Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Taiwan needs improved deterrence

Taipei Times Editorial

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is in its seventh day, with Russian President Vladimir Putin showing no signs of watering down his maximalist objective of decapitating the pro-Western Ukrainian government and subsuming the country into his neo-imperial Russian empire, alongside Belarus.

The unprovoked invasion of a European nation outside of NATO’s nuclear-backed defensive umbrella has highlighted the limitations of the Cold War-era doctrine of mutually assured destruction. The notion that the threat of a general nuclear war acts as a deterrent against state-on-state aggression is now in tatters, as is US political scientist Fancis Fukuyama’s “end of history” thesis.

No end to transitional justice: Tsai

Taipei Times

President Tsai Ing-wen, left, yesterday at a 228 Incident memorial ceremony in Keelung presents Liu Chen-hsiung with a certificate restoring the reputation of his father, Liu Hsin-fu.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times

The nation’s transitional justice efforts would soon reach a new milestone with the Cabinet taking over the responsibilities of the ad hoc Transitional Justice Commission, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday during a 228 Incident memorial in Keelung.

During an address to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the 1947 Incident, Tsai said that the commission, established in 2018, would disband at the end of May after issuing its final report on human rights abuses under the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime.

Lessons from Ukraine: Stop helping China to invade Taiwan

Richard D. Fisher, Jr.

As Ukrainians valiantly resist Vladimir Putin’s brutal attempt to destroy their democracy, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is watching closely for strategic and tactical wisdom to destroy the democracy on Taiwan.

One key lesson for Taipei and Washington should be an increased focus on preventing American and European companies from making such an attack easier for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

A gathering Taiwan-US-China consensus points to a possible PLA invasion attempt by the mid-2020s.

Taiwanese not ready for defense: Fukuyama

Taipei Times

US political scientist Francis Fukuyama takes part in a video conference yesterday.
Photo: CNA

Renowned US political scientist Francis Fukuyama yesterday said he thinks Ukrainians are much more willing to defend themselves than Taiwanese, which poses a significant threat to Taiwan’s future and independence.

Fukuyama, the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, made the remarks in a speech titled “Threats to Liberalism and the Liberal World Order” in a virtual forum held by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation.

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