Speculation was rife in the media last week that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
If Ma is indicted, expect to see the pan-blue camp lash out at the judiciary and government in equal measure.
But closer examination of events reveals that it is the KMT and the People First Party, its pan-blue ally, that will be to blame if their best hope of winning next March's presidential election finds himself in court and his long-standing reputation for integrity under a cloud.
After all, it is the irrational actions of the pan-blue camp's lawmakers that have brought Ma to the verge of electoral ruin, as their behavior since he assumed the KMT chairmanship in August 2005 has systematically eroded his long-held image of infallibility.
For more than a year Ma has been promoting his idea of a "reasonable arms purchase" in an attempt to break the legislative gridlock over the procurement of US arms, but his party caucus has either not been listening or just choosing to ignore him, meaning that the passage of any kind of arms deal is still a long way off. This has put Taiwan's relationship with the US -- something the KMT disingenuously says it values -- under increasing stress, damaging Ma domestically and causing him trouble during last March's US trip.
Then, last April, when Ma asked KMT legislators to support Hsieh Wen-ding's (
Next, under pressure last fall from deep-blue elements within his own camp, Ma let himself be press-ganged into giving free rein to Shih Ming-teh's (
Ma has also been unable to deliver on numerous promises to lead an opposition party that would work with the government to benefit all people. The KMT caucus has continued blocking legislation left, right and center, giving Ma the appearance of a party leader who has no control over his party.
And don't forget it was the pan-blue camp's ceaseless and frenzied attempts to harm the standing of President Chen Shui-bian (
If Ma is indicted, whether or not he is found innocent will be irrelevant, as images of him arriving at court will be enough to knock him off his pedestal, placing him on the same level as every other compromised politician.
The air of infallibility will be gone, along with -- to quote the KMT -- their best chance of "winning back" Taiwan.
Faced with a growing "Taiwan consciousness" and the localization efforts of Chen's administration, the KMT and pro-China lobby in their bid for relevance have behaved like a drowning man whose desperate struggles drown both himself and his rescuer.
The KMT, like any party, has internal divisions and there are many within its ranks that are hostile to Ma and his moderate, please everyone style.
But without Ma, does the party have any other candidates capable of securing enough votes for victory in next year's presidential election?
With talk of bringing back former chairman Lien Chan (
And now it is too late to turn back the clock.
As strategic tensions escalate across the vast Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as more than a potential flashpoint. It is the fulcrum upon which the credibility of the evolving American-led strategy of integrated deterrence now rests. How the US and regional powers like Japan respond to Taiwan’s defense, and how credible the deterrent against Chinese aggression proves to be, will profoundly shape the Indo-Pacific security architecture for years to come. A successful defense of Taiwan through strengthened deterrence in the Indo-Pacific would enhance the credibility of the US-led alliance system and underpin America’s global preeminence, while a failure of integrated deterrence would
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
On Wednesday last week, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) asserting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) territorial claim over Taiwan effective 1945, predicated upon instruments such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation. The article further contended that this de jure and de facto status was subsequently reaffirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly issued a statement categorically repudiating these assertions. In addition to the reasons put forward by the ministry, I believe that China’s assertions are open to questions in international
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of
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