Two days ago, the Taiwan High Court announced that the pan-blue camp had failed in their lawsuit challenging the validity of the March 20 presidential election. This is not the end of the issue, but rather the beginning of the final chapter.
The pan-blue camp had expected to lose its case, and in a press conference the day before the announcement, it had already set about limiting the damage. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
Naturally, Lien and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (
During the US presidential election in 2000, the US could have degenerated into the endless struggle that we now see in Taiwan. But Al Gore, even though he held a majority of the popular vote, conceded the election to avoid a constitutional crisis. This is the behavior of a statesman who has both political insight and an understanding of the law. This action avoided the catastrophe of a US president being put in power by judicial decision without opposition support.
Four years later, Senator John Kerry conceded defeat to avoid dividing the nation. In conceding defeat before the complete count of votes in Ohio, Kerry was putting the national interest first and showing that he was a true statesman. He also showed that what is important in democracy is not only the system, but the understanding and faith of political leaders in the democracy and the laws of the nation.
In Taiwan, the scope of the struggle over the election has expanded. As the parties that lost the election are unwilling to concede defeat, and have taken the issue to the courts and to the streets, Taiwan has achieved little of political importance since March. In the process, time and community resources have been squandered.
If we compare our elections with those in the US, we can see that America's democratic culture is significantly more mature than ours. We have not had America's luck, for we only have a Lien, rather than a Gore. Lien does not see things in terms of competition, but only as a battle to the death. The battle has been going on for a year now, and the defeat in the High Court is a skirmish before the fight for votes in next month's legislative elections. Only when one party falls on its sword will the battlefield be cleared. This is the nation's misfortune.
The High Court's judgment on the validity of the March 20 election is the first domino to fall in this drawn-out electoral race, but it is not hard to see that the chances of winning future verdicts in this case are minimal. As for the legal proceedings associated with the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Statute (三一九槍擊事件真調會條例), even a layman can see that numerous articles in the statute are unconstitutional. The pan-blue camp knows this, but proceeds regardless. As a result, it is now in danger of destroying the hopes of its parties in next month's legislative elections. If Lien and Soong were far-sighted statesmen, they would know that it was time to stop -- rather than make their own political parties and the whole nation the sacrificial victims of their self-destruction.
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,
RSS