The administration of President Chen Shui-bian (
It is widely believed that the Kaohsiung MRT scandal and the involvement of former Presidential Office secretary-general Chen Che-nan (
After all, Chen and the DPP were elected into office on a promise to stamp out the "black gold" politics that dogged successive Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governments. Voters supported the DPP for the first time because they perceived party members to be "real" people who had endured hardship over the years while working their way up the political ladder from the grassroots. They believed that politicians from such humble backgrounds could best understand their hopes and aspirations.
However, within a few short years of the DPP's rise to power, allegations of corruption and scandals within the party began to leave the public disillusioned, not to mention the often exaggerated media depictions of the lavish lifestyles being led by some among the new elite of rich and powerful DPP members. Unsurprisingly, the general public began to feel distant from those in power. The humble backgrounds of the politicians that used to inspire a sense of endearment now seemed to confirm that politicians are all the same once they get their hands on power.
Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that the Executive Yuan last week adopted a regulation that requires all appointed officials to have their property and assets placed into trust after they take up political posts. This new regulation goes one level higher than existing rules, which only require political administrators to declare their assets and property.
In addition, officials at the Presidential Office, including the president himself -- although it is not required by the new regulation -- will also place their assets into trust. The president had already begun to do so in 2004.
While the move is clearly a step in the right direction, the reform efforts should not stop here. The DPP desperately needs to rediscover its core ideals and values. A political party should not consist of a group of people who help each other obtain power and then share the rewards of that power among themselves. They should be people united in the conviction of achieving common goals for the good of the nation. Some members of the DPP should ask themselves what the reasons were that prompted them to join politics in the first place.
President Chen's recent speech concerning the abolition of the National Unification Council and unification guidelines, joining the UN under the name "Taiwan" and holding a referendum on a new constitution are refreshing ideas designed to put the DPP's core values back in the public eye.
The right to self-determination and sovereignty -- these are the core values of the DPP. People may have different opinions within the party on how to accomplish these goals, but there should be no debate over the goals themselves. The DPP needs to rediscover a sense of unity based around these common goals. Political bickering and struggles within the party should be replaced by rational discussion and debate. Otherwise, with all the infighting and division within the party, it will be hard for the public and other observers to see how the DPP differs from the nation's other political parties.
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
RSS