We can be grateful that not everybody has a boss like Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (
As well he might. The mass protest outside the Presidential Office triggered by Lien's speech has put the KMT stalwart between a rock and a hard place: On one side, as governor of the capital, it's Ma's job to secure public safety; on the other hand, standing in the way of the KMT's party apparatus could lead to a confrontation the mayor is not ready for.
Exactly what kind of trouble he is in became clear when Taipei Deputy Mayor Ou Chin-der (
Four years ago the protest problem was solved more directly -- police used water cannon to cool tempers and disperse the crowd.
Ma knows that the same tactic now would be disastrous for him. With his eye on the KMT's presidential nod in 2008, the mayor does not want to blast his core support down Ketagelen Boulevard live on TV.
Further, a removal of the protesters would put him at loggerheads with Lien, who is using the vocal support as a bargaining chip in the game he's playing with the country's democracy. To send this leverage home would not put Ma in his boss's good books.
So the Taipei mayor has delved into his bag of emergency powers and declared the protest legal, an act that normally would require notification a week in advance.
But despite this flexibility over the protest, in the past week Ma has seemed less like the obsequious employee Lien has leaned hard on for support over the years.
While Lien stood side by side with Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
All this makes it look as if the mayor is distancing himself from the top brass, and by extension the protesters camped outside the Presidential Office. This will be put to the test in today's rally.
Ma has already said he would take part in the rally that he himself gave permission for, but it remains to be seen how visible he will be. To march arm in arm with Lien and Soong would mean he has thrown his lot in with those who are trying to circumvent democracy.
A less conspicuous presence would leave Ma with a greater number of options once the election dust has settled.
But Ma will need to show more backbone than was on display when he tried to offload his city administration's responsibility for the protesters onto the central government if he wants to lead a pan-blue offensive in 2008.
After war with China and 40 years of authoritarian rule, the KMT's structure has hardened to the consistency of concrete. For Ma to bring about real change would require nothing short of a mini-revolution that would irrevocably tear the party apart.
But unless someone like Ma achieves this and forms a viable opposition to the KMT's flotsam, the party will disappear without a trace and democracy will be dealt a critical blow.
Lien is the captain of a disintegrating KMT, and he will go down with his ship; Ma can still make it to the lifeboat.
Andy Morton is a copy editor at the Taipei Times.
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
Trying to force a partnership between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) and Intel Corp would be a wildly complex ordeal. Already, the reported request from the Trump administration for TSMC to take a controlling stake in Intel’s US factories is facing valid questions about feasibility from all sides. Washington would likely not support a foreign company operating Intel’s domestic factories, Reuters reported — just look at how that is going over in the steel sector. Meanwhile, many in Taiwan are concerned about the company being forced to transfer its bleeding-edge tech capabilities and give up its strategic advantage. This is especially
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