President Chen Shui-bian's (
Chen faces a grim choice. He is under no constitutional obligation to resign, and in the current politicized and polarized environment, there is a case to be made for abiding by constitutional process.
However, if he battles on with a prosecution hanging over his head, Chen will place incredible pressure on his party's legislators, many of whom will need to appeal to moderate blue-camp voters if they are to have a hope of retaining a seat in a downsized legislature. There is a risk that some of these will vote with Taiwan Solidarity Union legislators -- together with the opposition and independents -- to have Chen recalled as early as next week. This is a scenario that Chen would not want to see if he has his party's interests at heart.
The days to come will therefore see intense lobbying by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials as they look for a way for the party to extricate itself from this controversy and leave itself some hope of a good result in the elections for Taipei and Kaohsiung mayors this year, the legislature late next year and the presidency in 2008.
If one good thing has come out of this miserable affair, it is that the investigation has proceeded without substantial interference by the Presidential Office or other executive organs. For those who place stock in the separation of powers, there is satisfaction to be had at witnessing a president, his wife and his staff come undone at the hands of a wide-ranging probe by officers whose agencies he ultimately has some power over.
But there is no satisfaction to be had at witnessing scenes of joy and celebration by pan-blue camp legislators at the announcement of the prosecutions. Their partisan joy is not Taiwan's joy. It is the opportunism of people who have spent years blocking good government and egging on irresponsible elements in their ranks.
These are people that demonized the judiciary when it found -- after an exhaustive process of appeals -- that the result of the 2004 presidential election was fair, and that conspiracy theories peddled by former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (
How their tune changes when it suits them.
Grassroots DPP supporters will be particularly appalled by the latest developments. For many of them, Chen represented everything that was good about Taiwan and the Taiwanese. The prosecution of Wu even more helps to despoil the lore that helped bring Chen to power -- fighting victimization by the KMT, transforming Taipei City, Wu's apparent steadfastness in her relationship with her husband, and so on. That all of this should come crashing down because of allegedly illegal spending on jewelry and other petty baubles is not just tragic: it's an appalling blight on everything that is precious about this country.
“Si ambulat loquitur tetrissitatque sicut anas, anas est” is, in customary international law, the three-part test of anatine ambulation, articulation and tetrissitation. And it is essential to Taiwan’s existence. Apocryphally, it can be traced as far back as Suetonius (蘇埃托尼烏斯) in late first-century Rome. Alas, Suetonius was only talking about ducks (anas). But this self-evident principle was codified as a four-part test at the Montevideo Convention in 1934, to which the United States is a party. Article One: “The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: a) a permanent population; b) a defined territory; c) government;
The central bank and the US Department of the Treasury on Friday issued a joint statement that both sides agreed to avoid currency manipulation and the use of exchange rates to gain a competitive advantage, and would only intervene in foreign-exchange markets to combat excess volatility and disorderly movements. The central bank also agreed to disclose its foreign-exchange intervention amounts quarterly rather than every six months, starting from next month. It emphasized that the joint statement is unrelated to tariff negotiations between Taipei and Washington, and that the US never requested the appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar during the
Since leaving office last year, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has been journeying across continents. Her ability to connect with international audiences and foster goodwill toward her country continues to enhance understanding of Taiwan. It is possible because she can now walk through doors in Europe that are closed to President William Lai (賴清德). Tsai last week gave a speech at the Berlin Freedom Conference, where, standing in front of civil society leaders, human rights advocates and political and business figures, she highlighted Taiwan’s indispensable global role and shared its experience as a model for democratic resilience against cognitive warfare and
The diplomatic spat between China and Japan over comments Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made on Nov. 7 continues to worsen. Beijing is angry about Takaichi’s remarks that military force used against Taiwan by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” necessitating the involvement of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. Rather than trying to reduce tensions, Beijing is looking to leverage the situation to its advantage in action and rhetoric. On Saturday last week, four armed China Coast Guard vessels sailed around the Japanese-controlled Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), known to Japan as the Senkakus. On Friday, in what
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