I last wrote about Ma Ying-jeou (
At that time, Ma was on his European tour and trying to dance around the direct challenge of whether his first priority was the preservation of Taiwan's democracy or unification with China. Now, as new cases of alleged corruption erupt around him, Ma, the Taipei mayor and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman is still dancing. However, the number of "people" he is able to fool appears to be diminishing.
Over the past few months, Ma had tried to lead the charge against Chen Shui-bian (
Then Chen's wife was embroiled in the great Sogo coupon brouhaha. This episode went belly up as far as any concrete evidence was concerned, but that did not stop the KMT. They came back with a new ploy. Chen's wife was indicted on the charge of misuse of and/or forging receipts for the "state affairs fund." Unfortunately however, all this exploded when Ma's office was found guilty of the same practice of misuse of and/or forging receipts for the "mayoral expense fund."
Ma is now shuffling faster and faster; and though he is not going anywhere -- except possibly offstage -- that certainly is not stopping him. Note the wording he has used to explain himself. When Chen was accused of misuse of the receipt procedure it was "corruption;" when Ma is guilty of it, it is only a "blemish."
When Chen's office mishandled the procedures and receipts it was "out and out corruption;" when Ma's office did the same, it was "an administrative defect."
When Chen's wife and accountants were involved, Chen was responsible and should resign. When Ma's wife and accountants were involved, Ma stated he "knew nothing about it."
Yu Wen (
Cheng An-kuo (
Ma has continued to add to the doublespeak by saying that he "needed to shoulder administrative, political and moral responsibility for the blemish." Shoulder the responsibility? Ma is willing to shoulder the responsibility as long as all that this means is that he apologize. As for Chen, however, shouldering the responsibility means that Chen should not just apologize, but stewp down.
For those who have been in Taiwan for long enough and witnessed Ma's doublespeak, his shuffle and how his performance has always fallen short of his words, the above is nothing new.
Is the issue over? Not by a long shot. While Yu allegedly substituted receipts of his own to make his job easier; Ma's real receipts are supposed to be there.
Unfortunately, Ma's receipts could reveal how he did use the funds for personal expenses, which is definitely illegal. Conveniently for Ma, his receipts were sent to the prosecutor's office as potential evidence, which means that they are not available for public disclosure or scrutiny.
Jerome Keating is a Taiwan-based writer.
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