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Editorial: Sands of time shift under pan-blues

While the pan-blue camp is still engaging in its final struggle against the results of the presidential election, Singapore's Straits Times has reported that Li Jiaquan (李家泉), former director of the Institute of Taiwan Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and an important consultant to the Zhongnanhai leadership, has said that Beijing is ready to admit to the fact that Taiwan is a separate entity. Meanwhile, Washington is preparing to send a delegation to President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) inauguration, possibly headed by a member of Congress.

Washington and Beijing play the most decisive roles in the cross-strait relationship. They both have accepted that Chen was the legitimate winner of the presidential election. Yet the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP) are still reluctant to concede defeat.

The KMT-PFP alliance has persistently questioned the legitimacy of Chen's victory and mobilized their supporters to deny the legitimacy of Chen's reelection. Ironically, it is the legitimacy of the pan-blues' protests that have been most doubted. Even the international media has conceded that they have yet to put forward concrete evidence to support their vote-rigging claims.

Since the two parties initiated their series of lawsuits, they have provided no evidence, relying instead on paid advertisements calling upon their supporters to come up with some evidence. While more gullible members of the public may believe the old adage that "where's there's smoke, there's fire," the nation's judges are not impressed.

The Taiwan High Court yesterday held its first hearing of the KMT-PFP lawsuit requesting the election be invalidated. Presiding Judge Cheng Ya-ping (鄭雅萍) bluntly said that the alliance's complaint was weak. She also complained that its arguments were not clear and that its attorneys failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove their argument. In the end, Cheng bluntly told the pan-blue lawyers: "You demand that I'm fair, but you should also make demands on yourselves and prepare better for such an important case." Cheng's meaning was clear -- the lawsuit is a case of suing just for the sake of suing.

In Beijing, Zhongnanhai's Taiwan strategies have always been rigid, disregarding changes in Taiwan's political situation. Li told the Straits Times that, under the "one China" principle, China is prepared to accept the existence of and interact with the Republic of China. He also said that Zhongnanhai regretted the inflexibility of its past cross-strait policies.

Even if Li's comments do not represent the Chinese government's stance, it is interesting that he was willing to admit that China's rigid policy on cross-strait relations has been a major mistake. Unfortunately for the people of Taiwan, neither the KMT and the PFP appear to be aware of or willing to face changes in public opinion, much less admit that they made mistakes in the past.

It is hard to believe that the two parties' ability to adapt to their environment is inferior to that of an advisor to the Chinese leadership. They repeatedly claim to represent the people of Taiwan and to be supported by half of the electorate. How could they lose the presidential election with such support?

The nation is eagerly awaiting the results of the recount. The people really want to know if the Central Election Commission made mistakes when counting the votes. How else could the shameless and shiftless KMT and PFP lose the election by such a narrow margin?
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