In a bid to put Yushan on the world map and generate tourism, the Construction and Planning Administration called on Taiwanese recently to vote for Taiwan’s highest peak in an online contest organized by the New7Wonders Foundation to select the world’s new “seven natural wonders.”
Taiwanese responded to the call and thanks to their enthusiasm, Yushan currently tops the list in the “Mountains and Volcanoes” category.
One would think that such endeavors would help inspire a sense of pride in Taiwanese, if not increase hope that such a ranking would have a positive effect on tourism.
It is therefore disheartening to see that on the contest Web site, Yushan is referred to — quite incongruously, given that in such a contest geographical location is important — as “a central mountain range in Chinese Taipei.”
So much for Taiwan’s natural wonders. Or the country’s dignity. In one fell swoop, Taiwan has been removed from the world map and replaced by an appellation that has neither historical validity nor grounding in reality.
Even more irritating has been the government’s lassitude on the matter. The Construction and Planning Administration has been conspicuously silent, as have other branches of government. Not a single attempt appears to have been made to have the name rectified. Asked by reporters if government agencies would request a change on the Web site, government officials shrugged it off as a minor incident.
When a country’s officials are not adamant in their defense of its name, how can they be expected to uphold its visibility? If Yushan wins the contest, will people abroad wishing to visit it rush to buy tickets to China — or will they ask their travel agent which airline flies to that odd place called “Chinese Taipei”?
In international sports competitions, Taiwan has been bound by the Olympic formula, an agreement reached in 1981 between the International Olympic Committee and Taiwan in which it competes under the name “Chinese Taipei” at the Olympic Games.
But nowhere is it stipulated that Taiwan should be called “Chinese Taipei” in other international activities.
Many vividly remember President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), back when he was Taipei mayor, shooting Taiwan’s dignity down in flames by inventing his own demeaning “Taipei formula” that asked spectators not to display national flags at international sports events.
The passive response from officials in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government to the Yushan case suggests that this mentality is still very much alive, if not spreading.
In a final insult, Yushan National Park Administration director Chen Lung-sheng (陳隆陞) said last week that Taiwanese should also vote for the Yangtze river “to strive for the glory of both sides of the Taiwan Strait.”
Why that river? Why not encourage voters to pick the Ganges, or Venezuela’s Angel Falls? It is difficult to argue that there was no political meaning behind Chen’s remark.
It is upsetting enough that Taiwanese sports teams have to compete under the name “Chinese Taipei.” It’s even worse when government officials cannot be bothered to defend the country’s name in other, non-sports contexts, especially when there is no agreement binding them to abide by any other.
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not
RSS