Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Beijing shoots itself in the foot

Tzou Jiing-wen 鄒景雯

On Jan. 26 and 27, following the Jan. 13 presidential election, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅), a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), in Bangkok. Sullivan and Wang agreed to arrange a call between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Joe Biden in the spring. The two sides had different things to say about the Taiwan issue. Wang issued a news release reiterating that “the Taiwan question is China’s internal affair” and “Taiwan independence poses the biggest risk to cross-strait peace and stability.”

Beijing has repeated such deceitful and boastful mantras so many times, their effect on the Chinese is wearing off, to say nothing of the Taiwanese. China accused former presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of supporting Taiwanese independence, and President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has faced the same accusation. Last year a Chinese government spokesman and opposition figures in Taiwan called Vice President William Lai (賴清德) a “golden child of Taiwanese independence.”

UK pianist holds up Taiwan flag in London station

Taipei Times

British pianist Brendan Kavanagh on Monday held up Taiwan’s national flag during a livestream after having an altercation with a group of Chinese last month.

When Kavanagh, who goes by the name Dr K Boogie Woogie on social media, was recording a livestream from St Pancras International station in London on Jan. 19, a group of Chinese standing in the background loudly insisted that they not be filmed, saying their portrait rights should be protected.

The Chinese, who were holding Chinese flags when the incident occured, said that they would take legal action if their faces and voices were shown online.

Where have all Taiwan’s Sunflowers gone to?

Gerrit van der Wees

In the run-up to last month’s presidential and legislative elections, the old Peter Paul and Mary folksong from the 1960s kept ringing in my ears: Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

Of course, as this is related to Taiwan, I was thinking of the Sunflowers, the generation of young people led by student leaders Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) and Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷) who brought about a major change in Taiwan’s political system when they organized the peaceful occupation of the Legislative Yuan in 2014, which helped clear the path for President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) momentous victory in 2016.

The Sunflowers displayed a clear vision for what they wanted Taiwan’s democracy to be, and took action to help bring that about. In a sense, they were true descendants of the earlier Wild Strawberry movement of 2008 and the Wild Mountain Lily movement of 1990-1991, which each in their own way were decisive influences at particular points along Taiwan’s road to democracy.

Chinese Communist Party spies everywhere: author

Taipei Times

Underground Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members are in all corners of Taiwan, a former member revealed in a new book.

At the launch of The Memoirs of a Hong Kong’s Underground CPC (覺醒的道路:前中共香港地下黨員梁慕嫻回憶錄) in Vancouver on Sunday, Canada-based writer Florence Mo Han Aw (梁慕嫻) shared her journey from being a loyal party member to recognizing the truth about the CCP.

Aw, 85, was born in Hong Kong and joined the Communist Youth League of China as a high-school student after being recruited by her teacher in 1955.

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