Here is a simple question: What is the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP)?
The original TPP was established during the Japanese colonial era by Taiwanese democratic trailblazer Chang Wei-shui (蔣渭水), and the name carries heavy historic significance.
However, the chairman of the new version, Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), has performed a reverse takeover, hijacking the historic party name and coming out with political slogans that are prettier than practical, including: “An inclusive society with national governance, in Taiwan’s name, based on the people,” “Reason, Pragmatism and Science,” “Popular will, professionalism and values” and “Executive power.”
Can Ko’s TPP’s live up to its name? Further observation is needed, but this is doubtful.
Ko once said: “I am deep green.” Yet, the TPP is utterly opposed to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
This is how political parties operate in a pluralistic democracy. However, a key question is, why has Ko relinquished party control by letting TPP Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) help Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) party convenor Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) use the legislative tyranny of the majority to infringe on Taiwanese’s rights and liberties? To date, Ko has remained silent on this matter.
“Taiwan urgently needs character education. Those with character need to be morally brave. They should speak up when they see something wrong. We need to consider how to create an environment that allows students to see unjust things, and dare to speak out. This is the education we need the most,” Ko said when he was head of National Taiwan University Hospital’s Department of Traumatology in 2013.
Eleven years later, Ko’s words are caricaturesque.
The sinking of the TPP’s political morals and ethics has been glossed over by young Ko supporters, yet not even they can avert their gaze when they see the chaotic outcome of the KMT-TPP legislative collusion.
Human nature is frail. The TPP painted itself as a third political force against the “absolute KMT-DPP polarization,” but the TPP fell into line as a KMT subordinate, a “little KMT.”
What is the political significance of young Ko supporters voting for the TPP then? What would the TPP be without them? This is a problem Ko needs to answer immediately.
Knight Chang is a political worker.
Translated by Tim Smith
It’s not every month that the US Department of State sends two deputy assistant secretary-level officials to Taiwan, together. Its rarer still that such senior State Department policy officers, once on the ground in Taipei, make a point of huddling with fellow diplomats from “like-minded” NATO, ANZUS and Japanese governments to coordinate their multilateral Taiwan policies. The State Department issued a press release on June 22 admitting that the two American “representatives” had “hosted consultations in Taipei” with their counterparts from the “Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” The consultations were blandly dubbed the “US-Taiwan Working Group on International Organizations.” The State
The Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises, the largest naval exercise in the region, are aimed at deepening international collaboration and interaction while strengthening tactical capabilities and flexibility in tackling maritime crises. China was invited to participate in RIMPAC in 2014 and 2016, but it was excluded this year. The underlying reason is that Beijing’s ambitions of regional expansion and challenging the international order have raised global concern. The world has made clear its suspicions of China, and its exclusion from RIMPAC this year will bring about a sea change in years to come. The purpose of excluding China is primarily
War in the Middle East, global terrorism and the Ukraine war pose significant threats to the global economy. However, according to Global Guardian, a leading security solutions firm, a conflict between China and Taiwan would cause the greatest disruption since World War II. Its Taiwan Shock Index (TSI) analyzes the potential global impacts of such a war. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) rhetoric about rejuvenating the People’s Republic of China heavily emphasizes “reunification” with Taiwan. Experts differ on when this might happen. Some point to 2027, the centenary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), as a symbolic and strategic milestone. Others
Many local news media last week reported that COVID-19 is back, citing doctors’ observations and the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) statistics. The CDC said that cases would peak this month and urged people to take preventive measures. Although COVID-19 has never been eliminated, it has become more manageable, and restrictions were dropped, enabling people to return to their normal way of life due to decreasing hospitalizations and deaths. In Taiwan, mandatory reporting of confirmed cases and home isolation ended in March last year, while the mask mandate at hospitals and healthcare facilities stopped in May. However, the CDC last week said the number