People First Party (PFP) lawmakers leveled some disgraceful accusations on Wednesday: they alleged, without providing evidence, that not only had President Chen Shui-bian (
Just when voters thought that the nation's legislators had hit rock bottom with their distasteful campaign shtick, the PFP has managed to do one better. But should anyone be surprised, given that the PFP has been rapidly moving to the very extreme of the political spectrum? They had, after all, incited their supporters and a number of gangsters to launch attacks on the Presidential Office and a Kaohsiung court after the presidential election, dashing any pretence of moderation on their part.
These last four years, PFP legislators have been able to bask in the glow of PFP Chairman James Soong (
The accusations, it turns out, came from a radio program hosted by former New Party stalwart and media mogul Jaw Shaw-kong (
What does it say about the credibility of Jaw that he would lend weight to media reports from China, where journalism largely serves as a mouthpiece for the government and where Chen is labeled a traitor for advocating Taiwanese independence? If Jaw's idea of fact-checking is searching Google, then nothing complimentary can be said about him or his organization.
Why did they not check with those who, according to the story, had personally witnessed Moscoso show off the alleged check? Why did they not attempt to locate the check itself? Bent on exposing their own Watergate, these "journalists" don't seem to know or care that investigative journalism is a hard slog -- as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein discovered investigating a head of state and his aides.
On Wednesday, Presidential Office Secretary-General Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said legal action would be taken against those who made the accusations. This is an option that should never be exercised vindictively, but in this instance, it is perfectly warranted. Otherwise, unless Jaw and the PFP retract their accusations and apologize, the dignity of the office of the president and that of Taiwan's allies will have been trashed.
As strategic tensions escalate across the vast Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as more than a potential flashpoint. It is the fulcrum upon which the credibility of the evolving American-led strategy of integrated deterrence now rests. How the US and regional powers like Japan respond to Taiwan’s defense, and how credible the deterrent against Chinese aggression proves to be, will profoundly shape the Indo-Pacific security architecture for years to come. A successful defense of Taiwan through strengthened deterrence in the Indo-Pacific would enhance the credibility of the US-led alliance system and underpin America’s global preeminence, while a failure of integrated deterrence would
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
On Wednesday last week, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) asserting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) territorial claim over Taiwan effective 1945, predicated upon instruments such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation. The article further contended that this de jure and de facto status was subsequently reaffirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly issued a statement categorically repudiating these assertions. In addition to the reasons put forward by the ministry, I believe that China’s assertions are open to questions in international
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of
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