Today, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) will create an unprecedented title, honorary chairman, so that current chairman Lien Chan (
Ma, who has consistently called for reforming the KMT and taking action against "black gold," has confused many people by establishing Lien as a kind of "super chairman" -- a move that will only serve to restrict Ma's freedom of action. And why retain Wang as vice chairman after accusing him of corruption? If Ma follows through with his plans, he will simply be entrenching members of the KMT old guard in positions of power within the party, and his mission to reform the party will come to nothing.
Regarding the KMT's ill-gotten party assets, what Ma has proposed is actually little different from current policy. It includes liquidating party assets, laying off party personnel and streamlining the party's bureaucracy. However, we would like to remind Ma that before the ownership of the KMT's party assets is fully clarified, any move to sell the party's possessions would go against the will of the majority of Taiwanese. If Ma panders to the culture of corruption within the KMT, he will simply shoot himself in the foot, and will quickly find that he has created new obstacles on the road to winning the presidency.
Ever since Ma announced his determination to reform the party, and then went on to defeat Wang in a landslide victory, most media outlets have portrayed him as a shoo-in for the 2008 presidential nomination.
Ma's unwavering and confident attitude in this election campaign has been impressive, and has done much to mitigate his reputation for being "wishy-washy." We hope that Ma can maintain this momentum and make good on his promises to reform the party and avoid coming under the influence of the KMT's old guard. If he does, it will just be old wine in new bottles for the KMT, and such hypocritical reforms will not convince Taiwanese voters.
With regard to his expected run at the presidency, just because Ma has won the KMT chairmanship doesn't mean he can rest on his laurels. Next month, elections will be held for the KMT's Central Committee and Central Standing Committee, and this will be the first test for Ma in his new position. If the Ma camp fails to perform well in this round of elections, the new chairman is likely to be left without a solid power base within the party, and his mission to reform the party will be hopelessly compromised.
People are even more concerned about what kind of people the party will put forward for the city mayor and county commissioner elections in Dec. Ma's commitment to party reform will be underlined if the KMT is unable to find some fresh faces that can win the approval of the electorate.
As KMT chairman, Ma will have to personally supervise the deployment of his troops to effectively meet the pan-green challenge. The KMT's performance in the mayoral and county commissioner elections will be a key factor in whether Ma will be able to consolidate his position as supreme leader of the pan-blue camp.
Ma will not be officially sworn in until next month, but even before that, he will face numerous challenges. Later on, he runs the risk of becoming a scapegoat if things go badly in the year-end elections. It is not surprising that some political commentators believe that Ma's election as party chairman is only the beginning of his political troubles. Ma's political future is not as bright as much of the media would like to make it seem.
As strategic tensions escalate across the vast Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as more than a potential flashpoint. It is the fulcrum upon which the credibility of the evolving American-led strategy of integrated deterrence now rests. How the US and regional powers like Japan respond to Taiwan’s defense, and how credible the deterrent against Chinese aggression proves to be, will profoundly shape the Indo-Pacific security architecture for years to come. A successful defense of Taiwan through strengthened deterrence in the Indo-Pacific would enhance the credibility of the US-led alliance system and underpin America’s global preeminence, while a failure of integrated deterrence would
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
On Wednesday last week, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) asserting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) territorial claim over Taiwan effective 1945, predicated upon instruments such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation. The article further contended that this de jure and de facto status was subsequently reaffirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly issued a statement categorically repudiating these assertions. In addition to the reasons put forward by the ministry, I believe that China’s assertions are open to questions in international
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of
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