The controversy over Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential hopeful Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) master’s degree continues, with some now questioning whether she is able to continue her candidacy.
I do not care if Hung fails in her bid. I care about the KMT’s behavior in this debacle. How has Hung been able to muddle along in the KMT for 20 years with a questionable master’s degree — and even be appointed as the party’s presidential candidate? Is it really only because of her loyalty?
I also worry about Hung’s political views and that the party’s top leadership are giving them their tacit approval, although, because some of her statements have been a bit extreme, some party comrades have asked her to change her tone and wrap her views in prettier language. Just like she did with her master’s degree.
The most astonishing of Hung’s views is that she wants to abandon the US. When talking about a potential visit to the US, she demanded that Washington accord her higher-level treatment than what Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received during her recent visit. What qualifications does she have to make such demands?
When she finally rejected the idea of visiting the US, she said she felt “repelled by the idea of going there” and that it would be better if she “beckoned the Americans to come here” to talk to her. Not even Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), who is not very fond of the US, would dare say something like that.
The response from the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) has been very rational, expressing the US’ goodwill, but Hung’s stance on a visit is insincere and keeps changing. She even said that she is playing coquettish. How can a presidential candidate behave like that in important international matters?
The Republic of China (ROC) has always been in the camp of the free world together with the US and the UK. No matter how much President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) leans toward China, he still would not dare badmouth the US in public. However, Hung’s sharp policy turnabout has not received the slightest criticism from the party’s top leadership. Is this the precursor of a coming KMT betrayal of the free world?
Hung’s “one country, same interpretation” stance makes her surrender before the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) even more obvious, although she later said that the “one China” refers to the ROC, because her stance is a bit too barefaced. That means that both Beijing and Taiwan are talking about the ROC. Beijing, of course, does not even acknowledge “one China, different interpretations,” so the idea of Beijing now abandoning the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in favor of the ROC is a bit far-fetched.
In an interview with the China Review News Agency in April, Hung said that China’s M503 flight route offered Taiwan better security and protection, and she even blamed Taiwan for “criticizing China for having a few thousand missiles aimed at Taiwan.”
Not only does this run counter to the government’s position, it also attacks Taiwanese from a Chinese perspective. The KMT has not reiterated its positions on these issues. Perhaps the party is happy that someone dares speak up and throw their lot in with the CCP.
Hung has revealed how the KMT, under the changing international strategic climate, has chosen to abandon the US in favor of China. It is, after all, the Chinese Nationalist Party.
The choice between the US and China is a choice between democracy and dictatorship. Before long, it will become clear whether the KMT is Taiwanese or Chinese, or if it simply has a slave mentality.
Paul Lin is a political commentator.
Translated by Perry Svensson
US aerospace company Boeing Co has in recent years been involved in numerous safety incidents, including crashes of its 737 Max airliners, which have caused widespread concern about the company’s safety record. It has recently come to light that titanium jet engine parts used by Boeing and its European competitor Airbus SE were sold with falsified documentation. The source of the titanium used in these parts has been traced back to an unknown Chinese company. It is clear that China is trying to sneak questionable titanium materials into the supply chain and use any ensuing problems as an opportunity to
It’s not every month that the US Department of State sends two deputy assistant secretary-level officials to Taiwan, together. Its rarer still that such senior State Department policy officers, once on the ground in Taipei, make a point of huddling with fellow diplomats from “like-minded” NATO, ANZUS and Japanese governments to coordinate their multilateral Taiwan policies. The State Department issued a press release on June 22 admitting that the two American “representatives” had “hosted consultations in Taipei” with their counterparts from the “Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” The consultations were blandly dubbed the “US-Taiwan Working Group on International Organizations.” The State
The Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises, the largest naval exercise in the region, are aimed at deepening international collaboration and interaction while strengthening tactical capabilities and flexibility in tackling maritime crises. China was invited to participate in RIMPAC in 2014 and 2016, but it was excluded this year. The underlying reason is that Beijing’s ambitions of regional expansion and challenging the international order have raised global concern. The world has made clear its suspicions of China, and its exclusion from RIMPAC this year will bring about a sea change in years to come. The purpose of excluding China is primarily
The Chinese Supreme People’s Court and other government agencies released new legal guidelines criminalizing “Taiwan independence diehard separatists.” While mostly symbolic — the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has never had jurisdiction over Taiwan — Tamkang University Graduate Institute of China Studies associate professor Chang Wu-ueh (張五岳), an expert on cross-strait relations, said: “They aim to explain domestically how they are countering ‘Taiwan independence,’ they aim to declare internationally their claimed jurisdiction over Taiwan and they aim to deter Taiwanese.” Analysts do not know for sure why Beijing is propagating these guidelines now. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), deciphering the