Editorial Letters

Beware the `Pan-Tu' menace

One cannot imagine US legislators or other politicians hobnobbing with Osama bin Laden, much less striking an "agreement of cooperation" with him to destroy the US government or one of its political parties.

First, no one would accept it; and secondly, no one in his or her right mind would want to be associated with it. Finally, it would be treasonous under US law, and perpetrators would be tossed into solitary forever.

Things in Taiwan appear somewhat different now. Today, brazen treason has replaced phony political platforms, and the pan-blue camp boldly pronounces it has joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) "to defeat Taiwanese independence."

But let's understand clearly what the pan-blue leadership is all about. It is not about benefiting Taiwan, it is not about benefiting Taiwanese citizens and it is not even about purported "unification."

It is simply about power -- raw, unbridled, dictatorial power. For the past six years, bemoaning its loss of presidential power, unable to conceive of its decline, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has taken every single treasonous step it could to seize power back.

Witness its laughingstock "Truth Commission" -- an obvious attempt to annul the election through a phony investigation of the assassination attempt against President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) by a KMT sympathizer -- or the procession of party officials tramping off to Beijing to kneel before Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), kiss his ring and receive the promise of eternal power over Taiwan.

It is truly what the now-diminished -- and increasingly irrelevant -- pan-blues have decided they must do in order to survive; it is the only course the old dictatorship-driven leadership can imagine, blinded by power and greed, unable to grasp the magnitude of their betrayal or the enormous power wielded by a true democracy.

One must even wonder whether KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who once studied law at Harvard, himself truly understands systems of justice and democracy, and how they could be applied to Taiwan.

Eight years ago, if anyone proclaimed alignment with the CCP, the KMT would have excoriated them, crying "traitor, traitor." Today, the KMT has embraced the world's most vicious tyrant as its ally. It is our turn to cry out "traitor, traitor." Because the KMT has no hope of achieving the popularity sufficient to win a presidential election -- not even "Teflon Ma Ying-jeou." No, the KMT will have to arrange to sabotage Taiwan -- or the election -- before then.

This has already begun: another "Truth Commission," another attempt to rewrite history, ignore the facts and find a way to impeach the president. Then there's the cross-strait "peace" commission -- an outright illegal attempt to rewrite the Constitution, bestowing foreign policy powers upon a legislative commission made up of pan-blue appointed commissioners with the power to enter into treaties and agreements with China.

Having lost the election, stealing executive power is the next best thing.

There is no depth to which the pan-blues will not sink to defeat democracy and freedom in Taiwan.

If you doubt this is the case, you can start with the pan-blues' refusal to consider buying weapons to defend Taiwan against China. This single action should alone be a sufficient wake-up call to the people of Taiwan to understand the true purpose of the pan-blues in Taiwan's politics today.