KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
The KMT thinks there is no better time than now to confirm a Lien-Soong ticket. After all, the party's victory in the Taipei mayoral election has boosted internal morale to levels not seen in years, while Soong's "kneeling act" during the campaign was widely criticized. The PFP's image has also been tarnished by some of its members' alleged involvement in the Kaohsiung City Council vote-buying scandal.
As part of this push to promote Lien as presidential material and force Soong to settle for second billing, the KMT has launched a campaign to resurrect the legacy of the late president Chiang Ching-kuo (
Lien has said he is optimistic about reaching an agreement over a joint ticket with Soong. To demonstrate his sincerity, he has ruled out the possibility running on a ticket with Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
But surely all of Lien's optimism and magnanimity must strike the PFP as completely phony. After all, in the last presidential election, not only did Lien lead a party that had dominated the country for more than 50 years straight into opposition, he trailed far behind Soong both in actual votes and in popular support.
Some recent opinion polls have indicated that either a Lien-Soong ticket or a Lien-Ma ticket would draw more support than Chen's re-election campaign. But the key word there is either Soong or Ma, not Lien. So the best path for the PFP is to postpone locking in the ticket until the last possible moment.
In addition, the PFP cannot help but feel nervous about the long-standing desire within the KMT to see the two parties merged. It has already rejected one merger offer made by Lien. After all, the KMT may talk about cooperation and mergers, but its party charter contains a clause designed to keep Soong from ever becoming a member again. Sincerity is not something that either party knows much about.
Then there is the niggling little detail that a joint ticket has not been approved by a democratic mechanism of either party. Neither the officials nor the members of either party have been given the chance to debate the idea. Closed-door discussions between the parties' top leaders have little to do with democratic politics. Soong may claim that KMT-PFP cooperation would not mean a return to the old days of autocratic rule. But given the blatant disregard both he and Lien apparently have for the popular will, their teaming up may herald such a comeback.
Political cooperation must be based on common values and ideals and a shared vision for the future, something a KMT-PFP link-up clearly lacks. Such a marriage of convenience is unlikely to last and should not be encouraged.
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under