It has only been a few days since the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) promised it would be humble and respect its opponents in the legislature, yet there we were on Thursday with the party's presidential candidate, Ma Ying-jeou (
KMT supporters claim that the campaign team for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Yu Tien (
Ma told the KMT candidate, Chu Chun-hsiao (
Another curious thing is how Ma thinks that targeting Yu, a popular ethnic Taiwanese singer and actor, would help his image and achieve "reconciliation" with the party's foes. Given that Yu's electorate was one of only two that the DPP won in northern Taiwan, Ma's hardline approach can hardly impress neutral voters looking for a little less gratuitous conflict in politics.
But the strangest thing about this saga is that it comes just after Ma released his wishy-washy "three noes" policy on cross-strait affairs.
The Ma that warned of revenge in Sanchong might have been expected to promise "No compromises, no indignities and no nonsense" in dealing with Beijing. Instead, he promised no move toward unification, no move toward independence and no war.
This is, quite literally, a policy of inaction, and up to eight years of it. The "status quo" so beloved by the US State Department has become Ma's campaign hook, even if it makes no sense whatsoever in strategic terms.
"No war" is an odd thing to sign up to. Clearly, it is not in Taiwan's interests to launch an unprovoked attack on China. It is far more likely that China would be the one to start a war. Therefore Ma must want voters to believe that he, and only he, can stop a war if the Chinese start fueling their missiles.
Ma needs to explain what he would do if China continues lining its coast with weaponry. In other words, he needs to reassure voters that he is prepared to make difficult decisions if the balance of power in Beijing one day tilts to its most militant officials.
The idea that China would be willing to wait four or even eight years before any substantial move is made toward unification is inconsistent with both its rhetoric and its "Anti-Secession" Law, especially with the chance that a reanimated DPP might claim the presidency after that time.
The whole scenario is, quite simply, ridiculous. If the DPP is smart, it will go after these pie-in-the-sky promises, which seem to take no account of the efforts the military makes to protect this country.
A source in the Taiwanese military recently told Defense News of fears that KMT control of the executive would hamper the military's attempts to acquire appropriate weapons and that kickback culture would be reinvigorated as politicians look to make hay out of expensive but ineffective procurements.
Ma might be better off spending his campaign trying to convince voters that he is able to defend the professionalism of the military from such parasites -- not play silly media games sprouting macho language that borders on contempt of court.
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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