Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Taiwan, the schizophrenic nation

Taipei Times Editorial

A nation has several pillars of national defense, among them are military strength, energy and food security, and national unity. Military strength is very much on the forefront of the debate, while several recent editorials have dealt with energy security. National unity and a sense of shared purpose — especially while a powerful, hostile state is becoming increasingly menacing — are problematic, and would continue to be until the nation’s schizophrenia is properly managed.

The controversy over the past few days over former navy lieutenant commander Lu Li-shih’s (呂禮詩) usage of the term “our China” during an interview about his attendance at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, China, on Tuesday last week is a case in point. Who does this “our” refer to, and how exactly is he defining “China?” However, it is far from the controversy that has emerged recently.

Add Taiwan to ‘NATO Plus’: report

Taipei Times

The US should amend a law to add Taiwan to the list of “NATO Plus” allies and streamline future arms sales, a US commission said on Tuesday in its annual report to the US Congress.

The recommendation was made in the annual report by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), which contained chapters on US-China economic and trade ties, security relations, and Taiwan and Hong Kong.

In the chapter on Taiwan, the commission urged the US Congress to “amend the Arms Export Control Act of 1976 to include Taiwan on the list of ‘NATO Plus’ recipients,” referring to a designation held by South Korea, Japan, Australia, Israel and New Zealand.

Allegiance and ‘our China’ rhetoric

Taipei Times Editorial

Article 9-3 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) is colloquially known as the “Wu Sz-huai” clause. It prohibits military officers who carried the rank of major general or higher from participating in any “ceremony or activity ... [that] harm[s] the national dignity.” It was named after Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷), a retired Republic of China (ROC) military lieutenant general, after he attended a ceremony in Beijing in 2017, stood for the Chinese national anthem and listened to a speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).

Former navy lieutenant commander Lu Li-shih (呂禮詩) caused a controversy when he attended the opening of the Zhuhai Airshow on Tuesday last week, an annual event in which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) showcases the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) latest military equipment. Lu told Chinese media that he wanted to show Taiwanese “how strong ‘our China’ has become.”

Taiwan blasts jailing of HK activists

Taipei Times

Taiwan yesterday condemned China over the jailing of 45 Hong Kong activists, saying “democracy is not a crime.”

The government “strongly condemned the Chinese government’s use of judicial measures and unfair procedures to suppress the political participation and freedom of speech of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement.

International condemnation of the jailings has been swift, with the US, Australia and rights groups slamming the sentencing as evidence of the erosion of political freedoms in the territory since Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020.

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