In his letter (Nov. 11, page 8) addressing a Taipei Times editorial, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Su Chi (
The father and son dictators -- former presidents Chiang Kai-shek (
KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) visited the tombs right after winning the chairmanship. Ironically, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), who terminated the KMT's authoritarian tradition, was banished from the party by former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰). Apparently, Lien Chan and the KMT are more comfortable dealing with Beijing's dictators than the democratically elected president of Taiwan.
The dictators may be gone. But the KMT is still enjoying its looted assets and faces no repercussions whatsoever for the crimes it committed during its White Terror. The KMT's authoritarian rule may have ended, but they still cherish their authoritarian past. Their totems of power still stand high, their assets are still abundant and their crimes are still not subject to accountability.
The KMT never truly repented. They coddle Beijing's authoritarian regime and practice their "one China" war against Taiwan. With their "united front," all hell has broken loose. Can Taiwan survive this enduring authoritarian connection?
Because much of what former US president Donald Trump says is unhinged and histrionic, it is tempting to dismiss all of it as bunk. Yet the potential future president has a populist knack for sounding alarums that resonate with the zeitgeist — for example, with growing anxiety about World War III and nuclear Armageddon. “We’re a failing nation,” Trump ranted during his US presidential debate against US Vice President Kamala Harris in one particularly meandering answer (the one that also recycled urban myths about immigrants eating cats). “And what, what’s going on here, you’re going to end up in World War
Earlier this month in Newsweek, President William Lai (賴清德) challenged the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to retake the territories lost to Russia in the 19th century rather than invade Taiwan. He stated: “If it is for the sake of territorial integrity, why doesn’t [the PRC] take back the lands occupied by Russia that were signed over in the treaty of Aigun?” This was a brilliant political move to finally state openly what many Chinese in both China and Taiwan have long been thinking about the lost territories in the Russian far east: The Russian far east should be “theirs.” Granted, Lai issued
On Tuesday, President William Lai (賴清德) met with a delegation from the Hoover Institution, a think tank based at Stanford University in California, to discuss strengthening US-Taiwan relations and enhancing peace and stability in the region. The delegation was led by James Ellis Jr, co-chair of the institution’s Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region project and former commander of the US Strategic Command. It also included former Australian minister for foreign affairs Marise Payne, influential US academics and other former policymakers. Think tank diplomacy is an important component of Taiwan’s efforts to maintain high-level dialogue with other nations with which it does
On Sept. 2, Elbridge Colby, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development, wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal called “The US and Taiwan Must Change Course” that defends his position that the US and Taiwan are not doing enough to deter the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from taking Taiwan. Colby is correct, of course: the US and Taiwan need to do a lot more or the PRC will invade Taiwan like Russia did against Ukraine. The US and Taiwan have failed to prepare properly to deter war. The blame must fall on politicians and policymakers