The opposition camp often jeers at President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), saying that he looks more like a presidential candidate than a president, given that he so frequently bases his decisions on considerations for the next election. However, this is really a matter of the pot calling the kettle black, since the opposition has long since started campaigning for the presidential election.
The kneeling act of PFP chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) during Taipei's mayoral election campaign stirred a great deal of conjecture. Observers have good reason to believe that Soong's act was meant to give the KMT some face and appease Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) -- whose popularity appears to be soaring -- in the hope that Ma might not compete against him for the top job in 2004.
Even though KMT-PFP cooperation has become the pan-blue camp's key note in the run-up to 2004, the question of who will run for president has caused much consternation in the KMT. The endless backroom maneuvers and rumors coming from the party's aristocrats now make for the most intriguing show in Taiwan's political arena.
First came former Kaohsiung mayor and ex-KMT legislator Wu Den-yih
Recently, KMT Legislator John Chang
It is no wonder that, during a speech last weekend, former president Lee Teng-hui
One after another, these middle-aged politicians have denied they have any presidential ambitions. We do not know whether these rumors were part of party chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) pre-emptive strategy for subduing potential rivals, or whether any KMT politicians of a younger generation are in fact quietly building the momentum for a presidential ticket.
The dark maneuvers in the KMT also remind one of what happened within the DPP in the run-up to the 2000 election. Former party chairman Hsu Hsin-liang
In his pursuit of the presidential dream, Hsu ran as an independent candidate and did not hesitate to team up with then New Party Legislator Josephine Chu (朱惠良), so as to seek the support of his erstwhile opponents in the New Party.
That the presidential ambitions of a politician could cause a DPP man -- one who had advocated Taiwan's independence for all those years -- to make such an about face overnight and make friends with the New Party, makes a big joke of all he had stood for.
This makes one wonder whether there is anything more worthy of pursuit in Taiwan's political arena than becoming president. Politicians motivated by their own personal ambitions instead of the people's welfare will be dumped by voters. The 2004 election will attest to that.
As strategic tensions escalate across the vast Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as more than a potential flashpoint. It is the fulcrum upon which the credibility of the evolving American-led strategy of integrated deterrence now rests. How the US and regional powers like Japan respond to Taiwan’s defense, and how credible the deterrent against Chinese aggression proves to be, will profoundly shape the Indo-Pacific security architecture for years to come. A successful defense of Taiwan through strengthened deterrence in the Indo-Pacific would enhance the credibility of the US-led alliance system and underpin America’s global preeminence, while a failure of integrated deterrence would
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
On Wednesday last week, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) asserting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) territorial claim over Taiwan effective 1945, predicated upon instruments such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation. The article further contended that this de jure and de facto status was subsequently reaffirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly issued a statement categorically repudiating these assertions. In addition to the reasons put forward by the ministry, I believe that China’s assertions are open to questions in international
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of
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