President Chen Shui-bian's (
With such a legal foundation, the commission would be able to recount the votes at an early date, eliminating the need for a time-consuming judicial process. Such a move could help not only bring an end to the pan-blue-camp protests, but also eliminate the possibility of the problem reoccuring.
As for the other pan-blue complaints -- such as the questions about the timing of the shooting of Chen and Vice President Annette Lu (
Opposition politicians should stop trying to foment unrest by spreading rumor and innuendo and stirring the already intense emotions of the crowds that have protested in front of the Presidential Office since Saturday. They should be willing to resort to legal means to resolve their complaints. Otherwise, pan-green supporters may also demand a recount of ballots and file suit to annul the results if they were to lose the next election. Such actions would turn every presidential election into a farce and lead to serious political instability. This can surely not be the true purpose of turning Taiwan into a democracy.
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
If people demonstrate without the government's permission they are violating the law. Such illegal behavior cannot be legalized days later by the organizers asking for permission. With his legal background, Ma should know better than most that such post facto legitimation violates logic and convention. His actions make it seem as if he places the interests of the KMT before the dignity of the law. He should place his responsibilities as mayor above those of pan-blue alliance campaign manager and end the protest as soon as possible.
The pan-blue demonstrators' demand for a recount, however, is reasonable given the narrow margin of victory. With Chen already having given his consent and the Legislative Yuan having begun negotiations to pass the needed amendment, hopefully a recount procedure can be organized in the next few days.
What is not reasonable is the demand by KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
That the pan-blues should feel comfortable trying to return Taiwan to martial law should come as no surprise. It should also be no surprise that Chen and other members of the Democratic Progressive Party, who spent a large part of their lives fighting the KMT's autocratic rule, are not willing to see a return to such tactics and want the rule of law to prevail.
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
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
Taiwan’s labor force participation rate among people aged 65 or older was only 9.9 percent for 2023 — far lower than in other advanced countries, Ministry of Labor data showed. The rate is 38.3 percent in South Korea, 25.7 percent in Japan and 31.5 percent in Singapore. On the surface, it might look good that more older adults in Taiwan can retire, but in reality, it reflects policies that make it difficult for elderly people to participate in the labor market. Most workplaces lack age-friendly environments, and few offer retraining programs or flexible job arrangements for employees older than 55. As
Donald Trump’s return to the White House has offered Taiwan a paradoxical mix of reassurance and risk. Trump’s visceral hostility toward China could reinforce deterrence in the Taiwan Strait. Yet his disdain for alliances and penchant for transactional bargaining threaten to erode what Taiwan needs most: a reliable US commitment. Taiwan’s security depends less on US power than on US reliability, but Trump is undermining the latter. Deterrence without credibility is a hollow shield. Trump’s China policy in his second term has oscillated wildly between confrontation and conciliation. One day, he threatens Beijing with “massive” tariffs and calls China America’s “greatest geopolitical
RSS