The past few days have seen so many bewildering and inexplicable events relating to the presidential campaign that one despairs of making head or tail of it. But more than any other, there is one question which sticks in the mind. Why must the pan-blue alliance continually obfuscate the truth?
As if it weren't bad enough to run five full-page ads in Chinese-language newspapers equating President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) with Adolf Hitler, People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) then proved his utter contemptibility in a statement on Friday regarding the Central Election Commission's decision to count misplaced presidential ballots.
"If Chen insists on counting ballots placed in the wrong ballot boxes as valid, then he is acting just like that dictator, Hitler," he declared.
Such a patently absurd claim deserves to be heaped with ridicule. Comparing the Chen administration to the Nazi regime is, at best, a total misrepresentation of historical fact or, at worst, malicious and offensive libel.
The pan-blues have once again proven their compulsive hypocrisy and craven amorality.
You needn't be exceedingly familiar with the history of Taiwan to judge which political party's past most closely resembles the genocidal violence and fascist oppression of Hitler's National Socialist Party.
The murder, torture and persecution of political dissidents and minority ethnic groups by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) under Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) are matters of record. The use of assassination, the employment of brutal thugs to assault opposition members, the repression of free speech, the quashing of political dissent, the use of torture, sham trials and summary executions are all characteristics of the KMT during the White Terror.
It would be irresponsible and unethical to claim that the modern KMT still employs such tactics. But surely its shift toward a more benign style of politics is a result of the efforts of people such as Chen -- a longtime democracy activist, former human-rights lawyer and victim of KMT oppression -- to make the government accountable to the people.
During last Saturday's 313 Rally, Soong fell to his knees in Taichung and kissed the ground to "show his love for Taiwan." Not to be outdone, Lien later prostrated himself before the Presidential Office and kissed the ground as well. How these gestures will be interpreted by the electorate is not clear, but it is clear that Lien and Soong will do anything, even abase themselves in public, to gain power.
Lately, the pan-blue camp has been running a series of TV advertisements in which it has attempted to equate Lien with former US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt and former UK prime minister Winston Churchill. But it seems that when the alliance was studying up on these leaders, there was an error in translation.
Roosevelt said: "We, and all others who believe in freedom as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live on our knees." Apparently the pan-blues have translated this as, "It is better to win on your knees than lose on your feet."
The pan-blues should be ashamed of adopting such cheap, indefensible theatrics. It would be easier to respect the policies and leadership of the KMT and the PFP were they to refrain from making such spurious and feckless declarations. But it is too much to expect the pan-blues to use truth in their campaign.
For were they to tell the truth about their shadowy financial dealings, their connections to the underworld, their corruption, their pandering to Beijing and their subordination of Taiwan's welfare in their quest to quench their thirst for power, no one would vote for them.
Mac William Bishop is a political commentator based in Taipei.
US President Donald Trump has gotten off to a head-spinning start in his foreign policy. He has pressured Denmark to cede Greenland to the United States, threatened to take over the Panama Canal, urged Canada to become the 51st US state, unilaterally renamed the Gulf of Mexico to “the Gulf of America” and announced plans for the United States to annex and administer Gaza. He has imposed and then suspended 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico for their roles in the flow of fentanyl into the United States, while at the same time increasing tariffs on China by 10
As an American living in Taiwan, I have to confess how impressed I have been over the years by the Chinese Communist Party’s wholehearted embrace of high-speed rail and electric vehicles, and this at a time when my own democratic country has chosen a leader openly committed to doing everything in his power to put obstacles in the way of sustainable energy across the board — and democracy to boot. It really does make me wonder: “Are those of us right who hold that democracy is the right way to go?” Has Taiwan made the wrong choice? Many in China obviously
US President Donald Trump last week announced plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on eight countries. As Taiwan, a key hub for semiconductor manufacturing, is among them, the policy would significantly affect the country. In response, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) dispatched two officials to the US for negotiations, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) board of directors convened its first-ever meeting in the US. Those developments highlight how the US’ unstable trade policies are posing a growing threat to Taiwan. Can the US truly gain an advantage in chip manufacturing by reversing trade liberalization? Is it realistic to
Last week, 24 Republican representatives in the US Congress proposed a resolution calling for US President Donald Trump’s administration to abandon the US’ “one China” policy, calling it outdated, counterproductive and not reflective of reality, and to restore official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, enter bilateral free-trade agreement negotiations and support its entry into international organizations. That is an exciting and inspiring development. To help the US government and other nations further understand that Taiwan is not a part of China, that those “one China” policies are contrary to the fact that the two countries across the Taiwan Strait are independent and
RSS