In 1990, Taiwanese society was shaken by the magnificent Wild Lily Student Movement (
Looking at the current student movement at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial in Taipei, only a few students are participating. Some of the leading students in the campaign are members of the pan-blue camp. But they did not make clear their political status at the beginning in order to present to the public an idea of their "neutrality." Some of their statements were quite similar to those of the pan-blue camp after the presidential election. Who would believe that these protesters are not pro-blue?
In particular, one of the campaign conveners, Chen Cheng-feng (
Today, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) are unwilling to accept but can do nothing about the election failure. So they use the students as an "amulet" while initiating the hunger strike in order to fulfill Lien's wish of regaining power.
Only a small number of students have taken part in the demonstrations and not many teachers have showed their support for the students either. The scale of the campaign is much smaller than that of the Wild Lily campaign. The differences between the two student movements are vast.
In fact, what interests us is why some local media have run page after page of reports about the campaign.
Both the United Daily News and the China Times have done so, with relatively more praise and less criticism. The manipulation behind their reports is clear: Their purpose is to infuse the pan-blue camp with the spirit of the Wild Lily Student Movement. The question is: Is it really necessary to cause a sensation like this over such a tiny group of people? Besides, the United Daily News has always emphasized the "proportional principle." Why has it ignored its principle this time?
Do the pan-blue camp and the pro-blue media really think that they can destroy Taiwan by initiating a student movement like this? They are pitiful and pathetic.
Chin Heng-wei is the editor in chief of Contemporary Monthly magazine.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
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