Taiwan’s democracy has gone into reverse and been undermined by practices that bypass democratic procedures since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday during a campaign stop in Chiayi City.
It was during a meeting at Hsi-men Presbyterian church, renowned for its support for democracy and activism against the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) authoritarian regime in the past, that Tsai mentioned her concerns about democracy in Taiwan.
“The decline of democracy in Taiwan is alarming,” she said.
This year’s Democracy Index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit rated Taiwan as a flawed democracy with a ranking of 37, down one from last year, while Japan and South Korea were both considered full democracies, she said.
The DPP chairperson then turned her focus on Ma, who is seeking re-election, and who said during a televised appearance on Friday that Tsai’s position on Taiwan’s national status that “The Republic of China [ROC] is Taiwan, and Taiwan is the ROC” was “unconstitutional.”
“Interpretation of the Constitution is not absolute, as the Constitution allows flexibility, which stems from tolerance of different opinions,” she said.
Tolerance is the keyword, Tsai said, adding that if Taiwan remains divided as a society and a country, it would be unable to move forward and deal with the enormous challenges it faces in the future.
Tsai said she disagreed with Ma’s use of national identity as a campaign tool.
In his platform presentation on Friday, Ma said the so-called “1992 consensus” and the idea of “one China with different interpretations” were both constitutional and had been the foundation of improved cross-strait relations over the past three-and-a-half years, adding that Tsai’s refusal to accept the consensus would jeopardize cross-strait engagement.
Ma’s mentality in his dealings with China over the past three years also suggested that he might risk Taiwan’s democratic values to achieve his own agenda, she said.
Tsai reiterated that Taiwanese remain divided on cross-strait issues and that a democratic process was therefore needed to formulate a real “Taiwan consensus” — the main focus of her China policy — to first find common ground before negotiating with Beijing.
On the basis of tolerance, Tsai said, anything could be included in the discussion on a consensus — including unification.
The way that the KMT turned its agreement with the Chinese Communist Party in 2005 into a state-to-state consensus without going through the legislature and consulting Taiwanese was inappropriate and violated the basic principle of democracy, Tsai said.
In the afternoon, Tsai told about 10,000 farmers and fishermen in Huwei Township (虎尾), Yunlin County, that her administration would protect the agricultural sector if she were elected next month.
Farmers and fishermen have too often been sacrificed during Taiwan’s pursuit of industrialization and her administration would launch a “new agriculture movement,” with plans to invest more public resources, encourage young people to work in the industry, raise compensation for natural disaster, promote domestic consumption and improve food self-sufficient rate.
Yesterday marked the first day of Tsai’s latest series of campaigns stops in the lead up to Election Day. A total of 36 large rallies are scheduled before Jan. 14.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial