On the eve of Premier Su Tseng-chang's (
Considering the bias toward China in contemporary Taiwanese society, China's reckless diplomacy in fact bolsters the case for Taiwanese independence. When the government called its Conference on Sustaining Taiwan's Economic Development, it relegated the issues of direct links and lifting the 40 percent cap on investment in China to the heading of "other suggestions," irritating the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), which had been working hard to block these issues. As a result, the TSU withdrew from the conference and planned to take its opposition to the streets. Other supporters of Taiwanese independence have also been deeply disappointed by Su working against former president Lee Teng-hui's (
The US would do well to retract its approval of high-level cross-strait dialogue. China's hostile actions have scuppered a visit by Chen Yunlin (
Even though these developments won't effect cross-strait charter flights for the Mid-Autumn Festival, direct cross-strait commercial flights will probably be put off indefinitely. At the risk of displeasing the Democratic Progressive Party, the TSU and much of the public, Su rescued the proposals for direct links and relaxing the 40 percent cap on investment in China at the development conference to give the Cabinet some leeway. Now that the dovish Su has been smacked in the face by China, relaxation of cross-strait restrictions is off the agenda. Chen and Lee can breathe a sigh of relief.
Every September at the UN General Assembly meeting, Taiwan applies for UN membership under the name the Republic of China (ROC), despite the fact that China mobilizes its allies to keep the issue off the agenda. Out of concern for its international image, the Taiwanese government has in the past applied using the ROC title, which few recognize. More and more Taiwanese feel that clinging to that unrecognized title is misleading. They feel that although applying for UN membership under the title "Taiwan" may fail, it will at least help promote Taiwan's international visibility.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs may think that it can buy off Taiwan's allies to suppress the fact that Taiwan is a sovereign state, but China's actions are instead driving the Taiwanese government toward a more pragmatic diplomacy that doesn't focus on money or how many diplomatic allies the country has. The Taiwanese public is not blaming the government for losing ties with Chad. Instead, Beijing is providing the strongest support for the opinion that Taiwan should follow its own path.
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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