With polls showing Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Both Ma and Wang were criticized by the DPP for their conservative pro-China stances. But given the constituency they are competing for, anything else could hardly be expected. It was inevitable that Ma should make his ritual denunciation of Taiwan's independence. But it was interesting to note that he also pointed out that "one country, two systems" was unacceptable to Taiwan. This was encouraging. Of course, Ma was only saying what is true, but that was unusual in itself for a party where lies usually compete with pipe dreams for prominence.
While Lien has not actually endorsed "one country, two systems," he has not been willing to frankly spell out its unacceptability to China. Ma on the other hand has been something of a thorn in China's side on the erosion of democratic standards in Hong Kong and its human-rights situation in general. Ma, it appears, will want to tread a fine line between stressing Taiwan's Chineseness (during his terms as mayor he has been a tireless promoter of "mainland Chinese" cultural forms and activities) and his apparent dislike of the government and political system of contemporary China. Since the Chinese Communist Party has no intention of changing in any significant way, Ma's chairmanship of the KMT might result in an expected froideur between two parties which have, under Lien's misguided leadership, been hand in glove.
Another area which surprised was Ma's attitude toward the KMT's assets. Ma came out quite strongly against the KMT's holding on to any "illegal" assets. This was interesting because the KMT has claimed that it has no illegal assets, despite a Control Yuan investigation establishing that it stole over 400 properties from the state. Ma seems ready to admit there are illegally acquired assets and that these assets should be restored to their rightful owners. He claimed that the KMT had a right to defend its legally acquired assets, which of course it does. But given the Control Yuan's findings and Ma's legal background, it will be interesting to see how he interprets what is "legally acquired." Given his reputation for opposing corruption -- the zeal over which lost him his post as justice minister nearly a decade ago -- some might expect Ma to be honest about the KMT's ill-gotten gains and give them back. But it should also be pointed out that Ma appears to have been quite happy to tolerate the high level of corruption among his political allies in Taipei during his mayorship, as well as frequently sheltering his people from the consequences of their administrative incompetence.
"Reform is not just a slogan," Ma said on Sunday. So far, under Lien, it has been. Remember the farce about putting the KMT's assets into trust? And can Ma really make good on his promise? Certainly nobody expects reform from his opponent, Wang, -- the party's bagman-in-chief for nearly a decade.
Initial opposition in the party to Ma's campaign was based on fear that his lack of tolerance for corruption would step on too many toes. If he is serious, Ma's chairmanship could be very interesting indeed.
The conflict in the Middle East has been disrupting financial markets, raising concerns about rising inflationary pressures and global economic growth. One market that some investors are particularly worried about has not been heavily covered in the news: the private credit market. Even before the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, global capital markets had faced growing structural pressure — the deteriorating funding conditions in the private credit market. The private credit market is where companies borrow funds directly from nonbank financial institutions such as asset management companies, insurance companies and private lending platforms. Its popularity has risen since
The Donald Trump administration’s approach to China broadly, and to cross-Strait relations in particular, remains a conundrum. The 2025 US National Security Strategy prioritized the defense of Taiwan in a way that surprised some observers of the Trump administration: “Deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority.” Two months later, Taiwan went entirely unmentioned in the US National Defense Strategy, as did military overmatch vis-a-vis China, giving renewed cause for concern. How to interpret these varying statements remains an open question. In both documents, the Indo-Pacific is listed as a second priority behind homeland defense and
Every analyst watching Iran’s succession crisis is asking who would replace supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Yet, the real question is whether China has learned enough from the Persian Gulf to survive a war over Taiwan. Beijing purchases roughly 90 percent of Iran’s exported crude — some 1.61 million barrels per day last year — and holds a US$400 billion, 25-year cooperation agreement binding it to Tehran’s stability. However, this is not simply the story of a patron protecting an investment. China has spent years engineering a sanctions-evasion architecture that was never really about Iran — it was about Taiwan. The
In an op-ed published in Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said that Taiwan should not have to choose between aligning with Beijing or Washington, and advocated for cooperation with Beijing under the so-called “1992 consensus” as a form of “strategic ambiguity.” However, Cheng has either misunderstood the geopolitical reality and chosen appeasement, or is trying to fool an international audience with her doublespeak; nonetheless, it risks sending the wrong message to Taiwan’s democratic allies and partners. Cheng stressed that “Taiwan does not have to choose,” as while Beijing and Washington compete, Taiwan is strongest when
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