Since the March election we have become used to interpreting everything the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) says through the filter of Orwellian 1984-style doublespeak -- "war is peace," that sort of thing.
Take KMT Chairman Lien Chan's (
This "don't read my lips" interpretation has recently had heavy usage. For example, readers might remember how in the election's immediate aftermath the riots were predictably called "peaceful protests" by "dissatisfied voters" who actually were blue rent-a-mobs.
We were told that it was of the utmost urgency to speed the recount, so urgent that declaration of a state of emergency was suggested. What this was shown to mean was that the pan-blues would try every gambit they could find to drag their feet on getting the recount under way, even down to the world's richest political party saying it could not afford the NT$60 million bond it had to hand over to the court to make sure it wouldn't default on the case's cost if it were required to pay.
We were told that the pan-blues were only interested in fairness, meaning that they were not interested in fairness but only in making sure that their patrician "right to rule" went unchallenged by the democratic hoi polloi. We were told they wanted to "get to the truth" of the March 19 shooting, only to find out quite clearly that this meant "to believe any wacky conspiracy theory, even in the face of the evidence provided by the specialist whom we ourselves insisted investigate the case."
KMT doublespeak reached its apogee at the inaug-uration. The slogan, remember, was "Taiwan, we continue to move forward," which really meant "We want to go back to the Chiang family dictatorship." In his speech at the pan-blue rally that day, Lien told supporters: "What we care about here is not winning or losing, but about right and wrong," which in Lien-speak means his right to be president and the wrong of anybody else's having the job.
Lien also said he would work to integrate the pan-blues "as one big family," which means that by merging the KMT with the People First Party (PFP) he could keep his job by plying on the widespread loathing in the KMT for the man who would take over if he were toppled: PFP Chairman James "Chung-hsing Bills" Soong (宋「興票」楚瑜). And we were told that the pan-blue meeting was a spontaneous rally of supporters, and of course found that many KMT members only attended because they were ordered to.
So far the "understand the opposite of what is said"tactic has served us well. Even on Saturday, as the party claimed that it had no intention of trying to kick out pro-localization members, we understood that this was exactly what Lien and the KMT leadership had in mind, egged on by the anti-localization PFP.
How then are we to interpret Saturday's remarks by spokeswoman Kuo Su-chun (
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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