Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Ukraine lawmaker calls Taiwan true friend over China

Taipei Times

Ukrainian Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Oleksandr Merezhko called Taiwan a “true friend” in an interview published on Saturday.

During an interview with US online news outlet Axios, Merezhko said that he realized “China is not our friend” after Beijing described its relationship with the Kremlin as a “friendship without limits.”

Taiwan, on the other hand, had placed sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, and had offered Ukraine substantial material support, he said.

Reading between Biden’s lines

Taipei Times Editorials

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday told the UN General Assembly that the US seeks to “uphold peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” and remains committed to the “one China” policy, three days after he said the US would commit troops to Taiwan’s defense if there was “an unprecedented attack.”

After Biden on Sunday said during an interview that the US would send troops to defend Taiwan if China attempted an invasion, the White House said its Taiwan policy had not changed, leading to speculation that the White House was walking back the president’s comments.

Pledge shows where loyalties lie

Taipei Times Editorials

In a recent interview, United Microelectronics Corp founder Robert Tsao (曹興誠) urged candidates running in the November local elections to clarify their stance on cross-strait issues. Inspired by Tsao’s idea, leaders of several pro-independence groups called on candidates to sign a pledge to “defend Taiwan’s security, fight against aggression, and never surrender in the face of invasion, coercion or threat of a Chinese invasion.”

In response to the pledge, the three main Taipei mayoral candidates — Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) and independent candidate Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) — had contrasting attitudes.

Campaigning in the age of plagiarism

Taipei Times Editorials

Today’s world is said to be a post-truth environment. That is a melodramatic response to today’s information overload, but the essential message holds merit. The trend can be seen in politics, especially in the run-up to November’s mayoral elections. Facts are facts, but they are routinely manipulated by politicians, and voters must evaluate what they are told.

The politicians, of course, are betting they will not, human nature being what it is.

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