A group of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers led by the party’s legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (?) are to visit Beijing for four days this week, but some have questioned the timing and purpose of the visit, which demonstrates the KMT caucus’ increasing arrogance.
Fu on Wednesday last week confirmed that following an invitation by Beijing, he would lead a group of lawmakers to China from Thursday to Sunday to discuss tourism and agricultural exports, but he refused to say whether they would meet with Chinese officials.
That the visit is taking place during the legislative session and in the aftermath of the April 3 earthquake drew criticism that Fu, a legislator elected from Hualien County who is the county’s former commissioner, and other members of the group are neglecting their duties.
On the other hand, Fu displayed his arrogance by threatening Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers not to hold any voting while they are away, saying that the KMT, which has one seat more than the DPP in the Legislative Yuan, would retaliate.
In this legislative session that began in February, the KMT caucus has consistently been incompetent and arrogant. In one case, it violated the legislature’s procedures and called for an extraordinary meeting, only to call it an error later and blame a party staff member. There are many other instances, including KMT legislators reprimanding government officials and calling them “subordinates to legislators,” and earlier this month erroneously counting KMT Legislator Sasuyu Ruljuwan (盧縣一) in a vote on pension reform despite him being in China that day, which the party blamed on a Legislative Yuan worker; and proposing to amend laws restricting the allocation of special budgets, then proposing a draft act for the construction of an expressway connecting Hualien and Taitung, which is unconstitutional.
Moreover, the announced visit is happening just after former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the KMT met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing, where Xi said that “external interference cannot stop the historical trend of reunion of the country and family,” and Ma echoed him by saying people of the two sides of the Strait belong to the Chinese nation.
The visit is also on the eve of president-elect William Lai (賴清德) of the DPP taking office on May 20 and at a time when Beijing is intensifying its pressure on Taiwan through multifaceted tools of coercion to demonstrate its disapproval of Lai, who it calls a “troublemaker” and a “separatist.”
Considering there is no urgent agenda and that it is taking place at a sensitive time, the purpose of the visit is questionable.
Fu and the KMT legislators’ visit seems to serve the same purpose as Ma’s, which served China’s interests by helping it signal to the world that Beijing can be friendly and have peaceful dialogue with Taiwan if the nation accepts the “one China” principle. It would also help the party convey the message to Taiwanese that only the KMT is capable of bringing peace and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait.
KMT Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) has visited China eight times since he took the post in 2021, and the media have reported that Beijing has invited the party’s other high-ranking officials and Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) to visit this year. Whether KMT politicians’ visits to China are really in Taiwan’s interest, or simply serve Beijing by helping it send the “one China” message to the world, needs to be scrutinized.
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