In the cramped living spaces of Japan, when a dog barks too much and annoys the neighbors, they can get a court order to force the animal's owner to have its vocal cords removed, thus silencing it.
If only such a remedy were at hand for Vice President Annette Lu (
There was a time when we used to look forward to news from the vice president, if only because it would give us a good laugh. The highlight from the first Chen Shui-bian (
But in the wake of the devastation caused by Tropical Storm Mindulle, things have gone beyond a joke. Lu has outdone herself in the wacky ideas department with her suggestion that the people of storm-devastated central Taiwan pick up sticks and move to Central America to farm for a few years to give the central region a chance to rest. At the same time she has managed to be deeply insulting and offensive to the inhabitants of the central area, in particular to the Aborigines.
This time last year, this newspaper made it quite clear that we thought that Chen would have been wise not to select Lu as a running mate for his second term. We preferred either Yeh Chu-lan (
Nevertheless the president chose Lu a second time -- largely, we are led to believe, because he was reluctant to interfere with what had proved to be a winning combination.
In the end, Lu's presence on the ticket was not the drag it might have been, largely because she was kept quiet -- for which, much thanks. Since the election it has been a different story. Some of it was the kind of loopy nonsense we have become tired of even sneering at -- such as Lu's remarks that she was the primary target of the March 19 assassination attempt.
But Lu's post-storm remarks have shown someone with a seriously deficient grasp of reality, as well as a person chronically insensitive to the sensibilities of others -- the best example of this being her remarks, when faced with Aborigines demonstrating over her calling them the authors of their own misfortunes, that they should go back to singing and dancing (what they do best, in Lu's view) instead of protesting.
That this woman is the convener of the presidential offices' advisory group on human rights can hardly be appropriate, given that she displays both racial insensitivity and an attitude to solving problems beloved of the most disgusting tyrannies: shipping errant populations somewhere they won't do any more "harm."
But we might more usefully ask whether she ought to be vice president. The idea that she might succeed Chen is laughable. So it is something of a shame that this deadwood is occupying a position where another, younger talent might be groomed for succession.
It would be perhaps possible for Lu to "retire" for "health reasons." The problem is that her successor has to be nominated by the president and approved by the Legislative Yuan. Until the pan-greens control the legislature -- hopefully from next February, when the legislature elected in December actually takes office -- this will be an all but impossible task. Once the DPP and its allies control that body, however, pressure must be put on Lu to go.
Deterrence is fading; war is looming on the Taiwan Strait and for other targets of the China-enabled dictatorship alliance, and after three years the cure is just dawning on the Biden Administration. Now mind you, for a May 28, 2024 interview with Time magazine, President Joe Biden made his 5th public commitment that the United States would defend Taiwan. Less than three weeks later the United States Navy, along with ships from navies of Japan, Canada, the Netherlands, and France, were conducting the Valiant Shield joint force exercise in the Philippine Sea south of Taiwan and in the South China Sea to
The official media of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) reacted to the May 20 inauguration speech of President William Lai (賴清德) by asserting: “Lai’s words reveal his true intention of sacrificing peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait for his own desire for power.” This baseless accusation by Beijing that Lai is manipulating Taiwanese to resist unification with China for his personal gain, is part of a broader CCP information warfare campaign that has intensified since Lai’s election. This campaign, orchestrated by the United Front Work Department, the CCP’s agency for coordinating influence operations and propaganda, aims to demoralize Taiwanese,
US aerospace company Boeing Co has in recent years been involved in numerous safety incidents, including crashes of its 737 Max airliners, which have caused widespread concern about the company’s safety record. It has recently come to light that titanium jet engine parts used by Boeing and its European competitor Airbus SE were sold with falsified documentation. The source of the titanium used in these parts has been traced back to an unknown Chinese company. It is clear that China is trying to sneak questionable titanium materials into the supply chain and use any ensuing problems as an opportunity to
Minister of Health and Welfare Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源) on Friday said the ministry supports keeping priority seats on public transportation, but is considering expanding the eligibility criteria and renaming the seats. Chiu’s remarks came after local news media over the past few weeks reported incidents involving priority seats, once again sparking heated discussion about whether the seats should be abolished or regulations regarding them should be revised. On June 11, an older woman asked a young woman on a Taipei MRT train to yield her priority seat. The young woman refused, saying that she needed the seat after working a 12-hour shift.