In a recent interview with the Washington Post, President Chen Shui-bian (
Are the KMT and PFP really angry or are they faking it? The Constitution endows the president with immunity from criminal prosecution, so such a lawsuit seems aimed at attracting media attention rather than legal retribution. Are the KMT and the PFP seriously alleging the president should bear criminal responsibility for his comments?
Responding to news of the lawsuit, Chen Chien-ming (
The KMT and the PFP have frequently defamed former president Lee Teng-hui (
There are two other adages that come to mind as the pan-blue camp totters around trying to look hurt and offended. The first adage is the truth hurts. To paraphrase the second adage -- if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's Beijing's duck.
Chen's remarks were simply a reiteration of something that is widely known. The people of Taiwan have watched as the KMT and the PFP acted as if they were walking the same road with China's government, despite the denials from both parties. The KMT's "one China" stance is not only in line with Beijing's policy, but the party has repeatedly claimed that China and Taiwan did reach a consensus during the Koo-Wang talks in 1992.
Despite the party's efforts at cosmetic surgery over the past decade, this is basically the same group that ran the Chiang Kai-shek (
Meanwhile, the PFP basically accepts China's "one country, two systems." Soong and his followers are apparently untroubled by Hong Kong's dramatic decline under such a format. Why should the people of Taiwan be willing to see their country turned into a special administrative region of China, given the fate of the people of Hong Kong and Macau?
Because the KMT's and PFP's cross-strait policies fit perfectly into Beijing's fraudulent claims to sovereignty over Taiwan, the parties have attracted support from China -- both covert and overt -- in stonewalling the government's reform efforts. Beijing's rejection of the government's "small three links" policy is a prime example.
If the KMT and the PFP feel uncomfortable being reminded how much they parrot China's policies, then they should not toady up to Beijing. More importantly, they must prove -- by action, not just words -- that they are on the side of the Taiwanese people. This would spare them from more "hurtful" accusations.
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
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