The confidential US diplomatic cables involving Taiwan from 2007 to 2009 released by WikiLeaks on Aug. 30 have shed light on the relationships between senior members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and their competition for power. The scariest part of these leaked cables are details about how the likes of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) have been struggling for power in the KMT, as well as the degree of infighting within the KMT itself.
These documents are truly shocking and terrifying. In essence, they show just how bad these politicians are, how dishonest they are and how their actions are very different from the image they have long held up to the public.
The majority of the cables center around the American Institute in Taiwan, focusing on the US’ view of the action, or inaction, of Taiwanese politicians and how it has affected US interests in Taiwan and other parts of Asia. The issues the cables deal with and the people they mention provide us with a degree of insight into the US and how it goes about upholding its interests in the Asia-Pacific region. The cables’ description of the debate over whether Ma still holds a green card also shows how the US has a strong weapon when it comes to controlling Taiwan’s leaders, internal affairs, diplomacy, arms sales and China policy.
For more than three years now, popular opinion in Taiwan of politicians like Ma has been that they are dishonest, ineffectual figures who say one thing and do another, that they lack the capacity to either forgive others or understand the needs of the public and that they are incompetent at implementing policy as well as ineffectual in disaster response. The leaked documents also show how the likes of Ma deny the ability of their opponents and distrust them. All these only prove how true public opinion of the Ma administration is.
There are certain things that unite politicians like Ma. They suffer from selective hearing, listening exclusively to opinions that reinforce their own. They are selective, too, in their choice of facts and figures, employing them judiciously to gloss over the contradictions that exist in their lies. Furthermore, they only adopt the extreme views of a small minority, are blind to international developments and ignore mainstream public opinion.
In doing so, the Ma administration has set Taiwan on an abnormal course of development. In terms of economics, this means putting the interest of big business before that of ordinary people. In terms of sovereignty, this means China takes precedence over Taiwan. The Ma administration has also turned a blind eye to human rights abuses and insists on focusing exclusively on the short term when it comes to governance.
The cables exposed by WikiLeaks show politics for what it truly is. They are an opportunity for members of the public to know who is and who is not working in their best interests, something that will inform how they vote in the next election and whether they want to see another change of government in this country.
Chan Chang-chuan is a professor at National Taiwan University’s Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene.
TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
The first Donald Trump term was a boon for Taiwan. The administration regularized the arms sales process and enhanced bilateral ties. Taipei will not be so fortunate the second time around. Given recent events, Taiwan must proceed with the assumption that it cannot count on the United States to defend it — diplomatically or militarily — during the next four years. Early indications suggested otherwise. The nomination of Marco Rubio as US Secretary of State and the appointment of Mike Waltz as the national security advisor, both of whom have expressed full-throated support for Taiwan in the past, raised hopes that
Whether in terms of market commonality or resource similarity, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co is the biggest competitor of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC). The two companies have agreed to set up factories in the US and are also recipients of subsidies from the US CHIPS and Science Act, which was signed into law by former US president Joe Biden. However, changes in the market competitiveness of the two companies clearly reveal the context behind TSMC’s investments in the US. As US semiconductor giant Intel Corp has faced continuous delays developing its advanced processes, the world’s two major wafer foundries, TSMC and
There is nothing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) could do to stop the tsunami-like mass recall campaign. KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) reportedly said the party does not exclude the option of conditionally proposing a no-confidence vote against the premier, which the party later denied. Did an “actuary” like Chu finally come around to thinking it should get tough with the ruling party? The KMT says the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is leading a minority government with only a 40 percent share of the vote. It has said that the DPP is out of touch with the electorate, has proposed a bloated
Authorities last week revoked the residency permit of a Chinese social media influencer surnamed Liu (劉), better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), who has more than 440,000 followers online and is living in Taiwan with a marriage-based residency permit, for her “reunification by force” comments. She was asked to leave the country in 10 days. The National Immigration Agency (NIA) on Tuesday last week announced the decision, citing the influencer’s several controversial public comments, including saying that “China does not need any other reason to reunify Taiwan with force” and “why is it [China] hesitant
RSS