One of the greatest contradictions in Washington's policy toward Taiwan is that it has interfered in elections consistently to the benefit of the pan-blue camp, despite its strategic interests lying unequivocally with the pan-green camp. US President George W. Bush's condemnation of Chen Shui-bian (
It appears that Washington strategists decided that its criticism came too early, so in December they waited until the last minute to play their spoiler. This time, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli condemned Chen's plans to change the name of Taiwan's offices abroad, a proposal which had been a highlight of the last week of Chen's election campaign.
On this occasion Washington was more successful: The pan-greens failed to win a predicted majority of seats in the legislature. Given that the principal concern of the Bush administration is, and has been for some time, that Taiwan pass the NT$480 billion (US$15.13 billion) special arms budget, which the pan-blue camp has resolutely opposed, Washington clearly scored a spectacular own goal.
There is little glee in finger-pointing. The concern now is to undo the damage that has been done to the interests of both Taiwan and the US. But how?
Purely domestic solutions have been tried and so far have failed. The so-called agreement between Chen and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (
It had been hoped that the sheer outrageousness of Beijing's "Anti-Secession" Law last month would shame the pan-blue camp into giving the arms budget the nod. Instead, they have refused to let the budget bill advance to the committee stage in the legislature on three occasions.
Meanwhile, the KMT continues to court Beijing. KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
As usual, some in the US have been blaming Chen for not "pushing" the issue far enough. This is plainly ridiculous: Putting the budget to the legislature three times in one month can hardly be called dilatory. The truth is that the government has done all it can and is at the point of recognizing that there can be no movement on this issue while Lien remains KMT chairman, which means no movement until August at the earliest.
Domestic solutions have failed. It is now up to Washington to exert pressure from afar. As to how this can be done, let us remind our American friends that the interests of the pan-blue leaders and legislators in the US are extensive, and comings and goings across the Pacific frequent. The obvious solution is to deny entry to the US to those who would frustrate US policy -- until they see the error of their ways. A refused visa here, a refused entry there -- it can be subtle yet pointed, and it will definitely hurt. And in a post-Sept. 11 security climate, no explanation need be given.
The arms budget has to pass. It's time to apply the thumbscrews.
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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