Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

French warship passed through Strait

Taipei Times

A tugboat escorts French Navy frigate Vendemiaire on its arrival for a five-day goodwill visit at a port in Metro Manila, the Philippines, on March 12.
Photo: Reuters

A French warship passed through the Taiwan Strait earlier this month, US officials said, a rare voyage by a vessel of a European nation that is likely to be welcomed by Washington, but increase tensions with Beijing.

Let Trump be on China, N Korea

Joseph Bosco

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s announced new weapons test and his ultimatum to Washington to strike a deal before the year is out reinforce the urgent need for US President Donald Trump to return to the clear-eyed positions he took on issues involving China and North Korea during his campaign and as president-elect.

In his run for the presidency, Trump’s lack of foreign-policy experience was widely seen as a decided disadvantage.

Human rights, the TRA’s legacy

John J. Tkacik, Jr.

I don’t know if anyone, inside or outside Taiwan, wants another paean to the US’ Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) on its 40th birthday on April 10. However, it pains me, as a young US foreign service officer assigned to human rights duties on the Taiwan desk at the US Department of State 40 years ago, that forgotten in all the congratulatory hubbub is the most significant and long-lasting legacy of that law:

Know thine enemy

Taipei Times Editorial

Who has been maneuvering to squeeze Taiwan’s diplomatic space? Who has been saber-rattling and threatening Taiwan with coercion or use of force to settle cross-strait differences? And who has been employing various tactics — openly and clandestinely — with the aim of bringing Taiwan under its authoritarian rule and usurping Taiwanese’s democratic way of life?

All these queries can be summed up in one short question: Who is Taiwan’s enemy?

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