Fu could have said ‘no’
After Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (?) led KMT party members to Beijing to meet with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧), China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Director Song Tao (宋濤) and others, the TAO announced that it would donate modular housing units to areas devastated by the April 3 earthquake, to be delivered through cross-strait Red Cross organizations.
Minister of the Interior Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) responded on April 28 that the central government and civic groups’ donations were more than adequate, and that moreover, religious charitable organizations in Hualien County were already providing modular housing, and whether disaster survivors needed modular housing units would be looked into.
Lin’s response could not have been swifter or more on point. There is no need for housing provided by the outside world. We are holding our own just fine.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said that 25 years ago, modular housing was an option of last resort.
From rebuilding to management to tearing them down, such housing units were a massive challenge. The aftermath of the Hualien earthquake is far different from the 921 Earthquake of 1999.
With 25 years of experience, there are far better ways to help survivors get back on their feet such as bills to provide rent stipends.
Wu then urged Fu to say so to China, and to tell them to stop sending fighter jets to harass our airspace, and to stop exporting toxic food and products to our country.
What Taiwan actually needs is a seat at the World Health Assembly, but the official Web site of China’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva claims that China’s “one China principle” has become a widespread consensus of the international community.
It further claimed that Taiwanese do not have any reason or right to participate in UN bodies and other international organizations. China’s position is exasperating.
Tsai Mei-chu
Taipei
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