Fifty years of KMT corruption was what drove Taiwan's voters to opt for a new government in last year's presidential election. However, after just 10 months in office, the DPP government appears to have acquired many of the KMT's bad habits -- without that party's skill at concealment. The KMT's shrewd masters of chicanery must be sniggering into their tea cups as they watch the DPP's clumsy dabbling in their art.
News that the government may replace Wang Chung-yu
Being a "fledgling" democracy, Taiwan scarcely has any experience in large-scale personnel reshuffles -- but this is something it will gradually get used to. The DPP has already appointed Lai Kuo-chou
The previous KMT government appointed Wang, who has served as China Steel chairman for five years. The company has performed fairly well under his leadership, but few would find fault with a proposal to replace him -- as long as the company's board agrees to it. As a political appointee, Wang cannot complain about being replaced after a transition of power. What the public needs to watch for is the professional qualifications of his replacement. Political affiliation should be a secondary concern. The same is true with the upcoming board elections at Chinese Petroleum
Apart from professionalism, another important principle is legality. Jerome Chen
Recently however, Chen sent letters to bank depositors, urging them -- in his capacity as bank chairman -- to support Charles Chiang (江昭儀), a member of the bank's board and an Executive Yuan official, in the upcoming DPP primary. Chen's letter has drawn severe criticism from the Legislative Yuan.
Chen's misuse of bank funds to curry the favor of a superior is incompatible with a banker's professionalism. Whether Chen has violated the law by using client information for political purposes remains to be investigated. But he cannot excuse himself by saying such a misstep will never happen again. Such abuse of power is exactly why voters dumped the KMT last year. Government reforms and a crackdown on "black gold" politics have always been the DPP's rallying points. How can the party answer to its supporters if it condones such behavior?
Apart from professional skills and party affiliation, the DPP should also test its candidates on their knowledge of law the next time the party plans a personnel reshuffle. That might help halt the DPP's transformation from a party renowned for its political and social activism into laughing stock and byword for political ineptness.
Two sets of economic data released last week by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) have drawn mixed reactions from the public: One on the nation’s economic performance in the first quarter of the year and the other on Taiwan’s household wealth distribution in 2021. GDP growth for the first quarter was faster than expected, at 6.51 percent year-on-year, an acceleration from the previous quarter’s 4.93 percent and higher than the agency’s February estimate of 5.92 percent. It was also the highest growth since the second quarter of 2021, when the economy expanded 8.07 percent, DGBAS data showed. The growth
In the intricate ballet of geopolitics, names signify more than mere identification: They embody history, culture and sovereignty. The recent decision by China to refer to Arunachal Pradesh as “Tsang Nan” or South Tibet, and to rename Tibet as “Xizang,” is a strategic move that extends beyond cartography into the realm of diplomatic signaling. This op-ed explores the implications of these actions and India’s potential response. Names are potent symbols in international relations, encapsulating the essence of a nation’s stance on territorial disputes. China’s choice to rename regions within Indian territory is not merely a linguistic exercise, but a symbolic assertion
More than seven months into the armed conflict in Gaza, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the risk of genocide following a case brought by South Africa regarding Israel’s breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The international community, including Amnesty International, called for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to prevent further loss of civilian lives and to ensure access to life-saving aid. Several protests have been organized around the world, including at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and many other universities in the US.
Every day since Oct. 7 last year, the world has watched an unprecedented wave of violence rain down on Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories — more than 200 days of constant suffering and death in Gaza with just a seven-day pause. Many of us in the American expatriate community in Taiwan have been watching this tragedy unfold in horror. We know we are implicated with every US-made “dumb” bomb dropped on a civilian target and by the diplomatic cover our government gives to the Israeli government, which has only gotten more extreme with such impunity. Meantime, multicultural coalitions of US