People First Party (PFP) lawmakers leveled some disgraceful accusations on Wednesday: they alleged, without providing evidence, that not only had President Chen Shui-bian (
Just when voters thought that the nation's legislators had hit rock bottom with their distasteful campaign shtick, the PFP has managed to do one better. But should anyone be surprised, given that the PFP has been rapidly moving to the very extreme of the political spectrum? They had, after all, incited their supporters and a number of gangsters to launch attacks on the Presidential Office and a Kaohsiung court after the presidential election, dashing any pretence of moderation on their part.
These last four years, PFP legislators have been able to bask in the glow of PFP Chairman James Soong (
The accusations, it turns out, came from a radio program hosted by former New Party stalwart and media mogul Jaw Shaw-kong (
What does it say about the credibility of Jaw that he would lend weight to media reports from China, where journalism largely serves as a mouthpiece for the government and where Chen is labeled a traitor for advocating Taiwanese independence? If Jaw's idea of fact-checking is searching Google, then nothing complimentary can be said about him or his organization.
Why did they not check with those who, according to the story, had personally witnessed Moscoso show off the alleged check? Why did they not attempt to locate the check itself? Bent on exposing their own Watergate, these "journalists" don't seem to know or care that investigative journalism is a hard slog -- as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein discovered investigating a head of state and his aides.
On Wednesday, Presidential Office Secretary-General Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said legal action would be taken against those who made the accusations. This is an option that should never be exercised vindictively, but in this instance, it is perfectly warranted. Otherwise, unless Jaw and the PFP retract their accusations and apologize, the dignity of the office of the president and that of Taiwan's allies will have been trashed.
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