Taipei, Oct. 16 (CNA) Tensions have mounted in the international community as a result of North Korea's nuclear test, especially in Japan and South Korea, reminding the people of Taiwan of the importance of national defense, scholars said in a forum Monday.
"The North Korean nuclear issue has allowed Taiwan's people to understand why Japan and South Korea have made national defense a top priority," said Academia Sinica research fellow Lin Cheng-yi at the Taiwan Forum, an event organized by the Taiwan Thinktank.
The nuclear issue has psychological implications for both Taiwan's government and its people, added Lin, who also lamented lack of discussion on the issue via public platforms such as the media, due to anti-corruption protests and political turmoil in
recent months.
"Taiwan has been more 'inward looking' over the past few months," Lin said, referring to neglect of the nuclear issue on the part of Taiwan's media and public, which have paid more attention to domestic political problems.
Analyzing the issue on a broader scale, Tamkang University professor Shih Cheng-feng said the issue was probably good news for Taiwan, "as long as the People's Republic of China fails to constrain North Korea on its nuclear program."
Some political observers believe the United States was in the past ready to "trade the issue of Taiwan with China in exchange for China's constraint on North Korea," said David Huang, former deputy chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC).
By now the U.S. understands that China "was only pretending it has influence in North Korea," Huang noted, adding that China has few resources in the region to constrain North Korea at this moment.
Focusing on recent developments in Taiwan's domestic poltics and cross-strait relations, the one-day forum gathered four commentators and foreign representatives in Taiwan.