Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
News of Lien's visit has filled almost every TV news show and most newspapers. Public opinion polls associated with these reports show Lien enjoying a huge surge in his prestige. It would seem that Lien has been able, in one trip, to resolve the half-century long stand-off across the Taiwan Strait and that peace and unification with China are now just around the corner.
This is a big joke and is no more than an illusion perpetrated by the media. To interpret this situation, we must first understand Taiwan's media environment. Apart from a few public TV stations, almost all TV stations in Taiwan are controlled by forces close to the pan-blue camp. That the two major newspapers established by KMT Central Standing Committee members favor the pan-blue camp goes without saying. When has an opinion poll by a Taiwanese media outlet ever been accurate? Which poll has not had its results predetermined by political concerns? Are the polls concerning Lien's visit to China any more credible?
Of all the Chinese-language media, only the Liberty Times and the Taiwan Daily continue to put Taiwan first, and Lien is using every media outlet at his disposal to drown them out. How can the outside world perceive the truth of Taiwan's politics when the media keeps a muzzle on dissenting opinion? OK, so pan-green voters may not have their own media outlets, but there is still the vast realm of the Internet. The only way to get an understanding of the Taiwanese people's thoughts regarding Lien's visit to China is to log on to the Internet and see first-hand Taiwanese people's derision.
On Tuesday, China gave Lien a gift of three ways to buy votes. They offered to lift travel restrictions for tourists visiting Taiwan, remove tariffs on the import of Taiwanese fruits such as mangos and wax apples and give Taiwan two pandas -- its most cherished endangered species. Note that mangos and wax apples are predominantly farmed in the south, the electoral base of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
It is ironic that when President Chen Shui-bian (
This goes to show that Lien has failed to resolve the discrimination and political gridlock across the Strait, and has only taken China's attempts to help the pan-blue camp buy votes one step further. There is no need to point out that it is pan-blue politicians, who have a deep understanding of Taiwan's political system, who are visiting China to offer tactical advice, teaching the government in Beijing ways to manipulate Taiwan's democratic system and make use of its vote-buying culture to help get the pan-blue camp back into power.
Although Lien has returned, there remains the issue of the pandas. Those who want them and those who don't are already up in arms. Putting aside conservation issues, we believe that as the most fundamental aspects of the cross-strait issue have yet to be resolved, and the "Anti-Secession" Law that authorizes war as a means to settle the cross-strait conflict has not been struck down, it is best if the pandas stay at home.
Otherwise, the growing tensions of the unresolved cross-strait political conflict will be blamed on these two innocent and unsuspecting creatures. There is no reason why they should bear this burden.
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