Following the Chen-Soong summit, many pro-independence heavyweights feel they were duped, or even betrayed and double-crossed. Although they may not have any concrete criticism of the 10-point agreement reached by both President Chen Shui-bian (
Seeing the leaders of both camps reconcile and embrace, they suddenly felt that they had been fooled -- a very natural reaction.
Before, Chen dare not speak to the public about the reality of the situation in China and the international community toward Taiwan's independence. But now, he has turned around and is criticizing others for deceiving themselves. The 180-degree change in Chen's attitude is hard to commend.
The consensus reached by Chen and Soong is just a return to the fundamentals of the problem facing the nation, which is hardly surprising. Issues regarding how the Republic of China (ROC) is defined, constitutional reform and cross-strait relations have been discussed so many times.
But it seems that this consensus is only now being taken seriously. As a result, some have panicked while others have overreacted.
Political power distorts one's personality and image. This is also true of both Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
Over the past four years, Chen has taken the initiative to push all sorts of causes, and has tested all sorts of limits. He has played the role of a reformer or pioneer, and has placed himself on the front lines of the causes he wishes to promote.
As a result, the opposition party has behaved like a conservative governing party, while the governing party has behaved like a radical opposition party.
The party that was supposed to be focusing its attention on managing the country behaved as if it was engaging in a social movement, while those active in social movements behaved as if they were running the country with the government.
In addition, former president Lee Teng-hui (
This type of blurring of roles should not have happened in democratic politics.
In democratic politics, each political party has a role to play. These roles are confused if one demands that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) continue to play the role of tangwai (outside the KMT).
The dark-green Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), meanwhile, should distance itself from the DPP in order to exert a deeper influence in Taiwan, while the DPP should only focus on implementing the consensus already reached by our society.
The "deep-green" backlash to the 10-point consensus reached by Chen and Soong is going to have a substantial impact on the legislature and the year-end county commissioner elections, and thus Chen might have a better chance to follow a "middle of the road" approach to govern the nation. However, the PFP's actions in the legislature and the prospects for a cross-strait detente will also have an impact on the development of the inter-party reconciliation.
Chen does not have much time to waste. The clock is ticking. With Premier Frank Hsieh (
Antonio Chiang is a former deputy secretary-general to the National Security Council.
TRANSLATED BY DANIEL CHENG
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.
In the 2022 book Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China, academics Hal Brands and Michael Beckley warned, against conventional wisdom, that it was not a rising China that the US and its allies had to fear, but a declining China. This is because “peaking powers” — nations at the peak of their relative power and staring over the precipice of decline — are particularly dangerous, as they might believe they only have a narrow window of opportunity to grab what they can before decline sets in, they said. The tailwinds that propelled China’s spectacular economic rise over the past