President Chen Shui-bian's (
With such a legal foundation, the commission would be able to recount the votes at an early date, eliminating the need for a time-consuming judicial process. Such a move could help not only bring an end to the pan-blue-camp protests, but also eliminate the possibility of the problem reoccuring.
As for the other pan-blue complaints -- such as the questions about the timing of the shooting of Chen and Vice President Annette Lu (
Opposition politicians should stop trying to foment unrest by spreading rumor and innuendo and stirring the already intense emotions of the crowds that have protested in front of the Presidential Office since Saturday. They should be willing to resort to legal means to resolve their complaints. Otherwise, pan-green supporters may also demand a recount of ballots and file suit to annul the results if they were to lose the next election. Such actions would turn every presidential election into a farce and lead to serious political instability. This can surely not be the true purpose of turning Taiwan into a democracy.
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
If people demonstrate without the government's permission they are violating the law. Such illegal behavior cannot be legalized days later by the organizers asking for permission. With his legal background, Ma should know better than most that such post facto legitimation violates logic and convention. His actions make it seem as if he places the interests of the KMT before the dignity of the law. He should place his responsibilities as mayor above those of pan-blue alliance campaign manager and end the protest as soon as possible.
The pan-blue demonstrators' demand for a recount, however, is reasonable given the narrow margin of victory. With Chen already having given his consent and the Legislative Yuan having begun negotiations to pass the needed amendment, hopefully a recount procedure can be organized in the next few days.
What is not reasonable is the demand by KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
That the pan-blues should feel comfortable trying to return Taiwan to martial law should come as no surprise. It should also be no surprise that Chen and other members of the Democratic Progressive Party, who spent a large part of their lives fighting the KMT's autocratic rule, are not willing to see a return to such tactics and want the rule of law to prevail.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has prioritized modernizing the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to rival the US military, with many experts believing he would not act on Taiwan until the PLA is fully prepared to confront US forces. At the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Party Congress in 2022, Xi emphasized accelerating this modernization, setting 2027 — the PLA’s centennial — as the new target, replacing the previous 2035 goal. US intelligence agencies said that Xi has directed the PLA to be ready for a potential invasion of Taiwan by 2027, although no decision on launching an attack had been made. Whether
A chip made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) was found on a Huawei Technologies Co artificial intelligence (AI) processor, indicating a possible breach of US export restrictions that have been in place since 2019 on sensitive tech to the Chinese firm and others. The incident has triggered significant concern in the IT industry, as it appears that proxy buyers are acting on behalf of restricted Chinese companies to bypass the US rules, which are intended to protect its national security. Canada-based research firm TechInsights conducted a die analysis of the Huawei Ascend 910B AI Trainer, releasing its findings on Oct.
In honor of President Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday, my longtime friend and colleague John Tkacik wrote an excellent op-ed reassessing Carter’s derecognition of Taipei. But I would like to add my own thoughts on this often-misunderstood president. During Carter’s single term as president of the United States from 1977 to 1981, despite numerous foreign policy and domestic challenges, he is widely recognized for brokering the historic 1978 Camp David Accords that ended the state of war between Egypt and Israel after more than three decades of hostilities. It is considered one of the most significant diplomatic achievements of the 20th century.
In a recent essay in Foreign Affairs, titled “The Upside on Uncertainty in Taiwan,” Johns Hopkins University professor James B. Steinberg makes the argument that the concept of strategic ambiguity has kept a tenuous peace across the Taiwan Strait. In his piece, Steinberg is primarily countering the arguments of Tufts University professor Sulmaan Wasif Khan, who in his thought-provoking new book The Struggle for Taiwan does some excellent out-of-the-box thinking looking at US policy toward Taiwan from 1943 on, and doing some fascinating “what if?” exercises. Reading through Steinberg’s comments, and just starting to read Khan’s book, we could already sense that
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