Yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
Ma announced his resignation as he promised he would if indicted, but he also announced his presidential candidacy.
Seeing its hopes of returning to power next year diminishing, the pan-blue camp is panicking. Followers of Ma and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Some KMT members argue that the nation should not be deprived of a presidential candidate solely because of some "absurd" indictment. They have abolished the party's black-gold clause, which calls for the suspension of party membership in the case of an indictment -- a regulation that was introduced by Ma -- and originally hoped to relieve Ma of his pledge to resign as chairman if indicted.
Others are hoping Ma will decide to run as a pan-blue independent. Still others say that he should continue with a KMT presidential bid regardless of the consequences.
All of these groups are actually helping to damage Ma's political credibility.
With party regulations changing so that Ma can become the KMT's presidential candidate, voters will question his integrity.
If Ma persists in his quest for the presidency, it will be difficult for him to claim to be different from President Chen Shui-bian (
When the first family tries to delay the legal progress of first lady Wu Shu-jen's (
On the other hand, running as an independent candidate and waging war on former party comrades would generate the ugliest pan-blue split vote ever seen. Wang's supporters say that any attempt to amend the party charter to benefit Ma will have consequences. It will be intriguing to see what consequences these are.
The campaign to depose Chen called for integrity, but now the pan-blue camp does not want to abide by these principles. If Ma proceeds with this course of action, it will not only mar his reputation, but also make it impossible for the KMT to talk about rules of any nature with credibility.
A Harvard doctor of law and a former justice minister should not take this approach. He cannot justify his preferential treatment to those who have been disciplined in accordance with the party charter in the past.
On the same day, Ma has been indicted for corruption and has shown disregard for the spirit of law by challenging the KMT to endorse him.
The pan-blue camp may be willing to turn a blind eye to Ma's indictment, but the public may not be as charitable.
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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