Work with TPP to avoid Han
The result of the legislative election left the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) six seats short of the 57 seats needed to hold a majority in the Legislative Yuan. Hopefully, Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the president-elect, would summon up the goodwill to invite Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) to talk about the election of the next legislative speaker and deputy speaker.
It would be better for the DPP to make do with the position of deputy speaker and concede the speaker’s chair to TPP legislator-elect Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) than, heaven forbid, let the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) China-friendly legislator-at-large-in-waiting Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) become speaker.
The KMT has at times jokingly called Huang “[President] Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) girl.” During the 2016 legislative elections, Tsai, in her capacity as chairperson of the DPP, recommended that the voters in Taipei’s Nangang-Neihu (南港-內湖) constituency vote for Huang, who was at that time standing as the People First Party’s candidate, but unfortunately Huang was not elected. Admiral Huang Shu-kuang (黃曙光) — the officer in charge of the indigenous submarine-building project in Taiwan — is her elder brother. Since the confirmation of the election results on Saturday, the KMT has been angrily accusing Vivian Huang of being the main culprit behind the failure to agree on a joint presidential election ticket between the KMT and the TPP.
Supporters of the DPP and its pan-green allies need to recognize the political reality and face this bitter historic lesson. The DPP must find ways to cooperate with the TPP’s Ko and Vivian Huang on important issues. Politics is a product of compromise and definitely not a zero-sum game.
Chiu Jih-ming
Taipei
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of
RSS