One of the saddest phenomena in the circus that is Taiwanese politics is the ease with which certain people or parties punch well above their weight.
As the party that gives the pan-blue alliance its legislative majority, the People First Party (PFP) has been able to act with virtual impunity in pretending that it represents all of Taiwan.
Ever since June, when the hate campaign against President Chen Shui-bian (
The PFP pretends to be an overseeing force, working for the good of Taiwan, when in reality it has done nothing but obstruct legislation, freeze and cut government budgets and trample all over the Constitution, helping to bring the nation to a virtual standstill in the six years since its inception.
It was the PFP that provided the impetus for the failed presidential recall bid, and it was the PFP that was responsible for the unreasonable decision by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers to reject the president's nominee for prosecutor-general, Hsieh Wen-ding (
The PFP has also been instrumental in the blocking and watering down of the arms procurement bill, which has had a serious effect on Taiwan's ability to defend itself and maintain productive relations with the US.
And now the party has announced it will "paralyze" the new legislative session -- if it were possible to paralyze something that doesn't function -- by using "extreme measures" in reaction to the president's call for more constitutional change.
Aside from being a party that garnered just 14.8 percent of the vote, or 34 seats, in the last legislative elections (now 22 seats, thanks to defections back to the KMT), what can be said about the PFP?
At worst, it is Beijing's friend, advocating unification and doing its best to undermine the democracy that Taiwanese have worked so hard to realize.
At best, it is a personality cult formed after the 2000 presidential election, when Soong -- running as an independent after being expelled from the KMT -- was narrowly defeated by Chen. Encouraged by his strong showing, Soong formed the party, and he was joined by a host of KMT lawmakers. These opportunists thought Soong was the future of Taiwanese politics, but five years later, when KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou's (
And while the PFP is now leading efforts to get rid of Chen with a second recall bid, it remains hesitant to pursue the one guaranteed means of getting him out of office: Toppling the Cabinet would force the president to dissolve the legislature and call new elections.
If the PFP is as popular as it wants to be, this may give it and the KMT enough seats in the legislature to recall the president. So what is Soong waiting for?
His hesitancy results from the new "single-district, two-vote" system, under which the number of legislative seats will be halved and smaller parties like the PFP all but wiped out.
This likely state of affairs will cleanse the political system of a number of extremists, but until then, we can expect Soong and Co to do their level best to make their corrosive mark in a joke legislature.
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
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
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
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of