Monday, September 26, 2011

‘Taiwan independent since 1989’: Lee Kuan Yew

Taiwan may be independent, but no amount of US arms sale will prevent annexation by China, because this remains an unshakeable goal for Beijing, the former leader said

Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀) made waves last week when he told a conference in Singapore that he believed Taiwan has been independent “from 1989 to the present.”

Addressing the closing dinner of the two-day Singapore Global Dialogue on Thursday evening, the 88-year-old, who stepped down from government earlier this year after a poor showing by his People’s Action Party, did not elaborate on why he had chosen 1989 as the year Taiwan became “independent.”

Some Taiwanese media have speculated that the former Singaporean prime minister may have regarded the ascension of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) to the Presidential Office the previous year as a turning point.

My article, published today in the Taipei Times, continues here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

China will get stronger as time goes on. The PLA need not match the US missile for missile,nship for ship,etc. The ability to retaliate is good enough.China need not seek parity with US forces.
The US is the biggest bully in the world attacking defenceless countries like Kosovo,Afghanistan,Iraq,etc. They have not attacked NK because the Communist country can cause massive US casualies and severe damage to SK before being destroyed.
The US can defeat China in any war but the price will be unacceptable
damage on the conus.The PLA wont attack US territory unless China is attacked by US forces.
The PLA will upgrade their weaponry to cause more unacceptable damge on the US with the passage of time
As for Taiwan,sooner or later it will go back to the bosom of China and there is nothing the US can do short of igniting WW3.

Anonymous said...

China will get stronger as time goes on. The PLA need not match the US missile for missile,nship for ship,etc. The ability to retaliate is good enough.China need not seek parity with US forces.
The US is the biggest bully in the world attacking defenceless countries like Kosovo,Afghanistan,Iraq,etc. They have not attacked NK because the Communist country can cause massive US casualies and severe damage to SK before being destroyed.
The US can defeat China in any war but the price will be unacceptable
damage on the conus.The PLA wont attack US territory unless China is attacked by US forces.
The PLA will upgrade their weaponry to cause more unacceptable damge on the US with the passage of time
As for Taiwan,sooner or later it will go back to the bosom of China and there is nothing the US can do short of igniting WW3.