At the 23rd annual US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference last week, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) attended the event in place of party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who has been detained due to his alleged involvement in several corruption cases.
However, Huang had already resigned from the TPP’s Central Standing Committee, which also suspended her for three years and removed her from the committee’s party caucus.
The TPP was at a loss for what to do, radio talk show host Huang Wei-han (黃暐瀚) said.
The party responded by saying that Huang remains a party member and legislator, so there is nothing wrong with her standing in for Ko at the conference, urging others not to make a fuss.
What is the point of her suspension if she is allowed to handle the party’s business and represent the party at a conference abroad?
Of course Huang is a party member and legislator. The problem is she has been suspended. She has no right to participate in the party’s affairs, so how is she allowed to stand in for the party’s chairman in an official visit abroad and at an important meeting? What is the point of her suspension?
Although this is an internal affair for the TPP, which outsiders are not supposed to interfere with, it is the second-largest opposition party in Taiwan. It is also a public body that is subject to public scrutiny.
As the saying goes, “there are national laws and family rules.” That also applies to a party that is supposed to have its own system and rules.
If a party member is suspended, the member is prohibited from participating in any of its affairs, including representing its chairperson at a meeting. Yet, the TPP still did so even though it was fully aware that it did not make any sense, arguing that Huang is still a party member. If it is not sophistry, then what is?
Allowing a suspended party member to represent the chairman is not only confusing to outsiders, but also controversial for party members. Why does the TPP invite all these troubles?
Allowing a suspended party member to represent the party chairman has exposed another serious problem: the lack of talent in the party.
Why does it have to be Huang who attends the conference? It could have been TPP caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), TPP Secretary-General Chou Yu-hsiu (周榆修) or former TPP legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如). Some other TPP legislators or local officials would have been a better choice than Vivian Huang.
The TPP has had to elaborate on what a suspended member can and cannot do, which is embarrassing and chaotic.
A party member being suspended is like a citizen being disenfranchised, which means they are not allowed to vote. Despite suspending Vivian Huang, the TPP gave her the right to represent its chairman. It is illogical, unreasonable and hardly convincing. It is just a trick to cover up the party’s incompetence.
Tsai Jr-keng is retired elementary-school principal.
Translated by Fion Khan
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
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
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not
RSS