The Taiwan Society's rally last Saturday was designed to show support for embattled President Chen Shui-bian (
But no sooner had the rally finished, then the pro-unification media were trying to rubbish it and gain the moral high ground -- claiming that the red masses that took to the streets the previous night were not mobilized by any group or party, but part of a broad-based civic movement that transcended party political interests.
But there is plenty of evidence to the contrary.
During the first few days, there were numerous visits to the sit-in by pan-blue big hitters, such as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
And while it was OK to berate pan-green fans and accuse them of traveling from southern Taiwan on the promise of a free lunch box, the free breakfasts, lunches, dinners, drinks and even massages handed out daily to the anti-Chen crowd hardly got a mention. Ma admitted after showing up to serve breakfast last week that the KMT had paid the bill.
Outside the Taipei Railway Station on Monday, one elderly participant remarked that the protest had now become a "Bian down" movement -- said in English but made to sound like the Chinese for lunch box -- insinuating that many attendees were at the rally merely for the free meals.
Many participants shuffle around the sit-in site wearing caps bearing the name of their favorite pan-blue politician. It is not difficult to predict what would happen if one wore a "depose Chen" T-shirt combined with a Frank Hsieh cap to this supposed non-partisan shindig.
At one side of the protest is a large printed diatribe about how former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen are fervent supporters of Taiwan independence, how they want to destroy the Republic of China and start a war with the People's Republic of China -- hardly relevant to an anti-corruption drive.
Then there are cable channels like TVBS providing 24-hour blanket coverage of the event -- interspersed with provocative "news" features on the 2004 "Orange Revolution" in the Ukraine and the Philippines "people power" movements.
These kinds of activities are hardly going to inspire pan-green fans to show up, even if they do believe the president, his family and aides have overstepped the mark.
And while the pan-blues have stopped short of any obvious mobilization efforts, everyone can see that the sit-in has now been hijacked by anyone with an axe to grind about Chen and the pro-localization movement in general.
If Shih and his people were really interested in a non-partisan fight against corruption, they would refuse to share a stage with people like Soong. If they really wanted to claim the moral high-ground they would not let people like TV-chat-show-guest-beater Lin Cheng-chieh (林正杰), a founder of the China Unification Promotion Party who associates with wanted gangsters, attend.
And if Shih's movement really wanted to advance the cause of clean politics then it would push all legislators to pass the raft of anti-corruption legislation that has been stalled in the legislature for nearly as long as the arms bill.
A genuine civic movement would be aimed at a complete overhaul of the political system, which as an engine needs oil, now needs graft to keep it ticking over. It would not just consist of a thinly veiled attack on one man, his party and his supporters. It's time to drop the masquerade.
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
RSS