Impromptus

Taiwan’s dozen, &c.

By
Sailors of the Taiwanese navy take part in a ceremony in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on November 8, 2018. (Tyrone Siu / Reuters)
On an embattled island; the streets of San Francisco; the latest Trump rally; the fortunes of free speech; the pitch clock; and more

In 2007, I wrote a piece called “Taiwan’s Two Dozen: Who will dare have relations with Free China?” The piece is not available on the Internet, or at least I have not been able to call it up. Perhaps craftier Googlers than I can do so.

Anyway, at the time, those 16 years ago, Taiwan was down to 24 countries — 24 countries willing to recognize it and have formal relations with it. Now Taiwan is down to twelve.

A report in the New York Times from two days ago is headed “In Blow to Taiwan, Honduras Switches Relations to China.” The opening paragraph reads,

China has persuaded Honduras to abandon formal ties with Taiwan and establish them with Beijing, a blow to Taipei’s international standing days before the Taiwanese president embarks on a Central American tour . . .

The report also says,

China’s leaders are trying to isolate Taiwan as they demand that it accept unification, while the United States has been trying to shore up the island’s security and standing.

The Honduran government is singing exactly the song that the regime in Beijing wants it to sing. When you pay the piper, you call the tune. China has paid Honduras — Beijing has greater financial leverage than Taipei — and the Honduran foreign ministry has issued a statement:

Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory and, as of today, the government of Honduras has communicated to Taiwan the severance of diplomatic relations, pledging not to have any further official relations or contact with Taiwan.

There you have it.

Let me quote from something I wrote in 2017:

The PRC will do anything to make Taiwan a pariah nation and eventually obliterate it, or subsume it. Taiwan is dangerous to the PRC: because it sets an example of Chinese democracy. It proves that democracy is indeed compatible with Chinese culture. And if people on the mainland see that — they might get wild ideas . . .

Ukraine is dangerous to the Kremlin in much the same way. A free and democratic country on the border with Russia? A Slavic country at that, with many Russian speakers? A former “republic” of the USSR? What if Russians in general get the wild idea that they, too, can live freely and democratically?

Putin fears this. Xi Jinping and the CCP are spooked and annoyed by the example of a Chinese democracy. I hope they both lose — Putin and Xi. Let them wind up on “the ash heap of history.”


More in Taiwan

• The Czech Republic has a new president, Petr Pavel — a man in the tradition and spirit of Václav Havel. No Orbánite or Putinist, he. The day after he was elected, Pavel called President Zelensky in Ukraine, to assure him of Czech support and solidarity. He then called President Tsai in Taiwan, for the same purpose. He later said, “I assured her that the Czech Republic shares the values of freedom, democracy, and human rights.”

Here is a bit of news: “China Airlines (CAL), one of Taiwan’s top international carriers, said Tuesday it will launch its new route between Taiwan and its sixth destination in Europe, the Czech Republic capital of Prague, on July 18.” (For the article I have quoted, go here.) Direct flights between Prague and Taipei? That is a pretty big deal, politically, psychologically.

The PRC badly wants Taiwan isolated, just as the Kremlin wants Ukraine isolated. I repeat myself: I hope both the PRC and the Kremlin fail.

• Some people will do anything — anything — to escape a police state. I thought of this when spotting this news item. The photo says even more than the words. But the words begin as follows:

Two Cuban migrants used a motorized hang glider to fly the approximately 90 miles (145 kilometers) from the communist island to Key West on Saturday, Florida officials said.

• For years, San Francisco has been bedeviled by crime and degradation. People are fed up. These include Asian Americans. CNN did a report on the subject, as you will see. The CNN team hired security — but that was not enough to keep the criminals at bay.

Anyway, of keen interest:

• A scene from the latest Trump rally:

What a sick and nasty movement. I hope their time will eventually end.

• This is interesting:

With a hand over his heart, Trump stood at attention when his rally opened with a song called “Justice for All” performed by a choir of people imprisoned for their roles in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

(Article here.)

