With only five weeks left before the presidential election, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) nominee Frank Hsieh (
DPP supporters must be beginning to wonder whether this slow drip attack strategy is leading anywhere, because short of a bombshell announcement that Ma is concealing US citizenship -- which would invalidate his nomination and throw the electoral process into disrepute -- Hsieh has nowhere else to go.
Ma has any number of weak spots that could energize a demoralized pan-green camp: allegations that he spied on Taiwanese students while studying in the US; his weakness within the KMT and probable inability to defend the office of president against a predatory KMT-dominated legislature and his rival, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
But Hsieh's campaign team, packed with failed legislative candidates, has picked the lamest of options. And behind this option -- this strategy of "green card stigma" -- is the insinuation that wanting to study, work or live in the US is an unpatriotic act.
This is an idiotic message, as if it weren't obvious, and matters are made worse for the DPP in that this clumsy nationalism obscures the remarkable anti-Americanism in the hearts of KMT ideologues.
It is absurd that Ma's credibility should be at issue over the possession of a green card, given that there is nothing remotely sinister about acquiring one. Ma's weakness has instead been his response to the "allegations" -- which by turns has been prevaricating and uninformative.
But this isn't enough to stop Ma from winning the election.
Hsieh made much the same strategic mistake during his token run for the post of Taipei City mayor. Seemingly resigned to defeat against the lazy, policy-free campaign of the KMT's Hau Lung-bin (
The fact that Hsieh increased the DPP vote in that election is notable: Either he has tremendous personal appeal that can overcome flaccid campaigning, or the DPP machine did its job properly in Taipei City (a rare thing), or both. But this good fortune, and his lawyer's games, are not enough this time.
If Hsieh does not change his campaign mode soon, DPP supporters may well wonder why vice presidential candidate Su Tseng-chang (
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,
As Taiwan’s domestic political crisis deepens, the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have proposed gutting the country’s national spending, with steep cuts to the critical foreign and defense ministries. While the blue-white coalition alleges that it is merely responding to voters’ concerns about corruption and mismanagement, of which there certainly has been plenty under Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and KMT-led governments, the rationales for their proposed spending cuts lay bare the incoherent foreign policy of the KMT-led coalition. Introduced on the eve of US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the KMT’s proposed budget is a terrible opening
“I compare the Communist Party to my mother,” sings a student at a boarding school in a Tibetan region of China’s Qinghai province. “If faith has a color,” others at a different school sing, “it would surely be Chinese red.” In a major story for the New York Times this month, Chris Buckley wrote about the forced placement of hundreds of thousands of Tibetan children in boarding schools, where many suffer physical and psychological abuse. Separating these children from their families, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to substitute itself for their parents and for their religion. Buckley’s reporting is
Last week, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), together holding more than half of the legislative seats, cut about NT$94 billion (US$2.85 billion) from the yearly budget. The cuts include 60 percent of the government’s advertising budget, 10 percent of administrative expenses, 3 percent of the military budget, and 60 percent of the international travel, overseas education and training allowances. In addition, the two parties have proposed freezing the budgets of many ministries and departments, including NT$1.8 billion from the Ministry of National Defense’s Indigenous Defense Submarine program — 90 percent of the program’s proposed
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