Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

A new era in Taiwan-US relations

Yu Jie 余杰

Judging by the chorus of wails from domestic commentators following the election of Donald Trump as the next US president, people might think that Taiwan has once again been dumped by Washington.

Chinese-language newspapers China Times and United Daily News have been particularly vociferous in their calls for Taiwan to emulate the governments of the Philippines and Malaysia, who have cast aside their alliances with the US and jumped into bed with Beijing.

China’s ‘sacred’ claim to Taiwan

Chang Kuo-tsai 張國財

Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) visited Taiwan three times. The first time, he stayed for a month and a half, while the second and third times were just brief stopovers. He never questioned that Taiwan’s sovereignty and territory belonged to Japan at the time.

However, on Nov. 11, at a ceremony marking the 150th anniversary of Sun’s birth, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) repeated the hackneyed argument that Taiwanese are China’s “Taiwanese compatriots,” adding that Taiwan and China are part of “one China.” Were he still alive, Sun would have been stunned by Xi’s remarks.

US can learn a lot from Taiwan

Jerome Keating

It is time for the US to scrap its Electoral College system for choosing its president and simply go with the popular vote. Yes, I know, as soon as one mentions this, someone will pipe up with “but the founding fathers, etc, etc,” as if the US has not changed from the original 13 colonies and the first presidential election of 1789 and as if its electoral college process had not already been changed to be more realistic.

Democracy must continue to be representative. What was good in one age and under certain circumstances falls short under the new, and in this the US with its archaic system could ironically learn from the new kid on the block, the fledgling democracy of Taiwan.

The change in cross-strait dialogue

Taipei Times Editorial

Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was invited to speak at the World Chinese Economic Summit in Malaysia this month. Organizers not only gave him the honorific “His Excellency,” they also changed the title of his speech from Closer economic ties between Taiwan and ASEAN to The role of technology and culture for overseas Chinese in the world economy. Angered by what he saw as attempts to belittle him, Ma wrote his own name card — reading “former Taiwanese president Ma” — and complained about the pressure Beijing was exerting upon him, asking where China’s goodwill had gone.

More Articles...