In the KMT's frantic pursuit of a political comeback, it has shown its craving for power with the so-called "pan-blue camp's" election integration in Taipei County. Seeing its political market value sliding quickly, the KMT has chosen to cooperate with the New Party, a party that is itself on the brink of collapsing. Now that the KMT has placed its own interests before those of the entire nation and teamed up with what can only be described as Beijing's mouthpiece in Taiwan, the former powerhouse is destined to implode.
Having lost is stranglehold on power, the KMT seems to have turned a blind eye to everything except its desperate desire to grab it back. Such a craving is comparable to Faust's, who sold his soul to Mephistopheles for a short-lived enjoyment of power. After the December election, the KMT is sure to become an empty shell, a scarecrow left to rot in the field. It would be hard for the KMT not to rot in the rain and sun.
In the decade of former president Lee Teng-hui's (
It has been quite a surprise to see the out-of-power KMT team up with an ultra pro-unification party. The KMT has deliberately tried to distance itself from Lee's path of localization and reforms, and to kill the "Taiwan first" spirit. As a result, it is hemorrhaging its energetic young elite and the momentum for political reform.
Controlled by just a handful of people, the KMT has been cooperating with other parties without its central standing committee passing any resolution on the issues. It has also used double standards against Lee, criticizing him for supporting the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) and continuing to make noises about "disciplining" him for his alleged aberrations -- yet it allows Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
The KMT has chosen to attack and suppress the TSU, a party that stresses the "Taiwan first" policy and political stability, and yet gives special treatment to the New Party, which supports unification with China as soon as possible. Apparently, the KMT is tumbling farther away from Taiwan's majority public opinion by the day. The chances for its return to power are also slimming by the day.
The KMT is just like coffee gone stale: it smells bad and tastes bad. Those who have stayed in the party are only there to get its funding for the year-end elections -- anywhere from NT$30 million to NT$80 million. Everything is merely an exchange of interests. No politician is hanging on because he or she truly sympathizes with the KMT's platform.
If the government can successfully crack down on the usual large-scale vote-buying that goes on with every election, the KMT will be hampered in its efforts to attract voters. By abandoning Lee's localization policy and teaming up with a pro-unification party, the KMT has dug its own grave.
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations