China is “intensely worried” about the possibility of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) returning to power, a Washington conference was told on Tuesday.
Beijing does not have “a real good idea” how to handle such a development, said Shelley Rigger, a Taiwan specialist and chair of the political science department at Davidson College in North Carolina.
Rigger said that if the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) suffered important losses in Taiwan’s nine-in-one elections on Saturday next week, there could be “chaos” unleashed within the party ranks.
Addressing the Brookings Institute conference on the upcoming elections, Rigger said that major KMT losses could lead to pressure on President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to “step aside and let other people make the decisions.”
The “real excitement” would start the day after the elections as the impact from the results is felt, Rigger said.
The 2016 presidential and legislative elections would be “keenly observed” by China, she added.
Brookings Institution visiting fellow Huang Min-hua (黃旻華) said voters might still have doubts about DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) because she had not expressed clear views on cross-strait relations or definitive opinions on how to solve trade issues.
University of Canterbury political science professor Alexander Tan (陳永福) said there was little excitement at this stage over the elections although the Sunflower movement had resulted in a political awakening among young voters.
“It’s tempting to look on this election as a referendum on Ma’s performance, but it’s really not about national policy issues; this really is a local election,” Rigger said.
She said that Taiwan would not vote for the DPP as a way of showing resentment against Ma.
“He is not on the ballot and very few people who are close to Ma are on the ballot,” Rigger said.
The Sunflower movement had been a referendum on Ma’s presidency, she said, adding that the movement had resulted in an “astonishing display” of political restraint from the Ma regime.
It was hard to imagine any other country in which the legislative chamber could be taken over by demonstrators for a month and where the resolution would involve minimal repercussions for the demonstrators, but very significant repercussions for the leadership, she said.
Rigger said the Sunflower movement had sent a message of dissatisfaction with “politics as usual” and that changes had to be made.
However, the leaders of the movement were deeply skeptical of both political parties, she said.
Brookings Center for East Asia Policy Studies director Richard Bush, acting as conference moderator, said that China had begun to “lay some boundaries or lines” pointing to what it regarded as acceptable in politics and policies from ruling parties in Taiwan.
He also expressed sorrow at the death earlier this week of former American Institute in Taiwan chairman Nat Bellocchi.
Bush said Bellocchi was a “source of wise counsel” and that he would be greatly missed.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by