Richard Halloran, a US journalist covering national defense and security issues, yesterday urged the government and the military to improve communication with the public to encourage support for the proposed US arms acquisition budget and build consensus on defense against China.
"Unlike autocracies, democracies go into and win a war only when the public supports it. For example, the US failed in the Vietnam War because many US people were against it," Halloran said at a media seminar in Taipei to discuss the relationship between the military and the public in democracies.
"In democracies, the government and the army should offer the public more information about what their countries are doing, and gain the public's support on defense policies," Halloran said.
"Simply put, the more communication, the better," he said.
When asked to comment on concern about what would happen if China uses military action to threaten or attack Taiwan, and the possibility of taking over Taiwan using psychological warfare tactics, Halloran said "the Taiwan government should generate some political strategy to make people support the country and its defense policies, and this would break the illusion of China taking over Taiwan easily."
He said that he is under the impression that the US government and Congress are impatient about the delays in concluding the proposed arms purchase from the US.
Saying that many Americans now think that the US has been spending too much money on national security and the war on terror since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Halloran said that many of his countrymen are now also asking, "Why should we pay for Taiwan's security? If you Taiwanese do not care, why should we be worried about that?"
Halloran said that, for the sake of its security, Taiwan should do more to defend itself and maintain the support of the US.
Halloran is currently a columnist writing articles mostly on Asian-US relations for publications including the Taipei Times, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, Japan's Sankei Shimbun, Singapore's Straits Times and The Washington Times.
He is a former defense and military correspondent for The New York Times, for whom he covered the Pentagon, US Congress, defense studies and US forces in the field.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS