The problem with sincerity is that it is a difficult quality to distinguish.
This might be to the advantage of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
During a visit with KMT supporters in Taichung on Sunday, Ma, in response to a suggestion that the party should change its name to better represent Taiwan, said the party would consider such a move once it had regained the presidency.
It would be interesting to know what the connection in Ma's mind between regaining the presidency and changing his party's name is.
But then, it may just be that he is preoccupied with the former.
Adding weight to the interpretation that Ma's remark was an automatic response to win support ahead of the legislative and presidential elections is the fact that the very next day he had a change of heart.
When cornered by reporters in Taipei, Ma said that his remark did not necessarily mean that the party had decided that it would ever change its name -- only that it was a possibility.
Chairman of the KMT's Culture and Communications Committee Yang Tu (
"[The remark] was nothing to attach great importance to," Yang was quoted as saying.
Yang's explanation is very enlightening and something that all voters should bear in mind when decoding Ma's comments ahead of the elections. Apparently, if the KMT chairman says something you like, it may be because he really means it -- or it may just be that he is being polite.
Critics of the KMT have long attacked the party for its seeming detachment from the country that has served as its base since 1949.
If Ma truly intends to localize his party, showing respect for the average person would be an excellent way to start.
In other words, Ma should stop peddling the stance that the country's official independence is an option for the Taiwanese people, but not an option for the KMT.
The KMT needs to consider more than just a superficial name change. After all, the country already has a "Taiwan Nationalist Party" -- a political party founded by a group of pro-Taiwan independence activists in July 2005.
Instead, the KMT should try identifying with ordinary voters and talk openly and honestly.
Ma has long been regarded by pan-blue supporters as the most likely candidate to run in next year's presidential election.
As a potential presidential hopeful, Ma ought not to weigh his words so lightly if he hopes to gain respect and support from the public.
As former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher said: "To wear your heart on your sleeve isn't a very good plan; you should wear it inside, where it functions best."
US$18.278 billion is a simple dollar figure; one that’s illustrative of the first Trump administration’s defense commitment to Taiwan. But what does Donald Trump care for money? During President Trump’s first term, the US defense department approved gross sales of “defense articles and services” to Taiwan of over US$18 billion. In September, the US-Taiwan Business Council compared Trump’s figure to the other four presidential administrations since 1993: President Clinton approved a total of US$8.702 billion from 1993 through 2000. President George W. Bush approved US$15.614 billion in eight years. This total would have been significantly greater had Taiwan’s Kuomintang-controlled Legislative Yuan been cooperative. During
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in recent days was the focus of the media due to his role in arranging a Chinese “student” group to visit Taiwan. While his team defends the visit as friendly, civilized and apolitical, the general impression is that it was a political stunt orchestrated as part of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda, as its members were mainly young communists or university graduates who speak of a future of a unified country. While Ma lived in Taiwan almost his entire life — except during his early childhood in Hong Kong and student years in the US —
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers on Monday unilaterally passed a preliminary review of proposed amendments to the Public Officers Election and Recall Act (公職人員選罷法) in just one minute, while Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, government officials and the media were locked out. The hasty and discourteous move — the doors of the Internal Administration Committee chamber were locked and sealed with plastic wrap before the preliminary review meeting began — was a great setback for Taiwan’s democracy. Without any legislative discussion or public witnesses, KMT Legislator Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩), the committee’s convener, began the meeting at 9am and announced passage of the
In response to a failure to understand the “good intentions” behind the use of the term “motherland,” a professor from China’s Fudan University recklessly claimed that Taiwan used to be a colony, so all it needs is a “good beating.” Such logic is risible. The Central Plains people in China were once colonized by the Mongolians, the Manchus and other foreign peoples — does that mean they also deserve a “good beating?” According to the professor, having been ruled by the Cheng Dynasty — named after its founder, Ming-loyalist Cheng Cheng-kung (鄭成功, also known as Koxinga) — as the Kingdom of Tungning,
RSS