The presidential election and referendum have finished, and the Central Election Commission has proclaimed President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) as the win-ners. Unfortunately, the referendum did not succeed since the two questions failed to achieve the 50 percent vote required. The tiny margin by which the election was won prompted Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chair-man Lien Chan (連戰) and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) to refuse to concede, calling for an immediate recount and the annulment of the election.
Governments around the world have already offered their congratulations, and this is to be seen as a victory for democracy. However, because a number of losers are refusing to play by the rules, a blow has been struck against Taiwanese democracy. These politicians have continued to protest, inciting social unrest and causing the stock market to fall. One wonders what the pan-blue supporters in the business world are thinking, having witnessed this turn of events.
With an eye on the year-end legislative elections, some pan-blue legislators have not only failed to encourage their supporters to be reasonable, but they have actively encouraged them to do decidedly unreasonable acts.
The road to democracy has not been an easy one, and through the actions of a few individuals over the last few days Taiwan's good name in the international community has been compromised. The legal authorities have already had the ballot boxes sealed and promised to promptly deal with Lien's and Soong's demands. Now that the furore surrounding the election is being dealt with through legal channels, the pan-blue politicians should desist from their current course, call off the protests and allow society to get back to normal.
The media has also come out of this election tarnished. We have seen huge disparities between the pre-election surveys and the exit polls conducted by a number of newspapers and TV stations and the actual outcome. These media have now lost all credibility. Furthermore, many commentators and media personalities overlooked the fact that a great number of people refused to participate in pre-election polls. In the end there appeared to be little relationship between the results of these polls and the final count. Why did so many people refuse to participate? Was it perhaps that the readers and viewers saw the surveys as fundamentally biased towards certain political parties, and therefore refused to take part in them?
The aftermath of the election will see a change in the political landscape. Lien will have to step down as KMT chairman to make way for new blood. If the KMT wishes to be a viable force four years from now, its leaders will have to cease turning their back on mainstream public opinion and recognize Taiwan. Failure to do so will result in a split between the various factions within the party. It is unlikely that the KMT and the PFP will join forces in the year-end legislative elections: their competitive spirit will surely smother their desire to co-operate.
Beijing may well have been disappointed by the news of another term for Chen, but the situation should nevertheless have a stabilizing and positive influence on Sino-Taiwanese relations. They will be reluctant to wait another four years for a possible handover of power, opting instead for dialogue with the powers-that-be, and no longer expect the president to accept the "one China" principle. It is hoped that the international community will take the mainstream will of the Taiwanese people seriously, recognize the fact that 60 percent of the people identify themselves as Taiwanese and want to be the masters of Taiwan, and amend their current "one China" policy.
Parris Chang is a Democratic Progressive Party legislator.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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
The military is conducting its annual Han Kuang exercises in phases. The minister of national defense recently said that this year’s scenarios would simulate defending the nation against possible actions the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) might take in an invasion of Taiwan, making the threat of a speculated Chinese invasion in 2027 a heated agenda item again. That year, also referred to as the “Davidson window,” is named after then-US Indo-Pacific Command Admiral Philip Davidson, who in 2021 warned that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the PLA to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. Xi in 2017
RSS