Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Dutch lawmaker defies China pressure

Taipei Times

Sanctions imposed by the Chinese government on foreign officials have only encouraged more lawmakers from around the world to visit Taiwan, as their relations with the nation cannot be determined by others, Dutch lawmaker Sjoerd Sjoerdsma said in Taipei yesterday.

Sjoerdsma is visiting Taiwan as part of a delegation from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC). The group arrived on Tuesday.

Long road to go after Pingpu ruling

Taipei Times Editorials

The decades-long struggle of Siraya and other Pingpu (plains indigenous) people to be recognized as official indigenous groups saw a major breakthrough last week, as the Constitutional Court ruled unanimously in their favor.

Unanimous rulings are quite rare, and the government has three years to facilitate their recognition. The Pingpu groups have suffered heavy cultural and population loss due to their proximity to Han settlers over the centuries, compared with the 16 recognized indigenous groups who mostly occupied mountainous areas that were technically off-limits to the Han until the late 1800s.

LEO service critical for security

Taipei Times Editorials

Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite technology has once again grabbed international attention after Apple in September introduced a feature allowing iPhone 14 users in the US and Canada to send emergency messages from remote locations through satellites. This comes as Space X’s satellite service, Starlink, plays a key role in providing Internet access in Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion.

In Taiwan, the big-three telecoms have been preparing to launch satellite broadband services. Although Taiwan has relatively good 4G and 5G network coverage, along with an extensive fiber-optic network, some mountainous and remote areas still have spotty Internet service.

Miles Yu On Taiwan: America’s strategic clarity in defense of Taiwan: The dangerous illusion of strategic ambiguity

Miles Yu

Conversations about US policy toward Taiwan often invoke “strategic ambiguity.” The promotion of this concept is quixotic, provocative, and dangerous. Strategic ambiguity has never been the official US position. What has kept the Taiwan Strait peaceful and stable for the past seven decades is not strategic ambiguity, but the exact opposite. When it comes to the use of force in defense of Taiwan, America’s position is consistent and unambiguous: strategic clarity.

The concept of strategic ambiguity refers to the supposed US position of not stating whether it will use force to defend Taiwan, if and when China invades the democratic nation. The policy’s purported purpose is to discourage such aggression, as well as any pretext for such aggression, namely the unilateral declaration of independence by Taiwan.

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