Sometimes history is bizarre; sometimes it is ironic; and sometimes it is cruel. This is particularly true in the case of PFP Chairman James Soong (
Recently, Soong announced his "vision for Taiwan." Some people interpreted it as an announcement of his candidacy in next year's presidential election. Others thought it meant he was withdrawing from the race, and still others read it as a letter of surrender. In fact, they are all correct. Soong is running in the sense that he is willing to defer to Lien by becoming his running mate and making "KMT-PFP cooperation" a reality for the sake of giving Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) a real challenge.
He is withdrawing in the sense that he has expressed willingness to play second fiddle in the presidential election. The vice president has no influence on the big picture, so Soong's move could be called a withdrawal. He is surrendering in the sense that the PFP is a party that was formed to back Soong as a presidential candidate. Now Soong is pulling out of the race and deferring to Lien, so he is surrendering. PFP supporters point out that his statement is a letter of surrender because the commander-in-chief raised the white flag. Clearly, the pan-blue camp pushed aside the pro-Soong camp, or perhaps the pro-Soong camp's decision to disband of its own accord enabled the accomplishment of "KMT-PFP cooperation."
In plain terms, the reason why Soong is willing to compromise next year is that he knows his influence is waning. There is no way that Soong himself or the PFP alone could win. Even Lien and Soong combined won't necessarily be able to defeat Chen with ease. In 2000, when Soong was determined to drop all pretense of friendly relations with Lee Teng-hui (
In fact, Soong was wasting his energy when he used a 10,000-word statement to announce "KMT-PFP cooperation" and a joint Lien-Soong ticket. What need is there for so many words to announce that he will play the supporting role? To quote Laozi, "words are weak."
Soong is indeed weak. In 2000, a reporter asked him, "Will you team up with Lien or not?" At the time, Soong replied with a simple question of his own, saying "I would only team up with Lien in order to win, but could a joint Lien-Soong ticket really win?"
He went on to answer his own question. "First, in a presidential election, the chief comes first, and his assistants ultimately play only a backup role. Second, if a joint Lien-Soong ticket fails to help the KMT reform its `black gold' politics ways, which the public can no longer tolerate, what meaning does such a pairing have except for the success or failure of a particular administration or individual?"
Even more interestingly, Soong also added, "If a politician's sense of mission is so simple that it changes to suit a particular distribution of power, can it still be called a sense of mission?" Soong has also said, "victory is only a low-level consideration." The original drafts of these speeches are all available for reference.
Comparing the speeches of 2000 with the 10,000-word statement of 2004, aren't Soong's basic points pretty much the same -- i.e. is the point of the joint Lien-Soong ticket purely to defeat Chen Shui-bian, will a Lien-Soong joint ticket necessarily mean victory, and after cooperating and beating Chen Shui-bian, then what?
It's just that Soong used exactly the same rhetorical questions to argue against a joint ticket in 2000 and to argue for a joint ticket next year. Soong can't make his statements sound plausible and has made no headway as a leader. Not moving forward means moving backward.
No wonder Soong accepted second place.
Chin Heng-wei is editor-in-chief of Contemporary Monthly magazine.
Translated by Ethan Harkness
Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) led a bipartisan delegation to Taiwan in late February. During their various meetings with Taiwan’s leaders, this delegation never missed an opportunity to emphasize the strength of their cross-party consensus on issues relating to Taiwan and China. Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi are leaders of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Their instruction upon taking the reins of the committee was to preserve China issues as a last bastion of bipartisanship in an otherwise deeply divided Washington. They have largely upheld their pledge. But in doing so, they have performed the
It is well known that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) ambition is to rejuvenate the Chinese nation by unification of Taiwan, either peacefully or by force. The peaceful option has virtually gone out of the window with the last presidential elections in Taiwan. Taiwanese, especially the youth, are resolved not to be part of China. With time, this resolve has grown politically stronger. It leaves China with reunification by force as the default option. Everyone tells me how and when mighty China would invade and overpower tiny Taiwan. However, I have rarely been told that Taiwan could be defended to
It should have been Maestro’s night. It is hard to envision a film more Oscar-friendly than Bradley Cooper’s exploration of the life and loves of famed conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein. It was a prestige biopic, a longtime route to acting trophies and more (see Darkest Hour, Lincoln, and Milk). The film was a music biopic, a subgenre with an even richer history of award-winning films such as Ray, Walk the Line and Bohemian Rhapsody. What is more, it was the passion project of cowriter, producer, director and actor Bradley Cooper. That is the kind of multitasking -for-his-art overachievement that Oscar
Chinese villages are being built in the disputed zone between Bhutan and China. Last month, Chinese settlers, holding photographs of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), moved into their new homes on land that was not Xi’s to give. These residents are part of the Chinese government’s resettlement program, relocating Tibetan families into the territory China claims. China shares land borders with 15 countries and sea borders with eight, and is involved in many disputes. Land disputes include the ones with Bhutan (Doklam plateau), India (Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin) and Nepal (near Dolakha and Solukhumbu districts). Maritime disputes in the South China