From what we have seen of the campaigning for the Dec. 3 local government elections so far, it seems it has been little more than a string of dirty tactics. Previously, the most controversial issue was which party stood for Taiwan and which for China. In this election the focus has been on mud-slinging: The process was started by the pan-blues, but the pan-greens soon got in on the act, getting down to the same level. The Taiwan-China debate has moved on to which party is the most corrupt, and it is this that the electorate is taking most into consideration.
Pan-blue legislators have ganged up with sympathizers within the media (especially at TVBS) and the prosecutorial system and stepped into the fray armed with the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) scandal, accusing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of corruption.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said it all when he announced that "The DPP, after five years in government, is even more corrupt than the KMT." Of course, in saying this, he is also admitting that the KMT is corrupt.
Let's examine the claim that the DPP is corrupt. Ever since the DPP came to power in 2000, the pan-blues have launched wave after wave of attacks on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), using the influence on the media they acquired during the days of the party-state system. They finally struck gold with the KRTC scandal.
Now that it looks like former deputy secretary-general to the Presidential Office Chen Che-nan (
To be honest, this is exactly what the pan-blues have been looking for in their relentless attacks on Chen Shui-bian. The DPP has been knocked reeling, and is finding it difficult to parry the blows. Nevertheless, it is possible that the pan-blues have gone too far, especially in their attempts to implicate Chao Yu-chu (
Some DPP members took a false step in proposing the "new DPP movement," for although the party should remain committed to reform, the process should not be driven by bait set by the opposition.
If the DPP is to turn things around and drag itself back out of the mud in this fracas, it will have to go on the offensive, and start revealing instances of corruption within the KMT.
The most obvious are the 18 percent preferential interest rate for retired public servants, military personnel and teachers; Taichung Mayor Jason Hu's (
Probably one-quarter of the KMT's nominees at city and county level have been accused of some form of corruption. It is interesting to contemplate how its strategy may prove ineffectual, or even backfire, because the KMT's "sacred mission" to reveal corruption in government may only serve to draw attention to its own less than perfect track record on this score.
Since the pan-blues don't understand themselves and don't understand others, this policy is likely to backfire, and they will only succeed in digging their own grave.
Chin Heng-wei is editor-in-chief of Contemporary Monthly magazine.
Translated by Paul Cooper and Ian Bartholomew
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
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
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not