A thorough look at current Taiwanese politics often prompts people to call for an end to the political standoff and for rational dialogue between the ruling party and the opposition.
As Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Certainly, one of Ma's key responsibilities is to make a comeback after the party's consecutive losses in the last two presidential elections. The expectations of the majority of the public, however, center more on the hope that he will help bring back normal party competition and halt the opposition's obstructionism.
While President Chen Shui-bian (
Ma lacks a strong determination to present a vision for the country. He will need to use new thinking to find a way to forge constructive interaction with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government and bring about institutional checks and balances in Taiwanese politics.
It is sad to see that he has focused most of his efforts over the past few weeks on trying to appease his defeated competitor in the chairmanship race, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-ping (
In doing so, Ma has failed to live up to KMT voters' expectations that he would inject fresh air into the century-old party, and has disappointed the public by hesitating to outline a clear plan for engaging in a rational and policy-oriented contest with the DPP.
It is natural for Ma to incorporate a prudent and incremental approach to consolidate his power in the new KMT power structure. Nevertheless, more concrete steps and determined action will be needed to remold the party and reorganize the pan-blue camp. One of the main challenges that Ma will encounter is establishing an internal democratic decision-making mechanism.
The key for Ma lies in the extent to which he can distinguish himself from Lien's obstructionism against the Chen administration over several crucial legislative bills that the government has pushed forward intensively in the past months.
In other words, Ma should reorient the KMT's consistent and destructive strategy of "boycotting everything proposed by the president" and persuade the KMT's ally, the People First Party, to play the role of the "loyal opposition."
Moreover, Ma must prevent the pan-blue camp from making all its political calculations based simply on individual party interests -- at the expense of the public's needs.
The public has witnessed the verbal wars between the DPP government and the pan-blue opposition for the past five years. Ma's inauguration is an opportunity to open a new era of reconciliation and dialogue -- but only if he can employ political wisdom and pragmatism.
In any democracy, checks and balances between political parties are normal. A dutiful opposition certainly may criticize the administration and articulate its opinions in order to win the next election, and the public can judge the truth and fairness of its criticisms. A smart leader, however, must grasp the pulse of society and take aggressive action to meet the public's expectations.
Liu Kuan-teh is a Taipei-based political commentator.
There is much evidence that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is sending soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and is learning lessons for a future war against Taiwan. Until now, the CCP has claimed that they have not sent PLA personnel to support Russian aggression. On 18 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskiy announced that the CCP is supplying war supplies such as gunpowder, artillery, and weapons subcomponents to Russia. When Zelinskiy announced on 9 April that the Ukrainian Army had captured two Chinese nationals fighting with Russians on the front line with details
On a quiet lane in Taipei’s central Daan District (大安), an otherwise unremarkable high-rise is marked by a police guard and a tawdry A4 printout from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicating an “embassy area.” Keen observers would see the emblem of the Holy See, one of Taiwan’s 12 so-called “diplomatic allies.” Unlike Taipei’s other embassies and quasi-consulates, no national flag flies there, nor is there a plaque indicating what country’s embassy this is. Visitors hoping to sign a condolence book for the late Pope Francis would instead have to visit the Italian Trade Office, adjacent to Taipei 101. The death of
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), joined by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), held a protest on Saturday on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei. They were essentially standing for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is anxious about the mass recall campaign against KMT legislators. President William Lai (賴清德) said that if the opposition parties truly wanted to fight dictatorship, they should do so in Tiananmen Square — and at the very least, refrain from groveling to Chinese officials during their visits to China, alluding to meetings between KMT members and Chinese authorities. Now that China has been defined as a foreign hostile force,
RSS