The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has recently seen a rise in public support. Deputy Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan (
Lee's remarks were somewhat impolite but no less true. Lien has generated news throughout his trip, but most of it has been rather negative.
An example: While in the UK, he reportedly complained that Taiwan's representative office there had given him the cold shoulder. While in the Czech Republic, he wrangled with Chen Shih-meng (
Lien's remarks provoked a backlash and accusations that he was airing the nation's dirty laundry overseas. Even Lien's new cross-strait rhetoric has stirred up big trouble. At a meeting held by the US-China Policy Foundation on Capitol Hill on Oct. 21, Lien pushed the line that "one China" refers to the Republic of China, apparently different to the People's Republic of China.
Lien's remarks convey nothing new, nor can they resolve the real-life problems facing Taiwan. Instead, they have created a new dispute within the blue camp. Lien's position -- that "one China" means the ROC -- has been the KMT's traditional position since the party retreated to Taiwan in 1949. But the ROC lost its right to represent China after losing its UN seat in 1971.
Lien's proposal will not find acceptance in China, Taiwan or anywhere else in the rest of the world. This is why former president Lee Teng-hui (
Lien's latest "one China" rhetoric has overturned his previous support for a confederation with China, as well as the People First Party's (PFP) "one China rooftop" framework. This will result in a policy conflict between the cross-strait policies of the KMT and the PFP, thereby heightening tensions within the pan-blue camp.
In fact, Lien's new position is the same as Chen Shui-bian's "one country on each side" of the Taiwan Strait dictum. It came as no surprise then that Premier Yu Shyi-kun welcomed Lien's "change of heart" regarding the nation's status and Lien's "support" for Chen's "one country on each side."
Ever since they teamed up for next year's election, the KMT and PFP have focused on negative campaigning. They have failed to present any concrete policy platform. Meanwhile, Chen and Lee have been presenting a succession of policies -- from introducing referendums to changing the country's name to enacting a new constitution. The KMT and the PFP have shown a pronounced inability to lead policy debate. And the one policy proposed by Lien has turned into a campaign booster for the DPP. The blue camp's lead in the polls may not last for too much longer if this situation continues.
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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