Taiwan and Tibet: a shared destiny



The US House of Representatives recently passed a resolution urging Beijing to lauch talks with the representatives of the Dalai Lama to find a viable solution to the Tibet quagmire. The European Parliament also followed suit by passing a similar resolution calling all sides to exert a greater effort to settle the dispute. Though both documents included no threats of actions if Beijing fails to comply, it was the thought that counts. The reality is, the US and the EU's dependency on China is a much weightier matter than when the Free Tibet movement initially started years ago. From a pragmatic stance, I can understand why the western world taking more an more hands-off approach at the moment. Still, I applaud for their efforts. After all, AT LEAST they made some sort of statement.

What really befuddles me is how come the Taiwanese legislators sat idly on their bums on such an important issue? It does not take a genius or a great political mind to see Taiwan and Tibet are in the similar position. On March 14, thousands of people marched the streets of Taipei for freedom in Tibet. One of my favorite placards was "Now Tibet, then Taiwan." Surely one can argue that Tibet and Taiwan are very different in many ways such in geography and economy and degrees of freedom. But the fact is, both T's are highly coveted by Chinese Communist Party and both causes are losing supports. Perhaps this is EXACTLY what Beijing intended, to leave an issue in a stalemate until it becomes moldy, unattractives and at the end, forgotten. If Taiwan doesn't stand up for Tibet now, who is going to stand up for Taiwan later?

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