Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

A conference on “International Organizations and Taiwan” was told on Monday that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) efforts to increase Taipei’s international space had only limited success.

“China has not only withheld support for further expansion of Taiwan’s international space, it has also continued long-standing efforts to squeeze Taiwan’s international space,” said Bonnie Glaser, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The conference, organized by the Washington-based Brookings Institution, heard that during Ma’s first year in office Beijing showed some “diplomatic flexibility,” but that more recently there had been no major progress.

In his article “Running for president, for what?” (Liberty Times, March 5, section A6), Lee Min-yung (李敏勇) said: “If we cannot break away from the dilemma posed by the “Republic of China,” then running for president amounts to little more than playing power games to accumulate personal fame or wealth... Future candidates for the presidency need to tell the people how they plan to lead Taiwan in the building of a new community with the real structure of a nation.”

I believe that the most important mission for any future president is to ensure Taiwanese establish a new and independent state based on freedom, democracy, justice and liberty.