Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Taiwan to stand with democracies: Lai

Taipei Times

Taiwan hopes to join like-minded nations under the democratic umbrella and jointly counter authoritarian aggression, President William Lai (賴清德) said in a prerecorded speech during the annual Concordia Summit in New York on Tuesday.

Lai addressed the summit via video at Concordia’s invitation, using the opportunity to speak on the issue of Chinese aggression toward Taiwan and Beijing’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758.

Lai’s comments came on the heels of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, which opened on Tuesday.

Taiwan-Japan ties in the Lai era

John Lim 林泉忠

The newly appointed Taiwanese representative to Japan, Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋), has taken office, launching the “Lai era” of Taiwan-Japan relations under President William Lai (賴清德).

While the Taiwan-US relationship is based on security guarantees that Taiwan relies on for survival, Taiwan-Japan relations are based on broad economic, cultural and personnel exchanges. The two nations keep pace with one another and rely on mutual engagement.

The relationship is the best it has been since Japan severed formal diplomatic relations with the Republic of China in 1972. Taiwan’s response the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that led to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster helped establish a relationship of necessity, exemplified by the saying, “a friend in need is a friend indeed.”

The KMT has lost its way on ROC

Tzou Jiing-wen 鄒景雯

What value does the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hold in Taiwan? One might say that it is to defend — or at the very least, maintain — truly “blue” qualities. To be truly “blue” — without impurities, rejecting any “red” influence — is to uphold the ideology consistent with that on which the Republic of China (ROC) was established.

The KMT would likely not object to this notion.

However, if the current generation of KMT political elites do not understand what it means to be “blue” — or even light blue — their knowledge and bravery are far too lacking to claim KMT membership. They would cause the KMT to lose political legitimacy in Taiwan.

Fighting China’s misinterpretation

Taipei Times Editorial

With the 79th session of the UN General Assembly set to hold its General Debate from Tuesday next week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Taiwan this year would focus on challenging and refuting China’s misinterpretation and misuse of UN Resolution 2758, highlighting its fight against China’s hegemonic diplomacy and lawfare to exclude Taiwan from international society.

UN Resolution 2758 states that the General Assembly recognizes “that the representatives of the Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are the only lawful representatives of China to the UN” and “expel[s] forthwith the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) from the place which they unlawfully occupy at the UN and all the organizations related to it.” The resolution does not mention Taiwan at all. Nevertheless, it has been misused by Beijing as a tool to push its “one China principle” and to block Taiwan’s international engagement.

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