Recently the PFP has specialized in holding press conferences and crying foul on behalf of its chairman. To clear PFP Chairman James Soong (
With so many fingers pointing at its controversial leader, the PFP in its paranoia is presenting a conspiracy theory, essentially claiming that everyone wants to harm Soong. But is Soong really as innocent as the PFP would like us to believe?
The Chung Hsing Bills Finance scandal is a four-year-old case. On Wednesday, in response to a question from a member of the public, President Chen Shui-bian (
After the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office decided not to indict Soong over the case, lawyer Chuang Po-lin (
The Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office has now ordered the Taipei prosecutors' office to look into the reasons cited by Chuang in his appeal. The pan-blue lawmakers' accusations of political persecution are an overreaction.
On another front, the Central News Agency (CNA) recently made a mistake in translating a news report about former French foreign minister Roland Dumas' remarks on the Lafayette scandal. Dumas claimed that US$400 million in kickbacks had been transferred to the "general secretariat" of the then-ruling party -- ie, the KMT. But CNA mistranslated the phrase "general secretariat" as "secretary general" -- and in so doing directly implicated Soong.
The fact that the report turns out to be a mistranslation in no way actually proves Soong's innocence. After all, he was the KMT secretary-general at the time, the man who oversaw the party's secretariat. If the Lafayette kickbacks have anything to do with the KMT's secretariat, they almost certainly have to do with Soong. Using a mistranslated news report to "prove" Soong's innocence is an attempt to divert public attention and put blinkers on people's eyes.
This is nothing new for Soong. A few days ago, Soong argued during a press conference that, as director-general of the Government Information Office at the time, his role in the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident was simply to try to maintain the nation's image. What an understatement. During the trials for those arrested in the notorious incident, Soong publicly denounced them as "pro-Taiwan independence elements," and "those who walk the same path as the Communist bandits," and as "People who want to overthrow the government by force."
Soong's words defined the incident then and betray him now.
There's a frequently used phrase in local politics -- borrowed from Shakespeare -- "The queen's chastity cannot be questioned!" Soong is not only the chairman of the PFP but also the "queen" whom KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
Labubu, an elf-like plush toy with pointy ears and nine serrated teeth, has become a global sensation, worn by celebrities including Rihanna and Dua Lipa. These dolls are sold out in stores from Singapore to London; a human-sized version recently fetched a whopping US$150,000 at an auction in Beijing. With all the social media buzz, it is worth asking if we are witnessing the rise of a new-age collectible, or whether Labubu is a mere fad destined to fade. Investors certainly want to know. Pop Mart International Group Ltd, the Chinese manufacturer behind this trendy toy, has rallied 178 percent
My youngest son attends a university in Taipei. Throughout the past two years, whenever I have brought him his luggage or picked him up for the end of a semester or the start of a break, I have stayed at a hotel near his campus. In doing so, I have noticed a strange phenomenon: The hotel’s TV contained an unusual number of Chinese channels, filled with accents that would make a person feel as if they are in China. It is quite exhausting. A few days ago, while staying in the hotel, I found that of the 50 available TV channels,
Kinmen County’s political geography is provocative in and of itself. A pair of islets running up abreast the Chinese mainland, just 20 minutes by ferry from the Chinese city of Xiamen, Kinmen remains under the Taiwanese government’s control, after China’s failed invasion attempt in 1949. The provocative nature of Kinmen’s existence, along with the Matsu Islands off the coast of China’s Fuzhou City, has led to no shortage of outrageous takes and analyses in foreign media either fearmongering of a Chinese invasion or using these accidents of history to somehow understand Taiwan. Every few months a foreign reporter goes to
There is no such thing as a “silicon shield.” This trope has gained traction in the world of Taiwanese news, likely with the best intentions. Anything that breaks the China-controlled narrative that Taiwan is doomed to be conquered is welcome, but after observing its rise in recent months, I now believe that the “silicon shield” is a myth — one that is ultimately working against Taiwan. The basic silicon shield idea is that the world, particularly the US, would rush to defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion because they do not want Beijing to seize the nation’s vital and unique chip industry. However,
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