Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍) on Wednesday last week proposed cutting the Ministry of Culture’s entire NT$2.309 billion (US$70.47 million) budget allocated to the Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation in a move heavily criticized by the film and arts sector.
Chen also commented on a Facebook post by Offshore Island Publishing editor-in-chief Ho Hsin-chieh (何欣潔), writing that the media need to “throw out that begging bowl.”
However, before Chen starts casting aspersions at others, she should remember that her own constituency, Kinmen County, has its own cash cow, Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor. Every year, it receives a central government subsidy of up to NT$5 billion, while the local government-run newspaper, the Kinmen Daily News, lambasts the central government in its editorials.
Based on Chen’s logic, perhaps Kinmen should stand on its own two feet and stop going to the central government with its begging bowl held aloft.
Last year, Control Yuan member Ma Hsiu-ju (馬秀如) raised concerns that Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor had donated surplus profit to the Kinmen County Government before making its tax declaration, and reported the company for enriching local government coffers at the expense of the state. Ma asked the local government to address the issue. One Kinmen county councilor said that they could not rule out mobilizing local residents to “go by” Ma’s residence.
That kind of behavior reflects poorly on the nation as a whole.
Perhaps Chen should follow her own example and propose in the Legislative Yuan that Kinmen discard its own “begging bowl.” That would reassure everyone that the KMT is genuinely watching the purse strings, mitigate the negative impression of Kinmen that the county commissioner brought upon it by attempting to intimidate a member of the Control Yuan and show that Kinmen residents stand by their reputation of being independent.
John Yu is a civil servant.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) were born under the sign of Gemini. Geminis are known for their intelligence, creativity, adaptability and flexibility. It is unlikely, then, that the trade conflict between the US and China would escalate into a catastrophic collision. It is more probable that both sides would seek a way to de-escalate, paving the way for a Trump-Xi summit that allows the global economy some breathing room. Practically speaking, China and the US have vulnerabilities, and a prolonged trade war would be damaging for both. In the US, the electoral system means that public opinion
RSS