President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) is being sworn in today to his second term as president. Today also marks the fourth anniversary of the end of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) one-party dictatorship.
Following this year's presidential election, despite some unrest, society managed to maintain order, with people of every walk of life going about their business and the economy gradually recovering.
China still continues its suppression of Taiwan. A few days ago, Beijing issued a threatening statement accusing Chen of moving toward independence by planning to draft a new constitution.
The US, however, showed its commitment to cross-strait security by sending the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk to patrol the waters off the Philippines and by warning China not to make any reckless moves.
Taiwan is thankful for what the US has done. Although Taiwan-US relations were put to the test during the presidential election due to Chen's insistence on holding a referendum, the friendship between the two countries will endure, in view of shared democratic values and the firm support the US has offered over the years. Taiwan cherishes this friendship and looks forward to more solid relations.
It is to be hoped that people from both the ruling and opposition parties will offer a loyal critique of Chen's performance during his second term, and uphold stricter standards.
Chen did not win an outright majority of the vote in the 2000 election -- and the opposition remained in control of the legislature -- so Chen constantly ran into obstructionism on the part of the opposition parties. Things were made worse by the fact that Chen was a new hand at governing the nation and that he had to overcome the burdens of decades of KMT "black gold" policies.
However, this time Chen won the support of a majority of voters, making this victory more important than the one four years ago. He now has four years' experience and his government is no longer a new government. He is thus responsible for the success or failure of his policies.
This newspaper, as a public institution, will therefore act as a social conscience, and not only encourage Chen but also criticize him when appropriate.
In a two-party democracy, the ruling party and the opposition are both bound by responsibilities: The ruling party cannot be arrogant and the opposition cannot avoid responsibility because it's in the minority.
These duties are inescapable, which means that in the event of a national or social crisis, the ruling party is duty-bound to eliminate the crisis. Opposition parties cannot escape responsibility for cooperating with the government to solve a crisis simply because they are not in a ruling position. This is the true sense of mature party politics.
Unfortunately, in the ethnic confrontation triggered by differing opinions about national identity, the KMT and the People First Party (PFP) have been unwilling to bear their responsibilities. They created conflict following the election, trying to push the nation into long-term turmoil to gain political benefit.
The opposition camp has long served as a tool of China, echoing Beijing's stance on the cross-strait issue. The KMT's pro-localization faction has called for party reforms, and many have suggested that the word "Chinese" be eliminated from the party's name. However, KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
The KMT's Central Standing Committee yesterday passed a proposal for a merger with the PFP. According to the plan, the party's name will remain the "Chinese Nationalist Party" after the merger. Party reform is absent from the plan -- one sees only Lien and PFP Chairman James Soong (
There is much evidence that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is sending soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and is learning lessons for a future war against Taiwan. Until now, the CCP has claimed that they have not sent PLA personnel to support Russian aggression. On 18 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskiy announced that the CCP is supplying war supplies such as gunpowder, artillery, and weapons subcomponents to Russia. When Zelinskiy announced on 9 April that the Ukrainian Army had captured two Chinese nationals fighting with Russians on the front line with details
On a quiet lane in Taipei’s central Daan District (大安), an otherwise unremarkable high-rise is marked by a police guard and a tawdry A4 printout from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicating an “embassy area.” Keen observers would see the emblem of the Holy See, one of Taiwan’s 12 so-called “diplomatic allies.” Unlike Taipei’s other embassies and quasi-consulates, no national flag flies there, nor is there a plaque indicating what country’s embassy this is. Visitors hoping to sign a condolence book for the late Pope Francis would instead have to visit the Italian Trade Office, adjacent to Taipei 101. The death of
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), joined by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), held a protest on Saturday on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei. They were essentially standing for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is anxious about the mass recall campaign against KMT legislators. President William Lai (賴清德) said that if the opposition parties truly wanted to fight dictatorship, they should do so in Tiananmen Square — and at the very least, refrain from groveling to Chinese officials during their visits to China, alluding to meetings between KMT members and Chinese authorities. Now that China has been defined as a foreign hostile force,
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