Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

WHO NAME GAME: WHO Web site inflames uproar

Taipei Times

The WHO has not wavered on its position that Taiwan is a part of China despite extending an invitation to the Department of Health under the designation “Chinese Taipei,” new information from the WHO reveals.

The stance, already evident from a leaked internal WHO memo released by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) last week, was strengthened by the new disclosure yesterday of the organization’s internal publishing policies that state Taiwan is “a province of China.”

Beijing will not go to rehab

Taipei Times Editorial

In recent months, a number of Chinese apologists have made the case that “abandoning” Taiwan to China would help improve strategic cooperation between Washington and Beijing. In their view, Taiwan remains the last impediment to a flourishing relationship between the two giants, and therefore yielding to Beijing’s irredentist claims on Taiwan would somehow unlock a future of manifold promises and stability.

In the name of journalistic neutrality, this newspaper has given space for this argument and has allowed those who disagree with such a strategy to also make their case. However, facts alone suffice to discredit calls for the international community — and ultimately on Taiwanese themselves — to sacrifice Taiwan for a more constructive relationship with Beijing.

What about protecting Taiwan’s democracy?

Chen Mei-chin 陳美津

Several US academics have argued in recent articles that the US should distance itself from Taiwan because China’s power and influence are rising and it would become more “costly” for the US to maintain close ties with Taipei, and in particular maintain its defense obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act.

Charles Glaser of George Washington University argued along those lines in a recent article in Foreign Affairs, while Bob Sutter, of the same university, recently painted an equally gloomy picture, saying that the rise of China is giving Beijing leverage over Taiwan. Glaser added that in light of Taiwan’s weakening economic, diplomatic and military positions, the status quo in the Taiwan Strait was becoming unsustainable, meaning Taiwan has very limited options for its future and unification with China was virtually inevitable.

US will continue to support Taiwan

Gerrit van der Wees

It is difficult to understand how one person can put so many misconceptions and distortions into one essay as John Copper did (“Could US policy abandon Taiwan?” May 11, page 8).

Copper has been around for some time, but from his vantage point in Memphis, Tennessee, he does not have the foggiest idea of how Washington works and what people in the US capital think. In a highly irresponsible manner he weaves a tale of misconstructions and outright falsehoods.

For example, he wrote that in 2009, during a meeting with Chinese leaders in Beijing, US President Barack Obama concurred that Taiwan is in China’s “core interest.”

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