Facing the fear factor
After observing recent legislative and presidential elections in Taiwan, members of the independent International Election Observation Mission have concluded that the elections were largely “free, yet partially unfair” (“Elections ‘free, partly unfair,’ watchdog says,” Jan. 16, page 1), citing several structural problems (eg, vote-buying, misuse of government power, and substantial disparities in party wealth) and extraneous fear factors (ie, undue influence exerted by the US and China under the myth of arguably fictional stability) that posed concerns for and pressures on Taiwan’s democracy, particularly on the freedom and fairness of the choices that Taiwanese voters must take. A case in point is the fear factor that runs against the universal values of a democratic election.
The fear factor might be best characterized by the seemingly abrupt comments made by former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director, now US civilian, Douglas Paal just two days before the elections. In a TV interview, he suggested that Washington would not feel comfortable about Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) victory, and it perceived the “Taiwan consensus” proposed by Tsai as vague and impractical.
Such undue influence suggesting the US government’s favoring of candidates — this is the second time in a row influence was exerted by Paal (he did something similar in the 2008 Taiwan presidential election as well) — was once again taking advantage of the fear psychology and economic dependence of Taiwan on China, and insulting to the autonomy of Taiwanese voters.
The comments were not only arbitrary and oppressive, but they strongly undermined the neutrality of the US government in the Taiwanese elections, and ran counter to the principle of fairness and freedom of democracy that every American holds so near and dear.
Even though current AIT Director William Stanton quickly clarified the nature of Paal’s own statement as “personal” and reassured the neutrality of the US, the damaging effect to voters of a fragile democracy sensitive to reactions from her bad neighbor has been made, at a time of economic downturn.
One cannot undo damage to the recent elections, but lessons need to be learned to avoid further missteps. Moving forward, first we would like to urge Paal — now a US civilian and a persona non grata to some DPP supporters in Taiwan — to stop misrepresenting Washington before Taiwan’s elections.
Any misrepresentation of the US government’s preference for election outcomes, and thereby the intervention of Taiwanese people’s free will in the elections, was not only inappropriate and hurtful, but illegal according to Taiwanese election law. Let Taiwan’s freedom ring without undue influence, on her own terms.
In preparation for the next election, the DPP should confront the fear factors head-on, to clarify the “Taiwan consensus” and abolish the image of corruption from the past.
Chiehwen Ed Hsu
Houston, Texas
Dishonorable victory
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) should not feel proud of their election victory. They utilized a series of “rotten tricks” (奧步: aubo in Taiwanese). Amazingly, so many voters were fooled by these tricks.
In spite of the KMT tricks, presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen and the DPP deserve our applause for their sportsmanship in conceding their defeat and congratulating Ma. If Ma lost the re-election bid, the KMT would have made noisy, violent, massive protests for months like after the 2000 and 2004 elections.
In his victory speech, Ma praised the success in “cleanliness, prosperity and peace.” He did not blush when he made such fallacious claims.
In regard to “cleanliness,” the KMT holds illegal party assets of US$6.6 billion and hundreds of KMT officials have corruptly acquired huge amounts of money and are as free as birds, or at large. Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was corrupt to a much smaller degree, but is serving a jail term. Ma used Chen’s corruption against the DPP in the 2008 election. In the 2012 election, Ma used the same trick. By forging documents, the KMT created the so-called “Yu Chang case” and attacked Tsai in a smear campaign. In addition, vote-buying was widespread, but the Ma administration simply ignored it.
If the economy is “good,” why are so many people unemployed? College graduates are happy if they can get jobs at a monthly pay of NT$22,000. During Ma’s administration, the stock market dropped by 23 percent (versus 3 percent in the US).
Taiwan does not need a president with a doctorate from Harvard to achieve “peace and stability” at the expense of sovereignty. Ma superstitiously believes in the so-called “1992 consensus” and used it as a “stabilizing card.” Ma was called the “fear monger” by a political commentator who used to support Ma. A former official of the American Institute in Taiwan also gave Ma a hand by promoting the “1992 consensus” just before voting day. Ma should thank China and the US as superpowers for their support for his depressed campaign. Tsai did not have such a luxury.
To show his cleanliness, Ma should submit his “automatically invalidated” US green card to the AIT and donate all party assets to charity before his inauguration.
Charles Hong
Columbus, Ohio
There are moments in history when America has turned its back on its principles and withdrawn from past commitments in service of higher goals. For example, US-Soviet Cold War competition compelled America to make a range of deals with unsavory and undemocratic figures across Latin America and Africa in service of geostrategic aims. The United States overlooked mass atrocities against the Bengali population in modern-day Bangladesh in the early 1970s in service of its tilt toward Pakistan, a relationship the Nixon administration deemed critical to its larger aims in developing relations with China. Then, of course, America switched diplomatic recognition
The international women’s soccer match between Taiwan and New Zealand at the Kaohsiung Nanzih Football Stadium, scheduled for Tuesday last week, was canceled at the last minute amid safety concerns over poor field conditions raised by the visiting team. The Football Ferns, as New Zealand’s women’s soccer team are known, had arrived in Taiwan one week earlier to prepare and soon raised their concerns. Efforts were made to improve the field, but the replacement patches of grass could not grow fast enough. The Football Ferns canceled the closed-door training match and then days later, the main event against Team Taiwan. The safety
The National Immigration Agency on Tuesday said it had notified some naturalized citizens from China that they still had to renounce their People’s Republic of China (PRC) citizenship. They must provide proof that they have canceled their household registration in China within three months of the receipt of the notice. If they do not, the agency said it would cancel their household registration in Taiwan. Chinese are required to give up their PRC citizenship and household registration to become Republic of China (ROC) nationals, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. He was referring to Article 9-1 of the Act
The Chinese government on March 29 sent shock waves through the Tibetan Buddhist community by announcing the untimely death of one of its most revered spiritual figures, Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche. His sudden passing in Vietnam raised widespread suspicion and concern among his followers, who demanded an investigation. International human rights organization Human Rights Watch joined their call and urged a thorough investigation into his death, highlighting the potential involvement of the Chinese government. At just 56 years old, Rinpoche was influential not only as a spiritual leader, but also for his steadfast efforts to preserve and promote Tibetan identity and cultural
RSS