The administration of President Chen Shui-bian (
It is widely believed that the Kaohsiung MRT scandal and the involvement of former Presidential Office secretary-general Chen Che-nan (
After all, Chen and the DPP were elected into office on a promise to stamp out the "black gold" politics that dogged successive Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governments. Voters supported the DPP for the first time because they perceived party members to be "real" people who had endured hardship over the years while working their way up the political ladder from the grassroots. They believed that politicians from such humble backgrounds could best understand their hopes and aspirations.
However, within a few short years of the DPP's rise to power, allegations of corruption and scandals within the party began to leave the public disillusioned, not to mention the often exaggerated media depictions of the lavish lifestyles being led by some among the new elite of rich and powerful DPP members. Unsurprisingly, the general public began to feel distant from those in power. The humble backgrounds of the politicians that used to inspire a sense of endearment now seemed to confirm that politicians are all the same once they get their hands on power.
Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that the Executive Yuan last week adopted a regulation that requires all appointed officials to have their property and assets placed into trust after they take up political posts. This new regulation goes one level higher than existing rules, which only require political administrators to declare their assets and property.
In addition, officials at the Presidential Office, including the president himself -- although it is not required by the new regulation -- will also place their assets into trust. The president had already begun to do so in 2004.
While the move is clearly a step in the right direction, the reform efforts should not stop here. The DPP desperately needs to rediscover its core ideals and values. A political party should not consist of a group of people who help each other obtain power and then share the rewards of that power among themselves. They should be people united in the conviction of achieving common goals for the good of the nation. Some members of the DPP should ask themselves what the reasons were that prompted them to join politics in the first place.
President Chen's recent speech concerning the abolition of the National Unification Council and unification guidelines, joining the UN under the name "Taiwan" and holding a referendum on a new constitution are refreshing ideas designed to put the DPP's core values back in the public eye.
The right to self-determination and sovereignty -- these are the core values of the DPP. People may have different opinions within the party on how to accomplish these goals, but there should be no debate over the goals themselves. The DPP needs to rediscover a sense of unity based around these common goals. Political bickering and struggles within the party should be replaced by rational discussion and debate. Otherwise, with all the infighting and division within the party, it will be hard for the public and other observers to see how the DPP differs from the nation's other political parties.
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
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,
Within Taiwan’s education system exists a long-standing and deep-rooted culture of falsification. In the past month, a large number of “ghost signatures” — signatures using the names of deceased people — appeared on recall petitions submitted by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) against Democratic Progressive Party legislators Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶). An investigation revealed a high degree of overlap between the deceased signatories and the KMT’s membership roster. It also showed that documents had been forged. However, that culture of cheating and fabrication did not just appear out of thin air — it is linked to the
On April 19, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) gave a public speech, his first in about 17 years. During the address at the Ketagalan Institute in Taipei, Chen’s words were vague and his tone was sour. He said that democracy should not be used as an echo chamber for a single politician, that people must be tolerant of other views, that the president should not act as a dictator and that the judiciary should not get involved in politics. He then went on to say that others with different opinions should not be criticized as “XX fellow travelers,” in reference to
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