The Legislative Yuan passed legislation on Tuesday aimed at supporting the middle-aged generation — defined as people aged 55 or older willing and able to work — in a law initially proposed by Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Wu Chun-cheng (吳春城) to help the nation transition from an aged society to a super-aged society. The law’s passage was celebrated by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the TPP.
The brief show of unity was welcome news, especially after 10 months of political fighting and unconstitutional amendments that are damaging democracy and the constitutional order, eliciting concern in all forms, from readers’ letters to academic groups to presidential speeches.
One should be disabused of the notion that this small opening of reason and political consensus was anything but an exception. We can still expect more of the same chaos, turmoil, fisticuffs and accusations of political persecution from the blue and white opposition, and of the former’s treason and collusion with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from the ruling DPP. If anything, we can expect the situation to deteriorate over the coming year.
The Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) editorial published today gives a more accurate picture of what is happening in the legislature: TPP Acting Chairman Huang Kuo-chang’s (黃國昌) claims of “political persecution,” seemingly driven more by enmity for the DPP than any appeal to the national interest; accusations of “green terror” — an absurd feat of projection — by the KMT against President William Lai (賴清德) and the DPP; a battle for the structural integrity of the five-branch system of government and the effective operation of the Constitutional Court and constitutional order; and the virtual takeover of the opposition’s agenda by KMT legislative caucus leader and dodgy politician par excellence Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁).
The Liberty Times editorial is clear that what the KMT and TPP legislators are doing is against the national interest and must be stopped, and that the DPP has to do more to resist their actions, supported by civil society. It does not say how.
The DPP caucus moved this week to oust Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), accusing him of flagrant partisanship. That notion was shelved by the KMT and the TPP. According to Article 8 of Regulations on Electing the Legislative Speaker and Deputy Speaker by Legislators (立法委員互選院長副院長辦法), such a decision would need to be supported by more than two-thirds of all members present. It was doomed to fail, because of the very thing causing the problem: The DPP lacks a majority, and everyone votes along party lines.
If the proposal was purely performative in nature, it is difficult to see the point of it. Nobody needs to be made aware that the problem exists.
The piece by Lai Rung-wei (賴榮偉) on today’s page is more explicit with what needs to be done: a mass recall of KMT legislators. An article published yesterday, entitled “To tame the legislature, support mass recall,” by Susie Su (蘇拾瑩), is of the same opinion. This solution was inspired by recent comments by DPP legislative caucus leader Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘). Opposition lawmakers, predictably, pushed back, saying that they would launch recall drives against DPP legislators.
We have been down this road before: Recall followed by revenge recall, some justified, most purely political manipulation of the system, a few successful, others not. Voters must be given the right of recall, but it must be used sparingly and as a final recourse.
Ker’s suggestion, which was not supported by other DPP members, is not a solution, and if it fails it would only exacerbate the enmity between the parties and lead to a cascade of revenge recalls and the kind of political chaos that would give the CCP an excuse to intervene to “restore order.” That would be playing right into the CCP’s, and Fu’s, hands.
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
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