When Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Chen Chu (
The KMT's reaction simply proves once again that the party has absolutely no respect whatsoever for the nation's democracy.
A clear pattern has developed in recent years, with the party protesting the result of any important election it loses.
It began with the 2000 presidential election. When the KMT received a thumping following James Soong's (
The trend continued with weeks of protests following the KMT's narrow presidential defeat in 2004, when the election-eve shooting of President Chen Shui-bian (
To that list add Kaohsiung 2006.
Maybe this is why the pan-blue camp has come to be known as the "refuse to lose crowd" by certain sections of the US diplomatic community, including former American Institute in Taiwan chairwoman Therese Shaheen, who wrote about it in a Wall Street Journal article on Nov. 8.
When was the last time a KMT figure stood up and accepted defeat graciously or even lauded Taiwan's democratic achievements?
The party's total disdain for democracy can be seen in the way it has systematically undermined the leadership of its popularly elected chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
And the KMT's decision to establish a working relationship with the authoritarian Chinese Communist Party further demonstrates its contempt for the nation's democratic system.
It was former president and KMT chairman Lee Teng-hui (
Certain sections of the party's old guard are so unwilling to accept defeat that they would happily bring back one-party authoritarian rule tomorrow if they thought they could get away with it.
The KMT's strategy of trying to make Saturday's elections a plebiscite on the integrity of its chairman and the president failed. For whatever reasons, voters showed that politicians getting their fingers caught in the cash register wasn't enough for them to change their political affiliation.
So instead of blaming their Kaohsiung defeat on faulty ballot-counting and vote-buying accusations, the KMT should start looking at the reasons why the majority of voters in the south continue to reject them.
The KMT needs to put two and two together and work out why the popularity it enjoyed during the Lee era has vanished.
But it won't.
The party's troubles stem from arrogance, an inability to believe it is wrong and a reluctance to examine unpopular policy platforms and revise them accordingly -- all of which are critical to democratic success.
Only when it does this will it be able to stop calling into question the integrity of the nation's democratic institutions and instead make them work in the party's favor.
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,
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