Although the presidency did not change hands in January, the electorate expressed its discontent with the ruling party by ending its majority in the legislature. Yet at the same time, it did not see fit to hand the traditional opposition a majority in its own right, resulting in a split chamber. With the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) holding 52 seats (plus two independent allies), the upstart Taiwan People’s Party eight and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) 51, expectations of a feisty legislature were high, and the KMT has not disappointed.
Clinging to its slight coalition majority, the KMT has hit the ground running on its promise to act as a check on the DPP government. Starting from its controversial choice to field divisive former presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) as legislative speaker, it is clear the party is thrilled to once again have the ability to shake things up with its antics rather than shouting into the void.
KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (?) has been champing particularly hard at the bit to elevate his political capital. Despite just returning to the legislature, he was determined to be a top contender for the speakership, even after the party coalesced around Han. His consolation prize was to be caucus whip, a role he has embraced in earnest.
Fu seems to have hit his stride in the past few weeks, wresting attention away from the KMT heavyweights disgraced in the last election. Late last month, he led a delegation of 17 KMT lawmakers on a controversial trip to China, where they met Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Shortly after returning, he demanded that lawmakers change terminology in legislation to say “mainland” rather than “China,” and “Taiwan” rather than “nation” — a move with bad optics considering the timing, even for the KMT.
Now Fu and the rest of the party have smelled blood in the water when it comes to electricity prices. No one likes to pay more for their air-conditioning in the summer, but global supply and cost-of-living increases have forced the government’s hand. Not that that matters in politics, when the opposition can cry foul without proposing a solution. That is exactly what the KMT has done, first by passing a motion calling on the government to freeze rates. As it was non-binding, the Ministry of Economic Affairs stayed the course while explaining the need to raise rates to keep Taiwan Power Co afloat.
Sensing a political opportunity, Fu then threatened to freeze the ministry’s nonessential budget during the next review. It is also pushing new legislation: On Friday last week it passed directly to the second reading an amendment that would give the legislature the power to approve any change in electricity prices. If approved, the change would have lasting consequences by opening the door for political wrangling over a technical budgeting matter.
The KMT knows how to play the media, but it often fails to recognize where the boundaries lie. At the moment, the party leadership seems content to sit back and let the Fu circus run for as long as it is expedient. However, the more they let his faction radicalize the narrative, the harder it will be to guide it back to the center.
The people did not vote for the KMT in January — they voted against the ruling party. Giving its more radical factions free reign might backfire when the next election rolls around.
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
RSS