Ever since President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) government came into power, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has irritated the public by using the judiciary as a tool to assault former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and pan-green camp supporters. This has caused strong protest within Taiwan and prompted Western academics to release three open letters criticizing the unfairness of the judiciary and the way in which human rights have regressed under Ma’s rule.
Even those who criticized the Ma government and emphasized Chen’s rights have come under attack and been defamed by pro-KMT media. The government is using detention to threaten the public and scare people so that nobody will dare voice differing opinions. However, squelching difference of opinion domestically is not enough for the Ma government, which recently set out on a mission to eliminate pro-greens stationed in Taiwanese embassies overseas.
In a column dated Feb. 13, China Times Washington correspondent Norman Fu (傅建中) wrote that not long after coming into office, Taiwan’s representative to the US, Jason Yuan (袁健生), caused much controversy by transferring two advisers who had been stationed in the US for less than one year to Greece and Switzerland. Fu said both advisers were pro-green and had received training at the Ketagalan Institute, which was established by Chen in March 2003. Yuan was reportedly uneasy about their political views and made a request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to have them transferred from the sensitive diplomatic battlefield that is Washington.
Getting rid of diplomats based on their political affiliations is still not enough for the Ma administration.
It is now meddling with academia in the US and trying to get rid of foreign supporters of Taiwan. One example is John Tkacik, a former senior research fellow of the Heritage Foundation who cosigned all three of the abovementioned open letters. Fu’s report tells us that Tkacik was forced to “retire” after the Ma administration pressured the foundation.
Tkacik, Fu said, had been particularly close to the pan-green camp during Chen’s eight-year rule and was well liked by the Democratic Progressive Party. However, during that time, the KMT viewed Tkacik as a serious hindrance. Therefore, after gaining power, the KMT insisted that Tkacik leave his post. The KMT even invited foundation president Edwin Feulner to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US to convince him, during face to face talks, that Tkacik should be removed from his post.
In the end, Tkacik did “retire.”
But why should a renowned US think tank yield to the Taiwanese government?
Foundation insiders have said that Taiwan’s foreign ministry donates hundreds of thousands of US dollars to the organization each year. That being so, did Ma’s government use public funds in the name of sponsorship to force Tkacik to retire? Fu is known for his sources and has a good understanding of the KMT’s internal affairs. His latest report proves that the Ma administration is aligning itself with its allies and pushing its foes out of the picture. It also shows that the KMT is so despicable that it would even attack pro-Taiwan academics in the US.
If we do not condemn and stop the KMT from employing these tricks, the KMT could very well use the foreign ministry’s funds to eliminate all pro-green academics in the US rather than using them to expand Taiwan’s international space.
The KMT’s arrogance and bullying are reaching intolerable levels.
Cao Changqing is a writer based in the US.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
It is employment pass renewal season in Singapore, and the new regime is dominating the conversation at after-work cocktails on Fridays. From September, overseas employees on a work visa would need to fulfill the city-state’s new points-based system, and earn a minimum salary threshold to stay in their jobs. While this mirrors what happens in other countries, it risks turning foreign companies away, and could tarnish the nation’s image as a global business hub. The program was announced in 2022 in a bid to promote fair hiring practices. Points are awarded for how a candidate’s salary compares with local peers, along
China last month enacted legislation to punish —including with the death penalty — “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists.” The country’s leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), need to be reminded about what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has said and done in the past. They should think about whether those historical figures were also die-hard advocates of Taiwanese independence. The Taiwanese Communist Party was established in the Shanghai French Concession in April 1928, with a political charter that included the slogans “Long live the independence of the Taiwanese people” and “Establish a republic of Taiwan.” The CCP sent a representative, Peng
Japan and the Philippines on Monday signed a defense agreement that would facilitate joint drills between them. The pact was made “as both face an increasingly assertive China,” and is in line with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s “effort to forge security alliances to bolster the Philippine military’s limited ability to defend its territorial interests in the South China Sea,” The Associated Press (AP) said. The pact also comes on the heels of comments by former US deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, who said at a forum on Tuesday last week that China’s recent aggression toward the Philippines in
The Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday announced that the military would hold its annual Han Kuang exercises from July 22 to 26. Military officers said the exercises would feature unscripted war games, and a decentralized command and control structure. This year’s exercises underline the recent reforms in Taiwan’s military as it transitions from a top-down command structure to one where autonomy is pushed down to the front lines to improve decisionmaking and adaptability. Militaries around the world have been observing and studying Russia’s war in Ukraine. They have seen that the Ukrainian military has been much quicker to adapt to