Since the presidential election, the defeated candidates -- Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
Although these political voices are getting weaker, they certainly have received ample attention and recognition from part of society. We can see several ethnic factors behind these phenomena, but I think we should give more consideration to the remaining reasons these people wish for a "restoration of the old power."
This phrase refers to the forces remaining from the anti-democratic, anti-localization government that brutally enforced martial-law rule under presidents Chiang Kai-shek (
These remnant forces have held their positions and power within public institutions and major unificationist media organizations, and they escaped reform during the presidency of Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). Indeed, they went from bad to worse during President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水賓) first term, and tried to use the recent presidential election to grab a new hold on power and return to the palace of illusions maintained under the two Chiangs.
Lien made his view of history clear prior to the presidential election by wiping from the pages of KMT party history its 12 years under Lee's leadership. The way Lien crudely deleted history and regressed to idealizing the time of the two Chiangs showed his imperial aspirations and brought to light his wish to restore the old power.
What was the Chiang era like? Chiang Kai-shek created a legend aimed at deceiving the public. He declared that the Chinese communists had "stolen" China, and that he was on a holy mission to lead us all in a counterattack on China and on its communist leadership to restore the motherland. This sounds very much like Lien and Soong.
In fact, the corrupt KMT had lost the war and run off to Taiwan, soundly beaten by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). But Chiang did not allow anyone to say that he had "lost the war." "Retreat" even had to be called "backwards advance."
Today, as people following the presidential election blame Lien and Soong for being sore losers, the unificationist United Daily News says that it's not a matter of them being sore losers -- but rather of Chen being a "sore winner"! This is but a new version of the old "backwards advance" and will be laughed at by future generations.
Lien and Soong's statements that "the presidential election isn't over yet," "Chen has stolen the nation," "Chen isn't elected yet" or "the election is invalid" and other such talk sound like Chiang saying that the CCP had stolen China and his promises to launch a counterattack.
When we look back at Chiang's words of 50 years ago, we may feel that his attack on China sounds ridiculous, but at the time, few people in Taiwan dared air any doubts -- Lei Chen [
Under the vicious restrictions of martial law, society entered a political limbo where every statement was met with blind, unquestioning belief. Maybe Lien and Soong believe they possess Chiang's powers to enforce such blind credulity.
Lien and Soong echo Chiang's dictates: Where he insisted that the enemy must be destroyed and that a communist China must never be recognized, they maintain their refusals to accept that Chen was re-elected.
I find this denial tragic, but in the eyes of those believing in a restoration of the old power, this fabrication holds a certain degree of attraction.
Chiang's believers professed certainty that he would launch a counterattack on China; it has even been reported that some of Chiang's generals tried to commit suicide when they became convinced that a counterattack was only a dream.
But Lien and Soong's lies for those seeking the restoration of the old regime cannot compare to Chiang's lies 50 years ago. Today, people are likely to ask why Lien and Soong went home instead of joining the street demonstrations along with those they would presume to represent.
People also are likely to discover that these confrontations and slogans refusing to accept the loss merely provide an excuse for Lien and Soong to remain in their positions after losing the election.
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said he would be willing to resign from his KMT vice chairmanship as a result of the failed election campaign. This was intended to tell Lien: "Following the last presidential election, you had Lee resign to take responsibility for the loss. This time, I'd better shoulder responsibility by resigning, since you never have to take responsibility for your actions."
Lien and Soong live in the wrong era. Fifty years ago, they wouldn't have had to call for a mere attack on the Presidential Office and Chen; they could have called for a "counterattack" on China. But they shouldn't worry too much. They may not be able to attack the Presidential Office, but given their financial strength, they could learn from Taiwanese businessmen who currently are "attacking the mainland" and go to China to play emperor.
That is a dream that could come true, and something that even Chiang Kai-shek was unable to do. Life holds both success and failure -- shouldn't we see the end of this palace dream?
Lao Pao is a political com-mentator.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) trip to China provides a pertinent reminder of why Taiwanese protested so vociferously against attempts to force through the cross-strait service trade agreement in 2014 and why, since Ma’s presidential election win in 2012, they have not voted in another Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate. While the nation narrowly avoided tragedy — the treaty would have put Taiwan on the path toward the demobilization of its democracy, which Courtney Donovan Smith wrote about in the Taipei Times in “With the Sunflower movement Taiwan dodged a bullet” — Ma’s political swansong in China, which included fawning dithyrambs