Taiwan and they aim to deter Taiwanese.” Analysts do not know for sure why Beijing is propagating these guidelines now. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), deciphering the