TAIPEI, Taiwan—When Hsiao Bi-khim set off for Washington six years ago, the newly minted Taiwanese envoy needed something to challenge China’s menacing “wolf warriors.”
Hsiao forged her own brand, that of a “cat warrior”—nimble, adaptive, always alert, and most importantly, with an indelible independent streak.
Six years later, Hsiao is the second most powerful person in Taiwan, and the moniker appears to have weathered well.
“Cats cannot be coerced,” she said. “They have a mind of their own.”
Hsiao said the island nation is similar.
“Taiwan can be soft and warm and cuddly,” the vice president told The Epoch Times’ “American Thought Leaders” during an interview at the presidential palace. “But at the same time, it’s important to keep our claws sharp in order to defend ourselves.”
Applied to diplomacy, Hsiao said, that means a lot of balancing and finding common interests—and in the context of U.S.–Taiwan relations, forging consensus across the political spectrum in the U.S. Congress.
By leveraging their strengths, Taipei and Washington become force multipliers to each other, she said.
“That’s where the attraction is, and that’s where Taiwan and the United States are so much stronger together,” Hsiao said.
Beijing’s Threats, Taken in Stride
Born in Japan to a Presbyterian minister from Taiwan and a music teacher from North Carolina, Hsiao said she remembers acting as a bridge as soon as she could talk, translating between grandmothers who spoke different languages.
She entered politics at the age of 24. Within six years, she had won a seat in Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan, becoming one of the youngest lawmakers at the time.
While serving in the legislature together back in 2006, Hsiao and current Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te backed a resolution calling for an international investigation into Beijing’s state-sponsored forced organ harvesting, a story that The Epoch Times broke weeks earlier.
As Taiwan’s first medical doctor-turned-president, Lai is “very committed to these basic rights,” Hsiao said.
As Hsiao rose to prominence, Beijing called her a “die-hard” separatist, accusing her of “colluding with the United States” to seek Taiwanese independence. The regime twice put her on its blacklist.
Hsiao said these were intimidation tactics.
“We will not let the Communist Party of China define who we are,” she said.
Hsiao doesn’t have any personal business in China, so the sanctions are merely symbolic. Try as it may, Beijing can’t stop her efforts to defend Taiwan and the values it stands for, she said.
Threats are a regular part of Taiwanese life, and they’re intensifying by the day.
The Chinese regime, which views Taiwan as a renegade province, has been harassing the island with warplanes on a near-daily basis.
Beijing routinely blocks Taipei from participating in international forums. It lures the island nation’s diplomatic allies away with cash and lavish promises, keen to further isolate Taiwan on the world stage.
