A host of social problems arose before and after last month's presidential election. The greatest disappointment was the behavior of politicians and the media. With their usual sloppiness and irresponsible behavior, they kept repeating statements that have since been proven to be completely wrong. This destroyed the public's fundamental trust, and as a result people now show less friendship for each other. This further reinforces public distrust of politicians' statements and media reports. This damage to social relationships is a far more serious problem than the ethnic issue that everyone is talking about.
Taiwan enjoys freedom of expression, but that does not mean that legislators, party officials and media organizations have a legal right to cheat the public. In recent months, however, we have seen politicians and some media organizations collude to support one side in the election. Party officials and even wanted criminals have issued completely groundless information, which in turn has been given coverage by media organizations. The most frightening developments in this vicious election were probably the open letters published by Chen Yu-hao (
If all of these accusations were true, why did the attacks against the green camp end with the campaign? Looking back, the incident seems to have been planned by certain political forces as a political tool with which to attack President Chen Shui-bian (
These reporters didn't verify the allegations or question their credibility as professionalism demands. These media cannot say today that they also were victims of the Chen Yu-hao incident. They were blinded by their political opinions and decided to dance to his magic flute, and abandoned professionalism to help this scoundrel achieve his goal.
During the conflicts following the election, although a recount has yet to carried out, opposition leaders have flippantly lashed out at the president, accusing him of vote-rigging and cheating the nation. If the recount results verify the blue camp's defeat, how are these critics going to face the public they divided with their misleading propaganda?
The inquiries into the shooting of the president and Vice President Annette Lu (
Without evidence, politicians and media must not repeatedly spread suspicion. Moreover, media organizations should not only disseminate information; they also should enable their audiences to evaluate the accuracy of the information they provide. Taiwan's lawmakers, party leaders and media are all responsible for doing their duties in a moral, legal and professional manner. If they weren't, they would destroy democracy.
In the US’ National Security Strategy (NSS) report released last month, US President Donald Trump offered his interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine. The “Trump Corollary,” presented on page 15, is a distinctly aggressive rebranding of the more than 200-year-old foreign policy position. Beyond reasserting the sovereignty of the western hemisphere against foreign intervention, the document centers on energy and strategic assets, and attempts to redraw the map of the geopolitical landscape more broadly. It is clear that Trump no longer sees the western hemisphere as a peaceful backyard, but rather as the frontier of a new Cold War. In particular,
As the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) races toward its 2027 modernization goals, most analysts fixate on ship counts, missile ranges and artificial intelligence. Those metrics matter — but they obscure a deeper vulnerability. The true future of the PLA, and by extension Taiwan’s security, might hinge less on hardware than on whether the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) can preserve ideological loyalty inside its own armed forces. Iran’s 1979 revolution demonstrated how even a technologically advanced military can collapse when the social environment surrounding it shifts. That lesson has renewed relevance as fresh unrest shakes Iran today — and it should
When it became clear that the world was entering a new era with a radical change in the US’ global stance in US President Donald Trump’s second term, many in Taiwan were concerned about what this meant for the nation’s defense against China. Instability and disruption are dangerous. Chaos introduces unknowns. There was a sense that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) might have a point with its tendency not to trust the US. The world order is certainly changing, but concerns about the implications for Taiwan of this disruption left many blind to how the same forces might also weaken
On today’s page, Masahiro Matsumura, a professor of international politics and national security at St Andrew’s University in Osaka, questions the viability and advisability of the government’s proposed “T-Dome” missile defense system. Matsumura writes that Taiwan’s military budget would be better allocated elsewhere, and cautions against the temptation to allow politics to trump strategic sense. What he does not do is question whether Taiwan needs to increase its defense capabilities. “Given the accelerating pace of Beijing’s military buildup and political coercion ... [Taiwan] cannot afford inaction,” he writes. A rational, robust debate over the specifics, not the scale or the necessity,
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