Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) on Sunday said something that pierces right to the crux of the problem facing Taiwan.

“We are not afraid of China’s deliberate acts to belittle Taiwan; on the contrary, down deep in our hearts we cannot belittle ourselves. Some people — entrapped by the ‘Greater China’ mindset — have lost [the horizons of] selfhood, lost expectation; not knowing what course to take, [they] succumb to the Chinese communists’ hegemony and are brought over by shortsightedness and lured by profits,” Lee said during a dinner gathering with Taiwanese expatriates in Okinawa, Japan.

The US Navy has invited Taiwan to participate in the Pacific Partnership humanitarian relief training mission in the Solomon Islands in August, a senior defense official said on condition of anonymity.

Washington has been working toward giving Taiwan a greater role in the Pacific Partnership long before the US Senate began mulling hospital ship visits to Taiwan, although those efforts have received little publicity, the official said.