When Portuguese sailors first passed by Taiwan on their way to Japan in 1544, they dubbed it Ilha Formosa, a name that came to be a byword for Taiwan. In the late 1600s, Chinese forebears braved the rough waters of the “black ditch” (黑水溝) — the Taiwan Strait — and built a new home here. As Taiwan became a vibrant democratic society, its high-tech industry, economy and trade have caught the attention of the global community. Taiwan’s accomplishments are the joint efforts of 23 million Taiwanese.
However, in terms of today’s presidential and legislative elections, the Taiwanese public has to endure the malicious mudslinging of opposition parties conducted out of their selfish interests. These parties have put forward unfit and inadequate candidates, losing their moral compass by abusing the media, raining slander and rumor-mongering to malign and humiliate other pro-Taiwan candidates to deceive Taiwanese to gain votes.
They even abuse judicial resources, wantonly sue people, sow rifts and division in society and undermine people’s sense of national identity. Opposition parties also play coy with China and sing Beijing’s tune. To duplicate the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) two pronged strategy, they claim that they would bring peace if elected, while the governing party would only trigger war. It is deliberately ignoring the fact that Taiwan is already one of the top 21 economies located in the west of the Pacific. Even though Chinese warplanes and warships are keeping up the CCP’s campaign of harassment, threats and intimidation, the opposition does not condemn China for its rogue behavior, but blames the government and the army while vowing to shorten compulsory military service back to four months if elected.
The opposition candidates also vow to restart talks on the cross-strait service trade agreement while allowing students from China to work as they study in Taiwan, limiting employment opportunities for Taiwanese, although they promise to reduce unemployment.
On one hand, they vow to safeguard Taiwan, but they oppose the idea of developing indigenous submarines, insisting that the military uses submarines older than 40 years, up to 80. All these policies are proposed to garner support and votes instead of bolstering national security. As a case in point, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, claimed to be in pursuit of housing justice, but he was buying farmland for investment and leeching college students for rent, showing his disregard for conflicts of interest.
When President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) came into office, she inherited a nation in decay and regression. Nevertheless, after eight years she has turned things around. For one, with her promotion of energy transition, the nation has increased its operating reserve to more than 14 percent. In terms of diplomacy, her accomplishments far outperformed her predecessor in terms of securing US arms deals and developing domestic military armaments. She even kept a tight lid on electricity pricing so that Taiwan’s inflation rate stayed at a far lower rate than other countries.
There was also the one-off payment of NT$6,000 (US$193) given to individuals by the government as a rebate from the surplus tax revenue last year, a move that could only trigger envious sentiments in other nations.
This year, the minimum monthly wage has been raised to NT$27,470, while the hourly wage was raised to NT$183. Retired and incumbent military personnel, civil servants and teachers have had a raise in their wages as well.
In contrast, China is battling strong headwinds in both its economy and local politics. As the minimum wage in Shanghai is NT$11,621, if the opposing parties get elected and allow Chinese people to come to Taiwan to work, they would be arriving in droves and taking our jobs. As a result, the public should stay clear-headed and vote for one who would follow in the footsteps of Tsai and legislators who would continue with her good policies.
Let us be proud of being Taiwanese and let Taiwan continue to flourish and prosper as a mighty island nation sitting in the western Pacific.
Chu-Ke Feng-yun is a military blogger.
Translated by Rita Wang
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