Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

The times they are a-changing

Taipei Times Editorial

Taiwanese-American Amy Lee submitted a letter to the Taipei Times yesterday morning. It is printed on this page. It is about Saturday’s presidential election, but more generally is about the perceptions and misperceptions overseas about Taiwan and about the right of Taiwanese not only to make their own decisions about their future, but also to take control of how they perceive their past and their identity.

Two phrases stand out: “So I grew up correcting those who mistake Taiwan for Thailand, the Burmese flag as ours,” and “As the world enjoyed our bubble milk tea, I could barely swallow mine.”

Failed Han should not be speaker

Lin Bo-feng 林伯峰

The Kaohsiung Metro’s circular light rail line has finally been completed, with the soft opening of its final section on Dec. 31 last year. This moment had been delayed for two years, mostly because of former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), who was in office for a year and a half without achieving anything. The first thing he did on taking office in December 2018 was to suspend construction of the light rail line, which was not resumed until two years later.

Han had no particular reason for halting the construction, except that the circular line was a policy achievement of Kaohsiung’s previous Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration, which made him unwilling to carry on where the DPP left off. Han’s suspension of the project completely ignored the needs of Kaohsiung residents and the overall plan for the municipality’s infrastructure. Kaohsiung residents were frustrated, but at first there was nothing they could do.

I’ll pursue peace through strength, Lai says

Taipei Times

Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate, yesterday said that he would maintain the “status quo” and pursue peace through strength if elected, remaining open to engagement with Beijing under the preconditions of equality and dignity.

Lai pledged to try to engage with China, as dialogue could decrease cross-straits risks, and said peaceful development is in the best interests of both sides and the rest of the world.

“Peace is priceless and war has no winners,” Lai said at a news conference in which he appeared alongside DPP vice presidential candidate Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴).

Supporting hard-won democracy

Jerome Keating

Having spent the past three decades in Taiwan, I have watched firsthand the innumerable obstacles it overcame in shedding the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) one-party state to become a vibrant democracy. Within that time, I also had to listen to a fair share of panda-huggers, useful idiots and parachute journalists commenting on what they felt Taiwan should or should not do vis-a-vis that democracy and its main problem, China.

The struggle of those decades have presented a core reality that cannot be ignored.

First, Taiwan is a democracy and it follows the rule of law to protect that democracy. Because of this, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) gracefully stepped down in 2000. He has been a KMT-appointed president and then Taiwan’s first president to be elected by the people. After him, the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) stepped down after his two four-year terms as president. Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the KMT did the same and President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the DPP is to follow suit. Do you see the pattern? All abide by the limits of the Constitution. None tried to cling to power.

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