Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Security experts warn on China threat

Taipei Times

An expert on cross-strait relations yesterday emphasized the need for openness and transparency, as well as for the ruling and opposition parties to reach a consensus in formulating government policy on relations with China.

“There should not be secrecy ... there should be a broad national debate, and nothing should be done until a consensus of both parties is reached about what the ultimate goals are,” said Arthur Waldron, an international relations professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

Intelligence treason in the making

Taipei Times Editorial

The systematic efforts by our government, uncovered by this newspaper last week, to keep secret a visit by a top Chinese security official last month raise questions that go far beyond secrecy and involve matters pertaining to the very nature of our society.

Though alarming in itself, it is not unusual for senior security officials from different countries to meet behind closed doors. In some cases, such meetings even involve cooperation with countries that have poor human rights records. In the “war” against terrorism launched after Sept. 11, for example, Western intelligence agencies began working closely — and secretly — with their counterparts in pariah states like Pakistan, Syria and Saudi Arabia.

Japan worried over ROC interpretation

Taipei Times

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government’s stance that there’s no need to object to China’s territorial claim to the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) since the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution states that China is still considered a territory of the ROC on Taiwan has prompted concerns from Japanese officials over the political implications of this interpretation, sources from diplomatic circles said.

A meeting was held on Sept. 29 at the Presidential Office where discussions concentrated predominantly on the Diaoyutais issue.

Ma refuses to face the truth about Diaoyutais

James Wang 王景弘

In the recent dispute between China and Japan over a collision between a Chinese fishing boat and a Japanese vessel off the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), Japan did the US a favor by covering up its lack of political resolve. However, if we think in more positive terms, the way in which Japan started out strong but eventually caved in to China had some merit because it helped reveal China’s hegemonic nature.

China’s behavior proves that the lives of people in China are worthless to their government — when they exercise their “constitutional rights” they are thrown in jail. Overseas, however, and especially in Japan, the lives of Chinese people do mean something to Beijing, which goes out of its way to protect its citizens, completely disregarding whether they are in the wrong.

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