Unsurprisingly, the High Court yesterday rejected the second lawsuit filed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
The ruling on Lien and Soong's first lawsuit, in which the two sought to annul the presidential election itself, also rejected their claims. As Lien and Soong had immediately appealed against that ruling, it is expected that they will also lodge an appeal against the latest ruling.
The question that Lien and Soong must ask themselves is this: What is the purpose of clinging to their grudges and hatred left over from the presidential election by going through the motions of filing these appeals when they know perfectly well that they have no chance of winning? Is it to save face or give Lien a reason to hang on as KMT chairman?
The fact that the pan-blue camp barely managed to hold on to a legislative majority in the Dec. 11 elections has somewhat saved the pair from further disgrace -- although they had the pan-greens' obsession with vote-allocation to thank for that. Moreover, people had pretty much accepted the fact that Lien will exit and bow out only when and if he feels like it -- which may be never.
Now that the legislative elections are over, there is no need to worry about potential negative impact on voter support. What could be a better time to let the curtain fall on the soap opera surrounding the presidential election?
Except for a small number of conservative and radical pan-blue supporters, people have gotten so bored with these lawsuits, it would be extremely inhumane to force them to serve as spectators any longer. After more than seven months of litigation, with the KMT and the PFP unable to present a shred of credible evidence to prove any illegalities in the presidential election, and after a complete recount of all the ballots failed to reveal a significant discrepancy in the number of votes garnered by each side, it is time to end the farce.
Conceding defeat shouldn't be such a difficult thing. Just learn from Chen: After leading his party through a series of election wins since 2000, the failure of the pan-greens to garner a legislative majority must have been difficult to accept. Some people came to Chen's defense, arguing that the DPP did not really suffer a defeat, since it still holds more legislative seats than any other party and in fact garnered two additional seats. However, Chen has nevertheless candidly conceded defeat by taking responsibility for the pan-greens' failure to achieve a legislative majority. To demonstrate that he is not just engaging in empty rhetoric, Chen has resigned as Democratic Progressive Party chairman.
It is most unfortunate for Ukraine that, after the revote in the second round of its presidential election, the third round of voting this year, the defeated Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych is still unwilling to concede defeat and that the controversies will continue to unsettle the country and challenge its political democracy. Hopefully the fate of Taiwan will be different -- if Lien and Soong can finally accept their defeat and move on.
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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