Today, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) will create an unprecedented title, honorary chairman, so that current chairman Lien Chan (
Ma, who has consistently called for reforming the KMT and taking action against "black gold," has confused many people by establishing Lien as a kind of "super chairman" -- a move that will only serve to restrict Ma's freedom of action. And why retain Wang as vice chairman after accusing him of corruption? If Ma follows through with his plans, he will simply be entrenching members of the KMT old guard in positions of power within the party, and his mission to reform the party will come to nothing.
Regarding the KMT's ill-gotten party assets, what Ma has proposed is actually little different from current policy. It includes liquidating party assets, laying off party personnel and streamlining the party's bureaucracy. However, we would like to remind Ma that before the ownership of the KMT's party assets is fully clarified, any move to sell the party's possessions would go against the will of the majority of Taiwanese. If Ma panders to the culture of corruption within the KMT, he will simply shoot himself in the foot, and will quickly find that he has created new obstacles on the road to winning the presidency.
Ever since Ma announced his determination to reform the party, and then went on to defeat Wang in a landslide victory, most media outlets have portrayed him as a shoo-in for the 2008 presidential nomination.
Ma's unwavering and confident attitude in this election campaign has been impressive, and has done much to mitigate his reputation for being "wishy-washy." We hope that Ma can maintain this momentum and make good on his promises to reform the party and avoid coming under the influence of the KMT's old guard. If he does, it will just be old wine in new bottles for the KMT, and such hypocritical reforms will not convince Taiwanese voters.
With regard to his expected run at the presidency, just because Ma has won the KMT chairmanship doesn't mean he can rest on his laurels. Next month, elections will be held for the KMT's Central Committee and Central Standing Committee, and this will be the first test for Ma in his new position. If the Ma camp fails to perform well in this round of elections, the new chairman is likely to be left without a solid power base within the party, and his mission to reform the party will be hopelessly compromised.
People are even more concerned about what kind of people the party will put forward for the city mayor and county commissioner elections in Dec. Ma's commitment to party reform will be underlined if the KMT is unable to find some fresh faces that can win the approval of the electorate.
As KMT chairman, Ma will have to personally supervise the deployment of his troops to effectively meet the pan-green challenge. The KMT's performance in the mayoral and county commissioner elections will be a key factor in whether Ma will be able to consolidate his position as supreme leader of the pan-blue camp.
Ma will not be officially sworn in until next month, but even before that, he will face numerous challenges. Later on, he runs the risk of becoming a scapegoat if things go badly in the year-end elections. It is not surprising that some political commentators believe that Ma's election as party chairman is only the beginning of his political troubles. Ma's political future is not as bright as much of the media would like to make it seem.
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of