We may have to wait for a few days before the winner of the US presidential election is officially announced; a situation that brings back memories of 2000's interminable wrangling. However, the ending of the controversy between George W. Bush and Al Gore in 2000 made us confident in US democracy in that the losing side had the grace to accept that loss as part of the process of the rule of law and abide by it, controversial though it was.
Today, the Taiwan High Court will deliver its verdict in the lawsuit challenging the results of our own presidential election. On the eve of the verdict, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
But let's leave Lien's insanity aside. The reason the whole world paid attention to the outcome of the US election is that the US is the only remaining super-power and that it still assumes the role of policing the world. The re-elected Bush will thus influence global conflict and instability over the next four years. Allies of the US have high hopes for the Bush administration in its second term, while its enemies are watching it with covetous eyes. Given the US' position as the world's perceived democratic benchmark, dictatorships across the globe must to a certain extent view the election as a joke and hope that something will go wrong -- such as civil unrest, irregularities or vote rigging. Such scenarios would make every criticism directed at democracy by the world's dictators seem legitimate.
Regardless of what happens, the US is one of the world's oldest democracies. The lesson the world can learn from election lies in its electoral culture; how a stable, mature two-party political system works, the media's role in the electoral process and the accuracy of opinion polls and voter behavior. Research into these issues will become the foundation of political science theory around the world.
As an ally of the US, Taiwan is surely interested in the re-election of Bush. We are not concerned about the possibility of the Bush administration shifting its Taiwan policy. After all, the US is already a mature democracy. Taiwan-US relations have steadily developed on the basis of a long-term friendship. Although there were some ups and downs in the past, Taiwan-US relations are unlikely to alter unless a drastic change takes place across the Taiwan Strait.
We are concerned about the election because Taiwan-US relations are complex. We hope that post-election legal squabbling will not damage the image of US democracy. An incident-free outcome will help Taiwan and the US continue to boost their bilateral exchanges. Taipei needs to get on with talking to Washington about the proposed arms procurement plan, as well as our efforts to enter the World Health Organization and other international bodies.
As vote counting trickled in yesterday, people in this country were on edge -- as if we are participating in the election ourselves -- because Taiwan and the US are partners.
Finally, we hope that the blue camp and Beijing will be inspired by the democratic spirit of this election. If they can be inspired, the value of democratic elections will be impervious to criticism.
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
Ahead of US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) meeting today on the sidelines of the APEC summit in South Korea, an op-ed published in Time magazine last week maliciously called President William Lai (賴清德) a “reckless leader,” stirring skepticism in Taiwan about the US and fueling unease over the Trump-Xi talks. In line with his frequent criticism of the democratically elected ruling Democratic Progressive Party — which has stood up to China’s hostile military maneuvers and rejected Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework — Lyle Goldstein, Asia engagement director at the US think tank Defense Priorities, called
A large majority of Taiwanese favor strengthening national defense and oppose unification with China, according to the results of a survey by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC). In the poll, 81.8 percent of respondents disagreed with Beijing’s claim that “there is only one China and Taiwan is part of China,” MAC Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference on Thursday last week, adding that about 75 percent supported the creation of a “T-Dome” air defense system. President William Lai (賴清德) referred to such a system in his Double Ten National Day address, saying it would integrate air defenses into a
The central bank has launched a redesign of the New Taiwan dollar banknotes, prompting questions from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators — “Are we not promoting digital payments? Why spend NT$5 billion on a redesign?” Many assume that cash will disappear in the digital age, but they forget that it represents the ultimate trust in the system. Banknotes do not become obsolete, they do not crash, they cannot be frozen and they leave no record of transactions. They remain the cleanest means of exchange in a free society. In a fully digitized world, every purchase, donation and action leaves behind data.
RSS