On Friday, as the countdown to the passage of China's "anti-secession" law continued, China sent an invitation to Taipei to negotiate on direct cross-strait charter flights for the April 5 tomb-sweeping holiday. Beijing's move suggests that it may have failed to fully grasp the sentiment of the Taiwanese. At the very least, it has misjudged the Taiwan government's position on the anti-secession law. This highlights how important it is for Taiwan to voice its opposition. Saying "no" to Beijing on charter flights is just a start.
According to the contents of the anti-secession bill that have come to light thus far, Beijing is still trying to draw a line between the people of Taiwan in general and its so-called "small minority of Taiwan independence forces," to create the illusion that the intended target of the law is just the latter. This is consistent with the near simultaneous issuance of a statement on Friday by Chen Yunlin (
Regardless of whether this is all part of a deliberate strategy to divide and conquer or the result of a serious misjudgment on Beijing's part, the people of Taiwan must make clear that the nation is absolutely unified in its opposition to the anti-secession law.
As a politically diverse and fully democratized society, Taiwanese people can and do differ on the issue of unification or independence. But over the years support for Taiwan's sovereignty has become the political mainstream. Even those who support unification do not want it to be unilaterally imposed by China, whether by military or other non-peaceful means. Across the political spectrum, Taiwanese people believe that they alone can decide the nation's future, through democratic means. That is why polls have consistently shown overwhelming opposition to the anti-secession law.
Unfortunately, some politicians, due to self-interest or party interests, have repeatedly sent the wrong signals to Beijing and the rest of the international community. The talk by politicians of respecting the "Republic of China" as defined in the Constitution -- a definition completely at odds with reality -- creates the impression that Taiwan considers itself part of China. That reinforces the perceived legitimacy of the anti-secession law's goal: to stop Taiwan from "splitting" from China.
On March 26 the people of Taiwan will take to the streets to protest against the anti-secession law. But because the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is running the event, the opposition pan-blue camp so far says it won't participate.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Lien Chan (
As for other pan-blue politicians such as Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
When he finally decided to take an open stand on the anti-secession law this past Friday, he called for the holding of an international press conference. While the the press conference is not a bad idea, why not participate in the march as well?
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) has caused havoc with his attempts to overturn the democratic and constitutional order in the legislature. If we look at this devolution from the context of a transition to democracy from authoritarianism in a culturally Chinese sense — that of zhonghua (中華) — then we are playing witness to a servile spirit from a millennia-old form of totalitarianism that is intent on damaging the nation’s hard-won democracy. This servile spirit is ingrained in Chinese culture. About a century ago, Chinese satirist and author Lu Xun (魯迅) saw through the servile nature of
In their New York Times bestseller How Democracies Die, Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt said that democracies today “may die at the hands not of generals but of elected leaders. Many government efforts to subvert democracy are ‘legal,’ in the sense that they are approved by the legislature or accepted by the courts. They may even be portrayed as efforts to improve democracy — making the judiciary more efficient, combating corruption, or cleaning up the electoral process.” Moreover, the two authors observe that those who denounce such legal threats to democracy are often “dismissed as exaggerating or
Monday was the 37th anniversary of former president Chiang Ching-kuo’s (蔣經國) death. Chiang — a son of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), who had implemented party-state rule and martial law in Taiwan — has a complicated legacy. Whether one looks at his time in power in a positive or negative light depends very much on who they are, and what their relationship with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is. Although toward the end of his life Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law and steered Taiwan onto the path of democratization, these changes were forced upon him by internal and external pressures,
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus in the Legislative Yuan has made an internal decision to freeze NT$1.8 billion (US$54.7 million) of the indigenous submarine project’s NT$2 billion budget. This means that up to 90 percent of the budget cannot be utilized. It would only be accessible if the legislature agrees to lift the freeze sometime in the future. However, for Taiwan to construct its own submarines, it must rely on foreign support for several key pieces of equipment and technology. These foreign supporters would also be forced to endure significant pressure, infiltration and influence from Beijing. In other words,
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