President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) plans to hold Taiwan's first referendum on the day of the presidential election. This major democratic occurrence has become a thorn in the side to the blue camp and it has joined up with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in reviling it. Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) even prompted French President Jacques Chirac to condemn the referendum.
The wave of referendum bashing has proved one thing: democracy did not fall from the skies. It has been brought to us by hardworking people with a sense of mission. Over the past decade, Taiwanese society has been influenced by the unification media's constant nihilism. Fewer people have a sense of democratic mission, but, luckily, political leaders such as former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen have not lost their way. They have spent more time considering the great Taiwanese democracy plan.
During his presidency, Lee engineered the re-election of the whole legislature and direct presidential elections, froze the provincial government and scrapped the National Assembly. He also declared the "special state-to-state" model of cross-strait relations. This was Lee's "democratic line."
In addition to his powerful advocacy of "one country on each side of the Taiwan Strait," Chen last year announced "referendum, legislative reform and the drawing up of a new constitution," or Chen's "democratic line," which has had conservative anti-reform groups jumping with rage.
Not a single item in Lee's and Chen's democratic lines escapes China's vilifications. As the CCP rails, Taiwanese unificationist politicians and media dance to China's tune, gradually creating anti-Lee and anti-Chen sentiment.
For example, ever since the referendum was first mentioned, it has been vilified and satirized by the hypocritical unificationist China Times.
Immediately after the CCP started railing against the referendum, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) did the same. Chen was even, inexplicably, called a "criminal caught in the act."
Does a referendum bite? Is democracy a frightful beast? Those afraid of letting the people be in charge are the ones possessed by beasts. Ma used to be the biggest opponent of Lee's democratic line. Now he rants and raves over the referendum plan. Although Ma is not willing to give up his anti-democratic ways, he still wants to enjoy the fruits of democracy. Lien or Soong never supported Lee, they only wanted power that Lee could not give. Now they revile Chen's democratic line, which is only appropriate for someone who sees no shame in being the spokesman of those wanting to restore authoritarianism.
When the founder of the China Times was still alive -- and neither the faction advocating popular election of the president nor the faction advocating election by committee would yield -- it was still capable of neutrality. Now that the founder's son has taken over, there are merciless attacks on Chen's democratic efforts at holding a referendum.
How can such a paper have the nerve to call itself a member of the intelligentsia? If the people really are master, can holding a referendum to show their will be such a bad thing? Such media and politicians would fit in better in China than in Taiwan.
Chen faces tough challenges. Only one thing is certain -- he is tough and daring to break through his limitations. I'm sure he will follow through with the referendum. I hope the Democratic Progressive Party will remember its leader's difficult situation and make an effort to protect his democratic line, for the sake of Taiwan.
Lao Pao is a political commentator.
Translated by Perry Svensson
The government and local industries breathed a sigh of relief after Shin Kong Life Insurance Co last week said it would relinquish surface rights for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) to Nvidia Corp. The US chip-design giant’s plan to expand its local presence will be crucial for Taiwan to safeguard its core role in the global artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem and to advance the nation’s AI development. The land in dispute is owned by the Taipei City Government, which in 2021 sold the rights to develop and use the two plots of land, codenamed T17 and T18, to the
Taiwan’s first case of African swine fever (ASF) was confirmed on Tuesday evening at a hog farm in Taichung’s Wuci District (梧棲), trigging nationwide emergency measures and stripping Taiwan of its status as the only Asian country free of classical swine fever, ASF and foot-and-mouth disease, a certification it received on May 29. The government on Wednesday set up a Central Emergency Operations Center in Taichung and instituted an immediate five-day ban on transporting and slaughtering hogs, and on feeding pigs kitchen waste. The ban was later extended to 15 days, to account for the incubation period of the virus
The ceasefire in the Middle East is a rare cause for celebration in that war-torn region. Hamas has released all of the living hostages it captured on Oct. 7, 2023, regular combat operations have ceased, and Israel has drawn closer to its Arab neighbors. Israel, with crucial support from the United States, has achieved all of this despite concerted efforts from the forces of darkness to prevent it. Hamas, of course, is a longtime client of Iran, which in turn is a client of China. Two years ago, when Hamas invaded Israel — killing 1,200, kidnapping 251, and brutalizing countless others
US President Donald Trump has announced his eagerness to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un while in South Korea for the APEC summit. That implies a possible revival of US-North Korea talks, frozen since 2019. While some would dismiss such a move as appeasement, renewed US engagement with North Korea could benefit Taiwan’s security interests. The long-standing stalemate between Washington and Pyongyang has allowed Beijing to entrench its dominance in the region, creating a myth that only China can “manage” Kim’s rogue nation. That dynamic has allowed Beijing to present itself as an indispensable power broker: extracting concessions from Washington, Seoul
RSS