With the March 26 rally, the Taiwanese people showed the international community their determination not to accept annexation by China and it also asked the world to help Taiwan oppose any Chinese attempts to take military action based on Beijing's "Anti-Secession" Law.
Regrettably, pro-unification forces are taking every opportunity to weaken Taiwan's demands. Foremost among these is Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
On the day of the demonstration, reporters from this newspaper asked police at the rally for an estimate of participants. At the time, they said it was impossible to make such an estimate. Ma, however, cited police figures when announcing his estimate. Reporters from many countries and media organizations were present to report on the demonstration. They -- and the march participants -- are all witnesses, and Ma's fake numbers convince no one.
This is not very surprising. Ma's long-standing toadying to Beijing has won him the nickname "Chief Executive Ma" -- an echo of the title bestowed on Hong Kong's leader. Last year, when Ma wanted to visit the territory at the invitation of a local group, a slight criticism of the recently proposed Anti-Secession Law led to his being denied a visa. He is now clearly trying to win Beijing's forgiveness.
Ma's announcement that no more than 270,000 people participated in the demonstration is as despicable -- and as easily disprovable -- as former Chinese premier Li Peng's (
Just two days after the rally, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kun (
The international community should know by now that the KMT no longer represents the majority of Taiwanese, and that the party has been rejected by the people in two straight presidential elections. In last December's legislative elections, the KMT only won 79 seats, trailing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the largest party in the legislature, by 10 seats.
The people of Taiwan support peace and hope for cross-strait dialogue. Unfortunately, ever since President Chen Shui-bian (
Taiwan has not given up. It will still work toward establishing a dialogue, but this dialogue should not be conducted by the increasingly marginalized KMT. Instead, it should be conducted by the democratically elected government that represents the people of Taiwan. It is most unwise to offer any praise for the KMT's visit to China, for this is tantamount to encouraging the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party to cooperate in further isolating the DPP and the people of Taiwan which it represents. That is not the kind of dialogue the people want.
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
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During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
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