Tail between his legs, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), a would-be dictator of Taiwan and two-time loser, is going to China to grovel before the dictator of China. Together they have been and will continue to plot against the free and independent, democratic government of Taiwan, all in the name of power. Power of China over democratic Taiwan, and dictatorship by Lien's KMT over Taiwan all over again.
If there was any doubt about what the KMT's intentions for Taiwan were, there should be none now. Lien, thinking he can fool all of the people all of the time, refers to his visit as a "journey of peace," but given China's ground rules for the meeting, it is actually a mission of surrender. Only if Lien accepts China's "one China" principle can he have access to the emperor's chamber, which he foolishly believes holds the key to his Taiwan kingdom.
When Lien met with Li Yuanchao (李源潮), the Communist Party chief of Jiangsu Province, Li made China's understanding of the purpose behind Lien's trip crystal clear. In honoring Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙), Li said the "people on the two sides" must "unite as one and together oppose and check the Taiwan independence forces."
Lien did not disagree.
Why would Lien do this? First, because he is a disappointed dictator, and lacking a dictatorship, he feels lost, without a purpose in life. Second, he understands that Taiwan does not want to be ruled by China -- least of all as a communist "province" -- so the only way he can hope to regain power for his KMT is to take it with China's help. One dictator helping another. On this trip home by Lien we will see "people helping people," as Dictator Hu "helps" Dictator Lien.
A dictator helping a dictator crush liberty and freedom, a traitor helping a traitor betray his people, a liar helping a liar lie to his people about his true intentions.
In Hong Kong, the head of the French Centre for Research on Contemporary China said that the trip will show the KMT is willing to meet with China and talk -- in contrast with Chen, who supposedly refuses to talk to China. That of course is the biggest lie of all.
Chen is more than willing to talk to Hu, but it is Hu who insists that China will not speak to Taiwan until it surrenders, until it agrees that it will never be independent, until Chen agrees to a meeting as a representative of a wayward "province."
Lien, on the other hand, has no problem agreeing to this. He believes strongly in Taiwan's surrender to China, and his trip is manifest proof of that. I wish him well on his return to China as a failed dictator, 59 years after he left. I also wish he would stay there. It would be fitting for him to now serve the Communists in China, as he has done these past eight years in Taiwan.
Lee Long-hwa
United States
Taiwan stands at the epicenter of a seismic shift that will determine the Indo-Pacific’s future security architecture. Whether deterrence prevails or collapses will reverberate far beyond the Taiwan Strait, fundamentally reshaping global power dynamics. The stakes could not be higher. Today, Taipei confronts an unprecedented convergence of threats from an increasingly muscular China that has intensified its multidimensional pressure campaign. Beijing’s strategy is comprehensive: military intimidation, diplomatic isolation, economic coercion, and sophisticated influence operations designed to fracture Taiwan’s democratic society from within. This challenge is magnified by Taiwan’s internal political divisions, which extend to fundamental questions about the island’s identity and future
The narrative surrounding Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attendance at last week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit — where he held hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin and chatted amiably with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — was widely framed as a signal of Modi distancing himself from the US and edging closer to regional autocrats. It was depicted as Modi reacting to the levying of high US tariffs, burying the hatchet over border disputes with China, and heralding less engagement with the Quadrilateral Security dialogue (Quad) composed of the US, India, Japan and Australia. With Modi in China for the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has postponed its chairperson candidate registration for two weeks, and so far, nine people have announced their intention to run for chairperson, the most on record, with more expected to announce their campaign in the final days. On the evening of Aug. 23, shortly after seven KMT lawmakers survived recall votes, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) announced he would step down and urged Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) to step in and lead the party back to power. Lu immediately ruled herself out the following day, leaving the subject in question. In the days that followed, several
The Jamestown Foundation last week published an article exposing Beijing’s oil rigs and other potential dual-use platforms in waters near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙島). China’s activities there resembled what they did in the East China Sea, inside the exclusive economic zones of Japan and South Korea, as well as with other South China Sea claimants. However, the most surprising element of the report was that the authors’ government contacts and Jamestown’s own evinced little awareness of China’s activities. That Beijing’s testing of Taiwanese (and its allies) situational awareness seemingly went unnoticed strongly suggests the need for more intelligence. Taiwan’s naval
RSS