Some people get upset when “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” is sung at public events. “There’s only one national anthem!” Okay. But maybe the complainers should bear that in mind when our great “nationalists” stand at attention for their own song.

(“Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” believe it or not, became a presidential-campaign issue in 2008. I wrote an essay on the matter, at the time: here.)

• A headline: “Marjorie Taylor Greene’s jail visit pulls GOP closer to Jan. 6 rioters.” Ah, swell. The article begins,

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene swept into the District of Columbia jail to check on conditions for the Jan. 6 defendants, with Republican lawmakers handshaking and high-fiving the prisoners, who chanted “Let’s Go Brandon!” — a coded vulgarity against President Joe Biden — as the group left.

Swell.

• Also swell: On March 9, Kevin McCarthy handed the gavel over to MTG, making her speaker pro tempore. I used to be told, “Greene is just a fringe character!” I don’t hear that as much anymore, and for darn good reason.

• Israeli society has been riven by Prime Minister Netanyahu’s attempt to reorder the judiciary. Rarely has Israel had such a domestic crisis; the country’s typical crises are national-security ones.

The defense minister, Yoav Gallant, has spoken up in an interesting way. I will cite a report from the New York Times:

[Gallant] called on Saturday night for his government to suspend its contentious plan to overhaul the country’s judiciary, arguing that the turmoil it has unleashed within Israeli society and the military has become a threat to Israel’s national security.

“The rift within our society is widening and penetrating the Israel Defense Forces,” Mr. Gallant said in a televised speech. He added: “This is a clear and immediate and tangible danger to the security of the state. I shall not be a party to this.”

And an update, from the Washington Post: “Netanyahu fires defense minister who called for halt to judicial overhaul.” It is perfectly understandable that the PM fired him. Still, I’m glad Gallant spoke up. And I believe he is well named, if I may.

• Let us look into the world of free speech — and consider one story from India and another from Brazil.

A headline from the BBC reads, “Rahul Gandhi disqualified as MP after conviction in defamation case.” The article is here. In a nutshell, Gandhi insulted the prime minister, Narendra Modi. He insulted his last name, in particular. Said a Modi ally, “Insulting any surname is not freedom of speech.”

Rahul Gandhi has been sentenced to two years in prison.

All right, a headline from the Associated Press: “Piquet fined for racist, homophobic comments about Hamilton.” The article begins,

Retired Formula One champion Nelson Piquet has been ordered by a Brazilian court to pay $950,000 in “moral damages” for making racist and homophobic comments about Lewis Hamilton.

Call it a million bucks. Are you allowed to be a jackass in Brazil? Apparently, it’ll cost you.

How rare — how very rare — is the country that safeguards freedom of speech.

• Let’s have a language item. The BBC article I have cited says, “A parliament notice said that Mr Gandhi ‘stands disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha’, alluding to the lower house of parliament.”

But that’s not an allusion, it’s a reference — isn’t it? A direct reference. (An allusion is indirect.)

• A little music? For a review of the St. Matthew Passion, performed by the New York Philharmonic and associated forces, go here. Maybe I could paste a brief excerpt.

There are people in this world who consider the St. Matthew Passion the greatest work of music. I am not much of a ranker. And there is no greatest work. There is a grand tie at the top. But the opinion I have cited — that the Matthew is No. 1 — is not dumb. Far from it.

• Some days ago, I did a podcast with George F. Will, in which we discussed many things (here). Among them was baseball: and Will approves of all the changes that have been instituted this year. Approves of them heartily.

I had to smile at this tweet, from a noted sports columnist:

• Take a gander at this big ol’ beauty — this big ol’ beautiful behemoth — on the streets of New York:

We really made ’em, in Detroit.

• It was a rainy, dreary day — but here, suddenly, was a swath of color:

Can a Monday be happy? I think so — and I’m wishing you a very good, very happy, one, my friends. Later on.

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