Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Hegseth outlines Chinese threat

Taipei Times

China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday.

“Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail reindustrialization in the US and strangle its economy.

Taiwan can learn from Ukrainians

Chen Yung-chang 陳永昌

Prior to the second Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit — which began on Wednesday last week — Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) warned that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long used such activities to package the promotion of its “united front” propaganda tactics. According to the MAC, the two summits were “held under the pretext of cultural and media exchanges to summon Taiwanese media and cultural figures to Beijing to lecture and instruct them.”

The MAC specifically named Want Want China Times Media Group as playing the role of the CCP’s “united front” pawn. Under the organization and mobilization of the group’s newspaper supplements, more than 10 Taiwanese writers attended a literary forum at the summit. Additionally, seven other Taiwanese writers donated manuscripts to the National Museum of Modern Chinese Literature in Beijing.

Trump, Xi and Mount Rushmore

oseph Bosco

US President Donald Trump created some consternation in Taiwan last week when he told a news conference that a successful trade deal with China would help with “unification.”

Although the People’s Republic of China has never ruled Taiwan, Trump’s language struck a raw nerve in Taiwan given his open siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression seeking to “reunify” Ukraine and Russia. On earlier occasions, Trump has criticized Taiwan for “stealing” the US’ chip industry and for relying too much on the US for defense, ominously presaging a weakening of US support for Taiwan. However, further examination of Trump’s remarks in their full context indicates that he was actually referring not to China and Taiwan, but to China-US cooperation and “unity” that he had discussed at length in a prior interview.

Philippine elections and Taiwan

Marvin Hamor Bernardo, Covie Paulo Ronquillo and Karen Yu 柏馬文

This month’s midterm elections in the Philippines delivered mixed results, with three of the available 12 senate spots going to people on the Duterte slate and two to candidates endorsed by impeached Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte. That gives the pro-Duterte camp five victories. Two of the candidates were initially part of the senatorial slate of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s administration, but shifted their alignment during the final month of campaigning. Overall, even following repeated political setbacks in the run-up to the election, the Dutertes have reasserted their influence in national politics.

The elections delivered a weaker showing for the Marcos administration than was predicted by pre-election surveys. The administration’s winning candidates includes four veteran politicians and one radio personality. That also gives the pro-Marcos camp five victories.

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