Yesterday People First Party Secretary-General David Chung (
That the dream of a joint PFP-KMT bid for power has nearly evaporated should come as no surprise. From the very beginning, the opposition alliance had a very weak foundation for any kind of cooperation. The leaders of the New Party and PFP fled the KMT exactly because they found cohabitation so difficult. Had they not seen their vested interests squeezed by DPP rule, the three parties would probably have remained hostile to one other.
The "pan-blue camp" was grounded by opposition to common foes -- President Chen Shui-bian (
With its vast resources and organization, the KMT is the biggest party in the alliance. The New Party is struggling just to stay above the 5 percent vote threshold for political survival. The PFP looks impressive but it is little more than a political bubble -- all shiny surface and nothing inside: no money, no talent and no idea where its voters are. Both the New Party and the PFP want the KMT to share some of its resources; they would have better luck squeezing water from a stone. The KMT didn't get where it once was by helping others. (The last party to ally itself with the KMT was the Chinese Communist Party in the 1920s, and it was massacred for its miscalculation.)
For example, Chin Chin-sheng (
Cooperation within the opposition alliance is threefold: the local-level county commissioner/city mayor election campaign, the legislative election campaign, and a possible post-election coalition. Neither the PFP nor the New Party appear to have come up with any strong candidates for the local-level elections, but they are fielding anyone they can scrape up, just to create an election focus and to boost the campaigns of their legislative candidates. And all three parties are taking more pot shots at one other than they are targeting the DPP or the Taiwan Solidarity Union. For example, in an effort to stay above the 5 percent threshold, the New Party is nominating a large number of legislative candidates, but the PFP opposes the plan, saying this will hurt the overall success rate of the opposition alliance. Now both the KMT and PFP are accusing each other of having "green cancerous cells" within their collective brains, perhaps an allusion to accusations that pro-Lee elements are sabotaging the alliance.
The idea of cooperation in the local-level races has gone up in smoke. It's about to evaporate for the legislative elections. The reality is that the dream of a coalition is over -- but for the shouting.
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
The past few months have seen tremendous strides in India’s journey to develop a vibrant semiconductor and electronics ecosystem. The nation’s established prowess in information technology (IT) has earned it much-needed revenue and prestige across the globe. Now, through the convergence of engineering talent, supportive government policies, an expanding market and technologically adaptive entrepreneurship, India is striving to become part of global electronics and semiconductor supply chains. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision of “Make in India” and “Design in India” has been the guiding force behind the government’s incentive schemes that span skilling, design, fabrication, assembly, testing and packaging, and
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.