Recent proposals by legislators from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) not only weaken the spirit of democracy and the rule of law, but also pose significant harm to Taiwan’s education, cultural development and the shaping of civic awareness.
The opposition parties have proposed budget cuts for the Ministry of Culture, the Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation and other government agencies, shortening the required wait for Chinese spouses to obtain national ID cards and relaxing the eligibility criteria for Chinese to join the National Health Insurance (NHI).
The effects of these proposals must be thoroughly examined from the perspective of civic education, and society must be encouraged to focus on fair and sustainable policies.
Budget cuts for cultural and education programs would jeopardize Taiwan’s long-term development. Education and culture — promoted through measures such as supporting rural education, preserving cultural heritage — are the foundation of a nation’s progress.
Through political manipulation, the coalition of KMT and TPP legislators aims to significantly cut important budgets for transitional justice education and historical preservation, which would deprive young people of opportunities to develop a comprehensive understanding of Taiwan’s history and culture.
Educators must persevere in emphasizing the crucial role of cultural education in shaping civic literacy and values.
Shortening the time required for Chinese spouses to obtain ID cards ignores the important issues of national security and fairness. Reducing the six-year requirement would spark anxiety over Chinese infiltration and possible fraudulent marriages, and would create inequalities for foreign spouses of other nationalities.
Relaxing eligibility requirements for Chinese nationals to join the NHI system poses a severe existential threat to Taiwan’s healthcare system. The KMT-TPP proposal to shorten the waiting period from six years to just one or two years is bound to attract swaths of Chinese nationals to use fraudulent marriages and other methods to quickly join the system, thereby stressing its finances and creating unfairness for other foreign nationals.
The NHI system should uphold the core values of equality and sustainability, and the overall interests of society must remain a primary consideration throughout the policymaking process.
The KMT’s and TPP’s controversial policies severely undermine Taiwan’s principles of democracy and fairness, while posing a significant threat to key national pillars such as education, culture and the NHI system. Such policies would undoubtedly have a multifaceted effect on Taiwanese society.
The opposition legislators, as they continue to undermine the Constitution and instill chaos in governance, are setting a bad example and creating serious obstacles to the development of civic awareness among young people. The heart of education lies in cultivating critical thinking skills and social responsibility among students.
Teachers must guide their students in discussions about the fairness of policies and their long-term effects. Stimulated discussions and analytical reports can help students understand the connection between the policymaking process and social responsibility. In this way, educators can foster moral values and critical thinking, while working with students to safeguard Taiwan’s democracy and social fairness, thereby building a more solid societal foundation for the next generation.
Pan Wei-yiu is a policymaker at the Taiwan Nation Alliance and president of the Union of Taiwanese Teachers.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
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
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of
RSS