A maturing democracy
Lee Min-yung (李敏勇) is right: Democratization does not just mean changing the accent of the rulers (“No normality without left and right,” Jan. 23, page 8).
A normal democracy should know its left from its right, but why stop there?
A multiparty democracy should offer voters real choices in each policy area. At least there should be a spectrum of social policies (liberal versus conservative) and another dimension for economic (competitive versus redistributive), in addition to the national-identity question. How about adding productionist versus ecologist to the mix?
The recent elections were the first where a full palette of parties worthy of a mature democracy was on offer to the electorate. In addition to the ubiquitous nationalist and communitarian factions, three parties in Taiwan are members of political internationals: Green Party Taiwan in the Global Greens, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the International Democrat Union, and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Liberal International.
As the KMT continues its atrophy, social democrats in the DPP might finally feel confident enough to peel off and align with “third force” elements, to form a grouping suitable for membership in the Socialist International or the newfangled Progressive Alliance.
For another example, the Faith and Hope League would not find it hard to stand alongside old-school Christian Democrats in the tradition of Dutch-style testimonial parties.
Perhaps after a few more election cycles, “hung parliament” might even enter the glossary of the Taiwanese legislature, and coalitions have to be formed in order to govern.
It is a serious constitutional problem whether only 113 legislative seats — elected mostly by first-past-the-post — do justice to so many voices and ideas natural to a medium-sized democracy of more than 23 million people.
Te Khai-su
Helsingfors, Finland
Weeks into the craze, nobody quite knows what to make of the OpenClaw mania sweeping China, marked by viral photos of retirees lining up for installation events and users gathering in red claw hats. The queues and cosplay inspired by the “raising a lobster” trend make for irresistible China clickbait. However, the West is fixating on the least important part of the story. As a consumer craze, OpenClaw — the AI agent designed to do tasks on a user’s behalf — would likely burn out. Without some developer background, it is too glitchy and technically awkward for true mainstream adoption,
On Monday, the day before Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) departed on her visit to China, the party released a promotional video titled “Only with peace can we ‘lie flat’” to highlight its desire to have peace across the Taiwan Strait. However, its use of the expression “lie flat” (tang ping, 躺平) drew sarcastic comments, with critics saying it sounded as if the party was “bowing down” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Amid the controversy over the opposition parties blocking proposed defense budgets, Cheng departed for China after receiving an invitation from the CCP, with a meeting with
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) is leading a delegation to China through Sunday. She is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing tomorrow. That date coincides with the anniversary of the signing of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), which marked a cornerstone of Taiwan-US relations. Staging their meeting on this date makes it clear that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intends to challenge the US and demonstrate its “authority” over Taiwan. Since the US severed official diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979, it has relied on the TRA as a legal basis for all
A delegation of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials led by Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) is to travel to China tomorrow for a six-day visit to Jiangsu, Shanghai and Beijing, which might end with a meeting between Cheng and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). The trip was announced by Xinhua news agency on Monday last week, which cited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Director Song Tao (宋濤) as saying that Cheng has repeatedly expressed willingness to visit China, and that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee and Xi have extended an invitation. Although some people have been speculating about a potential Xi-Cheng
RSS