Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) talked about “opposing the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]” in a recent Facebook post, writing that opposing the CCP is not the special reserve of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Not long after, many people within the KMT received a mysterious letter signed “Chinese Nationalist Party Central Committee” containing what looked like a declaration of opposition to, and a call to arms against, the CCP.
Unexpectedly, the KMT’s Culture and Communications Committee came forward with a clarification, saying that the letter was not sent by the KMT and telling the public not to believe this piece of “fake news.”
The committee also warned whoever sent the letter that forging the party’s letterhead and spreading disinformation could be a crime, and called on them to refrain from knowingly breaking the law.
In other words, the KMT thinks that saying it is “opposing the CCP” is fake news and threatens anyone who will listen that spreading that letter would be tantamount to knowingly breaking the law.
Compare that to the era of authoritarian KMT rule, when the party used political propaganda to brainwash Taiwanese into “opposing the CCP, restoring the nation, and liberating and saving their suffering mainland compatriots while the iron was still hot,” and engaged in psychological warfare against Chinese by air-dropping propaganda leaflets in China and proclaiming the sanctity of the “sacred mission to reconquer the mainland.”
Today’s KMT is so gutless that it does not even dare say the words: “Oppose the CCP.”
The KMT’s opposition to the CCP is indeed fake: Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷) — who in 2016 traveled to Beijing to sit at the feet of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and listen as Xi gave a speech, and then discussed how the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could develop and project its power — is now a KMT legislator-at-large.
As to the coast guard adding the word “Taiwan” in capital letters to its vessels, Wu was quick to issue a post on Facebook calling the decisionmaking process small-minded and shortsighted, and saying that it belittled national dignity.
He also said that he would be the first to applaud the government if it added the name “China” in capital letters to the vessels before quickly deleting the whole post, and then reposting it after changing “China” to “ROC.”
When his choice of the word “China” raised controversy, he even defended it, saying: “The Republic of China was established before the Chinese Communist Party, so why are they the only ones who can use it while we cannot?”
At any rate, the Republic of China is referred to as the “ROC” and never “China.” If retired lieutenant general Wu, who has held many top army positions, cannot even get the name of his own country right, it is not strange that he sometimes talks out of line and confuses friend and foe.
Considering that the KMT made such a big deal of refuting the mysterious letter signed “Chinese Nationalist Party Central Committee” and calling it “fake news,” while tacitly accepting the many times Wu has humiliated Taiwan and flattered China, makes it clear: Of course the KMT’s opposition to the CCP is fake.
Lin Han is a junior-high school teacher.
Translated by Perry Svensson
Donald Trump’s return to the White House has offered Taiwan a paradoxical mix of reassurance and risk. Trump’s visceral hostility toward China could reinforce deterrence in the Taiwan Strait. Yet his disdain for alliances and penchant for transactional bargaining threaten to erode what Taiwan needs most: a reliable US commitment. Taiwan’s security depends less on US power than on US reliability, but Trump is undermining the latter. Deterrence without credibility is a hollow shield. Trump’s China policy in his second term has oscillated wildly between confrontation and conciliation. One day, he threatens Beijing with “massive” tariffs and calls China America’s “greatest geopolitical
On Sunday, 13 new urgent care centers (UCC) officially began operations across the six special municipalities. The purpose of the centers — which are open from 8am to midnight on Sundays and national holidays — is to reduce congestion in hospital emergency rooms, especially during the nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year. It remains to be seen how effective these centers would be. For one, it is difficult for people to judge for themselves whether their condition warrants visiting a major hospital or a UCC — long-term public education and health promotions are necessary. Second, many emergency departments acknowledge
US President Donald Trump’s seemingly throwaway “Taiwan is Taiwan” statement has been appearing in headlines all over the media. Although it appears to have been made in passing, the comment nevertheless reveals something about Trump’s views and his understanding of Taiwan’s situation. In line with the Taiwan Relations Act, the US and Taiwan enjoy unofficial, but close economic, cultural and national defense ties. They lack official diplomatic relations, but maintain a partnership based on shared democratic values and strategic alignment. Excluding China, Taiwan maintains a level of diplomatic relations, official or otherwise, with many nations worldwide. It can be said that
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) made the astonishing assertion during an interview with Germany’s Deutsche Welle, published on Friday last week, that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not a dictator. She also essentially absolved Putin of blame for initiating the war in Ukraine. Commentators have since listed the reasons that Cheng’s assertion was not only absurd, but bordered on dangerous. Her claim is certainly absurd to the extent that there is no need to discuss the substance of it: It would be far more useful to assess what drove her to make the point and stick so
RSS