On Jan. 6, the Liberty Times published an interview with Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮). Lu candidly pointed out that the 2004 presidential election will not be a matter of whether the ruling party should be changed, but a matter of whether the pan-blue camp will be able to make a come back. Lu said that one cannot expect the new government to correct all the wrongs left behind by the 55-year-long KMT rule in but just two-and-a-half years. It definitely would be a serious mistake to welcome back the old power-bearers just because of momentary pan-green setbacks, Lu said.
About a week before Lu's interview was the 15th anniversary of former president Chiang Ching-kuo's (蔣經國) death. The pan-blue camp was quick to mobilize. They lined up to participate in rites held in honor of Chiang. They did not forget to use the opportunity to harshly criticize Chen Shui-bian's (
The show climaxed when General Wang Sheng (
This farce gave the younger generation a needed opportunity to learn about a key player of the White Terror era. Wang also reminded the older generations about the nightmare of martial law, the Garrison Command, Green Island, the assassination of Cheng Wen-cheng (
Wang was already by Chiang's side during Chiang's days as an executive commissioner in China. After the KMT's retreat to Taiwan, pursuant to Chiang's order, Wang organized a school (today's Political Warfare College,
After the US severed its diplomatic relationship with the ROC, Wang organized the "Liu Shao-kang Office" (
Nearly 90 and long forgotten, Wang was invited by the KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) has caused havoc with his attempts to overturn the democratic and constitutional order in the legislature. If we look at this devolution from the context of a transition to democracy from authoritarianism in a culturally Chinese sense — that of zhonghua (中華) — then we are playing witness to a servile spirit from a millennia-old form of totalitarianism that is intent on damaging the nation’s hard-won democracy. This servile spirit is ingrained in Chinese culture. About a century ago, Chinese satirist and author Lu Xun (魯迅) saw through the servile nature of
In their New York Times bestseller How Democracies Die, Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt said that democracies today “may die at the hands not of generals but of elected leaders. Many government efforts to subvert democracy are ‘legal,’ in the sense that they are approved by the legislature or accepted by the courts. They may even be portrayed as efforts to improve democracy — making the judiciary more efficient, combating corruption, or cleaning up the electoral process.” Moreover, the two authors observe that those who denounce such legal threats to democracy are often “dismissed as exaggerating or
Monday was the 37th anniversary of former president Chiang Ching-kuo’s (蔣經國) death. Chiang — a son of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), who had implemented party-state rule and martial law in Taiwan — has a complicated legacy. Whether one looks at his time in power in a positive or negative light depends very much on who they are, and what their relationship with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is. Although toward the end of his life Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law and steered Taiwan onto the path of democratization, these changes were forced upon him by internal and external pressures,
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus in the Legislative Yuan has made an internal decision to freeze NT$1.8 billion (US$54.7 million) of the indigenous submarine project’s NT$2 billion budget. This means that up to 90 percent of the budget cannot be utilized. It would only be accessible if the legislature agrees to lift the freeze sometime in the future. However, for Taiwan to construct its own submarines, it must rely on foreign support for several key pieces of equipment and technology. These foreign supporters would also be forced to endure significant pressure, infiltration and influence from Beijing. In other words,
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