To The Honorable Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜):
We would like to extend our sincerest regards to you for representing Taiwan at the inauguration of US President Donald Trump on Monday. The Taiwanese-American community was delighted to see that Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan speaker not only received an invitation to attend the event, but successfully made the trip to the US. We sincerely hope that you took this rare opportunity to share Taiwan’s achievements in freedom, democracy and economic development with delegations from other countries.
In recent years, Taiwan’s economic growth and world-leading technology industry have been a source of pride for Taiwanese-Americans. Although we live in the US, we pay close attention to our home country — Taiwan. While we do not support any political party in particular, we find the recent actions of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) — violent disruptions in the Legislative Yuan, extreme behavior by certain legislators, disorganized meeting procedures, the lack of room for rational discussion and the deliberate paralysis of the government’s administrative functions — to be deeply worrying. Taiwanese Americans are also disappointed and frustrated with your actions, especially in placing the interests of the KMT above those of the nation. We demand that you — as the legislative speaker — use the powers and responsibilities granted to you under the constitution to put an end to this backwards and ridiculous farce playing out in the legislature.
Taiwanese Americans demand in the strongest terms that KMT and TPP legislators prioritize the interests of all Taiwanese and the country when reviewing legislation. Taiwanese Americans strongly condemn the abuse of power by KMT and TPP legislators, who are recklessly cutting budgets in an attempt to paralyze the government’s administrative operations.
We strongly request that the government conduct a fair and thorough investigation into the identities of legislators, elected local officials and other government personnel. Anyone holding a Chinese passport or resident identity card should be immediately suspended from their duties. Those whose salaries come from the pockets of Taiwanese taxpayers have the primary responsibility of protecting Taiwan’s land and sovereignty for our nation’s sustained survival.
The Taiwanese-American community calls on you to respect your sacred duties as the legislative speaker by presiding over meetings impartially, guiding the legislature back to the correct path. We ask that you gather the courage required to lead Taiwan’s highest legislative body and become the true helmsman of the Legislative Yuan, standing on the right side of history.
With this, we extend our best wishes for your well-being.
Shen Fen-chih (沈芬芷), president, Taiwanese Association of America Greater Washington Chapter; all members of the Taiwanese American Association of Greater Baltimore & Columbia; Huang Tai-lang (黃泰郎), chairman of the Taiwan Culture Center of Greater Washington DC; Su-mei Kao (林素梅) national president, Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA); Kevin Huang (黃凱峰) president, FAPA DC Chapter; Yu Min (游敏) president, FAPA Maryland Chapter; Yang Tsung-hsuan (楊宗軒) President, North American Taiwanese Professors’ Association DC Chapter; Shawfang Jeng (鄭邵方), president, World Federation of Taiwanese Associations; Minly Sung (宋明麗) president, Taiwanese Association of America; Chen Yu-hsin (陳雨辛), president, North America Taiwanese Women’s Association; Catherine Lai (賴琦亮), president, Formosan Association for Human Rights; Ming-hong Chow (周明宏), president, World United Formosans for Independence-United States of America; Sim U-pin (沈宇蘋), president, Taiwanese Association of America Atlanta Chapter; Hsu Ya-fei (許雅斐), president, Taiwanese Association of America Pittsburgh Chapter; all members of the Taiwanese American Association of New York; all members of the Mid-Hudson Taiwanese Association.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
As Taiwan’s domestic political crisis deepens, the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have proposed gutting the country’s national spending, with steep cuts to the critical foreign and defense ministries. While the blue-white coalition alleges that it is merely responding to voters’ concerns about corruption and mismanagement, of which there certainly has been plenty under Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and KMT-led governments, the rationales for their proposed spending cuts lay bare the incoherent foreign policy of the KMT-led coalition. Introduced on the eve of US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the KMT’s proposed budget is a terrible opening
To The Honorable Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜): We would like to extend our sincerest regards to you for representing Taiwan at the inauguration of US President Donald Trump on Monday. The Taiwanese-American community was delighted to see that Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan speaker not only received an invitation to attend the event, but successfully made the trip to the US. We sincerely hope that you took this rare opportunity to share Taiwan’s achievements in freedom, democracy and economic development with delegations from other countries. In recent years, Taiwan’s economic growth and world-leading technology industry have been a source of pride for Taiwanese-Americans.
“I compare the Communist Party to my mother,” sings a student at a boarding school in a Tibetan region of China’s Qinghai province. “If faith has a color,” others at a different school sing, “it would surely be Chinese red.” In a major story for the New York Times this month, Chris Buckley wrote about the forced placement of hundreds of thousands of Tibetan children in boarding schools, where many suffer physical and psychological abuse. Separating these children from their families, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to substitute itself for their parents and for their religion. Buckley’s reporting is
Last week, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), together holding more than half of the legislative seats, cut about NT$94 billion (US$2.85 billion) from the yearly budget. The cuts include 60 percent of the government’s advertising budget, 10 percent of administrative expenses, 3 percent of the military budget, and 60 percent of the international travel, overseas education and training allowances. In addition, the two parties have proposed freezing the budgets of many ministries and departments, including NT$1.8 billion from the Ministry of National Defense’s Indigenous Defense Submarine program — 90 percent of the program’s proposed
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