China's annual National People's Congress (NPC) inevitably brings with it an absurd escalation of cross-strait tension. The cause lies in the fact that this so-called "highest representative body," which has never been subject to popular elections, simply serves to rubber stamp the inflammatory policies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Lately, it has also been serving to distract as many people as possible from the escalation of rural anger at corruption and land theft by invoking that most convenient of chestnuts: Taiwanese "splittism."
It is hilarious to witness Premier Wen Jiabao (
What does Beijing mean when it talks of "the will of the people" and "international trends"? After all, it has never held national elections or referendums, so what is the basis of such statements? Its repeated and recycled condemnation of the Taiwanese government invites scorn.
Communist regimes are notorious for violating the law and fabricating public opinion. This is why such regimes have been rejected all around the world. We can see that it is the overthrow of communist regimes that tallies with the wishes of most people and international trends. Absurd statements about the will of the people by Chinese officials merely serve to underline their shortcomings.
NPC toadying also serves as a mirror for the activities of the pan-blue camp. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party have repeatedly stated that they will hold demonstrations against the abolition of the NUC, and have distorted the significance of this action, stating that it is an attempt by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government to achieve de jure independence. This statement belittles the fact that it is only Taiwanese who have the right to determine their political future. Indifferent to public sentiment, the pan-blue camp remind the skeptical of its authoritarian nature.
The NUC is indeed an absurd product of an absurd era, for it upholds the idea of "China united under the Three Principles of the People," which had currency during KMT rule. Now, with the demise of the Chiang family dictatorship, the idea of retaking China has become something of a joke, for Taiwanese are perfectly clear about the fact that unification with China implies one thing only: subjugation.
Yet the pan-blue camp continues to pursue the interests of a minority and tries to force the idea of unification with China down the throats of a majority that is clearly suspicious of it.
The only consistent position for a democratic society to hold is rejecting the sham words of a sham congress, as well as those of their local soulmates.
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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