Questions of forum waste
Former minister of health and welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), the Democratic Progressive Party’s nominee for the Taipei mayoral election, has said that the Taipei-Shanghai Twin-City Forum, which was conducted online on Tuesday last week and lasted only 90 minutes, was a waste of money, costing NT$950,000 with little substance to show for it.
In response to Chen’s criticism, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), the KMT’s Taipei nominee, said that Chen was being narrow-minded, that promoting cross-strait communication and opening up opportunities for exchanges was a positive thing, and that NT$950,000 was “absolutely not a waste of money.”
Independent Taipei City Councilor Lin Ying-meng (林穎孟) compared the cost of this year’s forum to previous occasions that had been hosted by Taipei.
The 2018 forum, which was held in person, was divided into four discussion groups and cost NT$850,000, the equivalent of NT$1,770 per minute, compared with the more than NT$10,000 per minute that this year’s event had clocked up, Lin said.
Chiang had clearly not done his homework and was just throwing Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) a lifeline to help him in his own attempt to be elected mayor, she said.
Taipei residents would have absolutely no problem with spending the money on holding the forum if it actually led to substantial results, rather than simply being an excuse for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to promote its “united front” cause and other political agendas.
The Taipei-Shanghai Twin-City format had already become an event at which Beijing could play its “united front” tricks.
Taipei residents know exactly what is happening and that the forums do not lead to any actual benefits, which is why they consider them to be a waste of money.
Chiang in May said that the forum should not be held unless three conditions were met in advance: that the CCP would stop intimidating Taiwan, that it would show goodwill toward Taiwan and that it would regard the two sides as equals.
However, there has not been any reduction in the daily flights by Chinese People’s Liberation Army warplanes toward Taiwan, China continues to put pressure on Taiwan internationally, and Beijing still patronizes Taipei and Ko. None of Chiang’s three conditions were met.
Is Chiang sure that the forum has been entirely positive and “absolutely not a waste of money”?
Chen Ho-wen
New Taipei City
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry gives it a strategic advantage, but that advantage would be threatened as the US seeks to end Taiwan’s monopoly in the industry and as China grows more assertive, analysts said at a security dialogue last week. While the semiconductor industry is Taiwan’s “silicon shield,” its dominance has been seen by some in the US as “a monopoly,” South Korea’s Sungkyunkwan University academic Kwon Seok-joon said at an event held by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In addition, Taiwan lacks sufficient energy sources and is vulnerable to natural disasters and geopolitical threats from China, he said.
After reading the article by Hideki Nagayama [English version on same page] published in the Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Wednesday, I decided to write this article in hopes of ever so slightly easing my depression. In August, I visited the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, Japan, to attend a seminar. While there, I had the chance to look at the museum’s collections. I felt extreme annoyance at seeing that the museum had classified Taiwanese indigenous peoples as part of China’s ethnic minorities. I kept thinking about how I could make this known, but after returning
What value does the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hold in Taiwan? One might say that it is to defend — or at the very least, maintain — truly “blue” qualities. To be truly “blue” — without impurities, rejecting any “red” influence — is to uphold the ideology consistent with that on which the Republic of China (ROC) was established. The KMT would likely not object to this notion. However, if the current generation of KMT political elites do not understand what it means to be “blue” — or even light blue — their knowledge and bravery are far too lacking
Taipei’s population is estimated to drop below 2.5 million by the end of this month — the only city among the nation’s six special municipalities that has more people moving out than moving in this year. A city that is classified as a special municipality can have three deputy mayors if it has a population of more than 2.5 million people, Article 55 of the Local Government Act (地方制度法) states. To counter the capital’s shrinking population, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) held a cross-departmental population policy committee meeting on Wednesday last week to discuss possible solutions. According to Taipei City Government data, Taipei’s