Politicians behave as if they believe the electorate is gullible or suffers from poor long-term memory. When they are at their most disingenuous, such as during election campaigns, it is important to call them out.
So it is with the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) attempts to paint the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as the single corrupt party in the nation.
Kaohsiung City Councilor Jane Lee (李眉蓁), the KMT’s candidate for the Kaohsiung mayoral by-
election on Saturday, is running her campaign on the theme of being corruption-free. This is an attempt not only to distract from the allegations of plagiarism leveled against her, but also to leverage the attention on DPP Legislator Su Chen-ching (蘇震清), who is under investigation in the Pacific Sogo Department Store corruption case.
KMT members on Tuesday held a news conference calling on Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) to apologize over several corruption scandals, citing figures of a party-commissioned poll.
Glossing over the intricacies of effective polling used at times when the goal is actionable truth, the survey relied on laughably weighted questions and a studious misinterpretation of the results.
One question asked if respondents thought it appropriate for the Taiwan Railways Administration to spend NT$15.49 million (US$524,374) on improving its brand image while owing employees two months of overtime pay. The KMT said that 72 percent of respondents responded negatively.
Of course they did: The question was intentionally worded and structured in a way to get that very result. It is also how politicians of all stripes seek to manipulate figures and opinions.
However, a few facts might help.
According to Ministry of Justice data, the past three years saw an increase in the number of people prosecuted for corruption. The figure rose from 703 in 2017 to 750 in 2018 and 805 last year. There is a clear upward trend, and all within President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) first term.
However, this trend needs some context. From 2010 to 2015 — during then-president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) KMT administration, the yearly figure was more than 1,000 people. It reached a high of 1,648 in 2014.
The trend is also not borne out by the sums involved in the corruption cases. In 2017, this number stood at NT$521.7 million; it fell the following year to NT$170 million, before increasing slightly again last year to NT$190 million.
By contrast, in 2014, the total sum involved was more than NT$1 billion.
Corruption does not belong to any one party. It is important to remember that the Sogo scandal has ensnared members of the DPP, the KMT and the New Power Party, and that new allegations could yet arise.
The informed and discerning swing voter will not be persuaded by the KMT’s clumsy attempts at distraction. However, this does not mean that the DPP or Tsai can relax. The present investigation has real potential to damage them both.
In Tsai’s case, this is because of her close association with Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), who resigned as Presidential Office secretary-general because of his relationship to his nephew, Su Chen-ching. Su Jia-chyuan is not just a close ally of Tsai; she has relied heavily on his support for the past decade in a party operating, albeit unofficially, along factional lines. In many ways, he has been integral to Tsai’s ability to balance the power bases within the party.
The problem involves not only the DPP’s structure, but the political culture in the nation as a whole. Neither will be easy to address.
In the battle for public perception, Tsai needs to take decisive action now, above and beyond simple demands for individual party members to act according to a higher moral standard.
Why is Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) not a “happy camper” these days regarding Taiwan? Taiwanese have not become more “CCP friendly” in response to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) use of spies and graft by the United Front Work Department, intimidation conducted by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Armed Police/Coast Guard, and endless subversive political warfare measures, including cyber-attacks, economic coercion, and diplomatic isolation. The percentage of Taiwanese that prefer the status quo or prefer moving towards independence continues to rise — 76 percent as of December last year. According to National Chengchi University (NCCU) polling, the Taiwanese
It would be absurd to claim to see a silver lining behind every US President Donald Trump cloud. Those clouds are too many, too dark and too dangerous. All the same, viewed from a domestic political perspective, there is a clear emerging UK upside to Trump’s efforts at crashing the post-Cold War order. It might even get a boost from Thursday’s Washington visit by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. In July last year, when Starmer became prime minister, the Labour Party was rigidly on the defensive about Europe. Brexit was seen as an electorally unstable issue for a party whose priority
US President Donald Trump is systematically dismantling the network of multilateral institutions, organizations and agreements that have helped prevent a third world war for more than 70 years. Yet many governments are twisting themselves into knots trying to downplay his actions, insisting that things are not as they seem and that even if they are, confronting the menace in the White House simply is not an option. Disagreement must be carefully disguised to avoid provoking his wrath. For the British political establishment, the convenient excuse is the need to preserve the UK’s “special relationship” with the US. Following their White House
US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House has brought renewed scrutiny to the Taiwan-US semiconductor relationship with his claim that Taiwan “stole” the US chip business and threats of 100 percent tariffs on foreign-made processors. For Taiwanese and industry leaders, understanding those developments in their full context is crucial while maintaining a clear vision of Taiwan’s role in the global technology ecosystem. The assertion that Taiwan “stole” the US’ semiconductor industry fundamentally misunderstands the evolution of global technology manufacturing. Over the past four decades, Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), has grown through legitimate means
RSS