How on earth did we get here? After 16 years of peaceful political transformation how did we get to the stage where President Chen Shui-bian (
First, the government deserves credit for its handling of the situation. It must have been tempting to call off the election, given yesterday's events. But this would only further increase the pressure cooker-like atmosphere that has been building up in the last few days, making more violence possible if not inevitable. When bullets start flying it is as well to get people off the streets as quickly as possible. Going ahead with the election was the best way to do this.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was also wise to call off its campaigning for last night. With Chen and Lu in hospital, it might have seemed to have little choice. But the party could have fielded any number of major figures, including respected figures not in themselves politicians such has Nobel Laureate Lee Yuan-tseh (
The plan-blue campaign followed suit, for continuing to campaign while Chen and Lu lay in hospital would have been a solecism too far for the nation's voters.
So far, so responsible. But there were less edifying aspects in some reactions as well. Some pan-blues were quick to try to paint the act as something performed by the DPP in desperation to try to win on a sympathy vote. This was not only as contemptible as anything we have got used to expecting from the pan-blues but it was also amazingly stupid. As the pan-blues, those masters of political deception, know, if you want to create an incident you have a man waving a gun shooting into nowhere. You do not shoot your leader in the stomach.
The irony of yesterday's events is perhaps to show that the ultimate danger to Taiwan is not, pace Chen, China's 500 missiles. Rather it is the vicious political climate in which bitter antagonism has become the norm, with extremism, and extremist violence, the inevitable result.
It is not unjust to accuse one political faction of exacerbating this atmosphere more than another; it is simply a statement of fact. The pan-blues have never been able to accept losing the 2000 election and losing power; they have been deliberately obstructive toward measures necessary for the health of the country, for no other reason than that they refuse to work with the DPP. They have not merely criticized the DPP and government as any opposition worth its salt has to do, but they have become masters of the libelous slur, often sexual in nature, against which an inadequate legal system gives no protection.
What has been fostered in fact is a cult of irrational opposition. It is also a cult of desperate opposition. The pan-blues have not told their followers that if they lose this time they will have another try in four years. They have said that it is now or never; today's vote is the last chance. It is matter of life or death. It certainly was at 1:45 yesterday afternoon.
Yesterday’s recall and referendum votes garnered mixed results for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). All seven of the KMT lawmakers up for a recall survived the vote, and by a convincing margin of, on average, 35 percent agreeing versus 65 percent disagreeing. However, the referendum sponsored by the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on restarting the operation of the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County failed. Despite three times more “yes” votes than “no,” voter turnout fell short of the threshold. The nation needs energy stability, especially with the complex international security situation and significant challenges regarding
Most countries are commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II with condemnations of militarism and imperialism, and commemoration of the global catastrophe wrought by the war. On the other hand, China is to hold a military parade. According to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency, Beijing is conducting the military parade in Tiananmen Square on Sept. 3 to “mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.” However, during World War II, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) had not yet been established. It
A recent critique of former British prime minister Boris Johnson’s speech in Taiwan (“Invite ‘will-bes,’ not has-beens,” by Sasha B. Chhabra, Aug. 12, page 8) seriously misinterpreted his remarks, twisting them to fit a preconceived narrative. As a Taiwanese who witnessed his political rise and fall firsthand while living in the UK and was present for his speech in Taipei, I have a unique vantage point from which to say I think the critiques of his visit deliberately misinterpreted his words. By dwelling on his personal controversies, they obscured the real substance of his message. A clarification is needed to
There is an old saying that if there is blood in the water, the sharks will come. In Taiwan’s case, that shark is China, circling, waiting for any sign of weakness to strike. Many thought the failed recall effort was that blood in the water, a signal for Beijing to press harder, but Taiwan’s democracy has just proven that China is mistaken. The recent recall campaign against 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators, many with openly pro-Beijing leanings, failed at the ballot box. While the challenge targeted opposition lawmakers rather than President William Lai (賴清德) himself, it became an indirect
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