As soon as he came back from his one-month trip abroad, People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (
They harped on the same old tune of combining their two parties.
This shows that Soong simply doesn't get it and that his way of thinking is obsolete.
Though the two party leaders met and decided to work together for the presidential election only a year and five months ago, the circumstances now are different.
Lien is no longer as powerful as he was; neither is the PFP.
Back then, Lien possessed such enormous power and financial resources that no one could challenge him, and the PFP had not yet begun to decline.
Thus as soon as Lien and Soong held their private talk, a merger between the two parties should have been a done deal.
At that time, the leadership in the pan-blue alliance was invincible.
Now, Lien is nothing more than a rubber stamp.
Though he kept his post as KMT chairman after he lost the presidential election, he will have to step down following the legislative election at the end of this year.
In the meantime, the PFP has lost momentum because of the sliding popularity of Soong.
Therefore, Lien and Soong were indulging in self-delusion by holding a private meeting again, since they are no longer in a position to make any policies or merger deals.
Even if they did, these policies and deals would likely be ineffective.
KMT Vice Chairman Wang Jin-pyng (
In Wang's view, there is no point in even talking about a merger, let alone forming one.
Wang's comment made Lien's rubber-stamp status obvious. Lien doesn't even have a say in his party. If Soong didn't know this, then he was simply incapable of assessing the situation.
He probably thought that nothing had changed over the past year and that he could still control the KMT by allying with Lien. That's how outmoded his thinking is.
The most powerful figure in the KMT now appears to be Wang. Not daring to challenge him, Lien goes along with what he says.
During a visit to former president Lee Teng-hui (
Obviously, he said this to please Lee.
In an interview with a Hong Kong radio station, Lien didn't criticize Wang at all; on the contrary, he played up to him by saying that "in Wang's view, the KMT has to get as much support as it can."
And when he says "support" he's referring to former president Lee.
But since Lien already publicly denounced Lee and cut all ties with him, why did he suddenly welcome Lee's support?
Even though far away on a visit to New York, Wang made comments to express his gratitude to Lee.
Though he likely did not intend to embarrass Lien, clearly in his eyes the former chairman far overshadows the current one.
Now Soong can only bluff Lien. Lien lost his power and Soong is at his wit's end.
The sad thing is that these two out-of-date figures still do not understand and appreciate political reality.
They are not as smart and calculating as we once thought.
Chin Heng-wei is editor-in-chief of Contemporary Monthly magazine.
Translated by Jennie Shih
It is employment pass renewal season in Singapore, and the new regime is dominating the conversation at after-work cocktails on Fridays. From September, overseas employees on a work visa would need to fulfill the city-state’s new points-based system, and earn a minimum salary threshold to stay in their jobs. While this mirrors what happens in other countries, it risks turning foreign companies away, and could tarnish the nation’s image as a global business hub. The program was announced in 2022 in a bid to promote fair hiring practices. Points are awarded for how a candidate’s salary compares with local peers, along
China last month enacted legislation to punish —including with the death penalty — “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists.” The country’s leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), need to be reminded about what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has said and done in the past. They should think about whether those historical figures were also die-hard advocates of Taiwanese independence. The Taiwanese Communist Party was established in the Shanghai French Concession in April 1928, with a political charter that included the slogans “Long live the independence of the Taiwanese people” and “Establish a republic of Taiwan.” The CCP sent a representative, Peng
Japan and the Philippines on Monday signed a defense agreement that would facilitate joint drills between them. The pact was made “as both face an increasingly assertive China,” and is in line with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s “effort to forge security alliances to bolster the Philippine military’s limited ability to defend its territorial interests in the South China Sea,” The Associated Press (AP) said. The pact also comes on the heels of comments by former US deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, who said at a forum on Tuesday last week that China’s recent aggression toward the Philippines in
The Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday announced that the military would hold its annual Han Kuang exercises from July 22 to 26. Military officers said the exercises would feature unscripted war games, and a decentralized command and control structure. This year’s exercises underline the recent reforms in Taiwan’s military as it transitions from a top-down command structure to one where autonomy is pushed down to the front lines to improve decisionmaking and adaptability. Militaries around the world have been observing and studying Russia’s war in Ukraine. They have seen that the Ukrainian military has been much quicker to adapt to