Lien Chan's (連戰) behavior over the weekend illustrates quite vividly why large swathes of the population now call him Lien Dai (
Lien appears to think that since Chen is so keen on independence, if he "had the guts" he would hold a referendum on it. What nonsense. Nobody wants a referendum on this topic and to do so might even spark war with China. So Lien is basically advocating a policy which could lead to war, just to show off his machismo.
Lien has once again demonstrated the total incoherence of his thinking. After all, Chen promised not to hold a referendum on this topic. So Lien is criticizing Chen for keeping his promise. He has also managed to give Chen an excellent opportunity to point out the current limits of the Referendum Law (
Not that Lien bothers much about the law any more -- and why should he? For four years his party has been conspiring with China to sell out Taiwan. Since March he has been involved in trying to overthrow the nation's democracy through both civil and military insurrection. Men have been labeled traitors and hanged for doing much less than Lien. If Chen "had the guts," he would prosecute Lien for treason.
But perhaps it's rather like having a mad beggar who hangs around making a nuisance of himself in your lane. You know quite well that a little intimidation will get him to clear off, but his condition is so wretched that you feel to use such tactics would make yourself contemptible.
But obviously for Chen there are more than moral considerations here. Lien is the best possible reason anyone could have to not vote for the pan-blues. If there are any wavering voters out there, all they have to do is look at the absolutely shambolic poltroon, incapable of logical or even rational thought, whose "leadership" has produced the vacuum that is the KMT's election strategy -- and whose denial of reality shows a clear need for serious psychological help.
Lien's antics can only help the pan-greens. But what does not help them are Chen's own. Last week he accused the pan-blues of trying to arrange a "soft coup." Those who have been identified, or identified themselves as the ringleaders of this alleged coup attempt have categorically denied that any such thing took place. Chen has said he has iron-clad evidence, but has not revealed any of it. By not doing so he risks being castigated for making the same groundless allegations that have always been a speciality of the pan-blues.
Those who believe that Chen has the goods have rationalized the wait over the last week by saying that Chen has been leading the blues further and further into denial so he can utterly destroy their credibility when he does release the evidence. We would like to believe this is true.
But we are worried. If Chen is waiting for the pan-blues to dig their own grave, then surely they have dug deep enough. This accusation is not just stupidity akin to the pan-blues' "bulletgate" nonsense. It calls into question something fundamental: whether the opposition is prepared to play by the rules of constitutional government. We need to see Chen's evidence and we need to see it now.
A failure by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to respond to Israel’s brilliant 12-day (June 12-23) bombing and special operations war against Iran, topped by US President Donald Trump’s ordering the June 21 bombing of Iranian deep underground nuclear weapons fuel processing sites, has been noted by some as demonstrating a profound lack of resolve, even “impotence,” by China. However, this would be a dangerous underestimation of CCP ambitions and its broader and more profound military response to the Trump Administration — a challenge that includes an acceleration of its strategies to assist nuclear proxy states, and developing a wide array
Eating at a breakfast shop the other day, I turned to an old man sitting at the table next to mine. “Hey, did you hear that the Legislative Yuan passed a bill to give everyone NT$10,000 [US$340]?” I said, pointing to a newspaper headline. The old man cursed, then said: “Yeah, the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] canceled the NT$100 billion subsidy for Taiwan Power Co and announced they would give everyone NT$10,000 instead. “Nice. Now they are saying that if electricity prices go up, we can just use that cash to pay for it,” he said. “I have no time for drivel like
Twenty-four Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers are facing recall votes on Saturday, prompting nearly all KMT officials and lawmakers to rally their supporters over the past weekend, urging them to vote “no” in a bid to retain their seats and preserve the KMT’s majority in the Legislative Yuan. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which had largely kept its distance from the civic recall campaigns, earlier this month instructed its officials and staff to support the recall groups in a final push to protect the nation. The justification for the recalls has increasingly been framed as a “resistance” movement against China and
Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) reportedly told the EU’s top diplomat that China does not want Russia to lose in Ukraine, because the US could shift its focus to countering Beijing. Wang made the comment while meeting with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas on July 2 at the 13th China-EU High-Level Strategic Dialogue in Brussels, the South China Morning Post and CNN reported. Although contrary to China’s claim of neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, such a frank remark suggests Beijing might prefer a protracted war to keep the US from focusing on
RSS