If the pan-blue zealots are going to continue to accuse President Chen Shui-bian (
If the pan-blues are going to vaguely accuse Chen of "dirty tricks" and "betraying democracy," I would like to point out that most of my Taiwanese friends have in fact witnessed vote-buying in this election. I have heard of NT$500 gifts for attending Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rallies, offers of free food for KMT votes -- and one friend, who was a pan-blue supporter, explaining how shocked she was when a KMT representative arrived at her company to deliver NT$120,000 to the general manager, money explicitly in exchange for votes.
No wonder KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
I don't need to back up my claims, so I will continue.
The second part of my conspiracy theory is simply that Lien and Soong are trying to ride the collapsing crest of a coup attempt. Had they managed to sustain chaos in the streets and retained their moderate supporters, they seem to have been hoping for a "people's coup," while they waited in the wings to "restore order" by popular demand in the stead of a weakened president, thus saving the country. This would explain Lien and Soong's changing demands and accusations as well as the mixed messages coming from the thuggish legislators on the street. If they can fan the flames the fire may spread.
They may also be jealous of Chen's clean image and after four years of looking for scandal behind every corner, the pan-blues could not wait for Chen any longer.
Although my conspiracies are not as elaborate or dramatic as those proposed by Lien and Soong, they may be more plausible. After seeing how willingly some voters believe everything they hear, I know a bridge in Pingtung that's for sale.
A.D. Kerslake
Seattle, Washington
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not
RSS