Demos Chiang (
Demos Chiang condemned former KMT chairman Lien Chan (
Several senior KMT figures such as Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Apologizing for her son's criticism of Lien, Chiang Fang Chih-yi (
Is this what the KMT is about? A party that cannot tolerate dissenting opinions or listen to views voiced by young people?
Everyone in the country saw Lien's poor sportsmanship after his richly deserved defeat in the 2004 presidential election.
Demos Chiang merely wrote the truth, so why does the old guard of the KMT so quickly dismiss it as a youngster's lack of maturity and understanding?
The KMT, after losing power in Taiwan eight years ago to the Democratic Progressive Party, has since made attempts to strengthen its pro-localization stance as it tones down talk of eventual unification with China.
But winning people's hearts is more than just about adopting new party platforms. It requires a willingness to take in different opinions, especially from the younger generations.
After all, maturity does not necessarily come with age, and young people can often be critical thinkers with an acute understanding of history.
Some have questioned Demos Chiang's motives in criticizing the KMT. But whatever these are, he should be given credit for daring to challenge Lien and for speaking out in a political culture in which seniority seems to carry more weight than ideas.
If the KMT wants to look like a progressive party and leave behind its authoritarian past for a more open-minded and democratic future, it should respect new ideas from young people rather than dismissing them as "immature youth."
A response to my article (“Invite ‘will-bes,’ not has-beens,” Aug. 12, page 8) mischaracterizes my arguments, as well as a speech by former British prime minister Boris Johnson at the Ketagalan Forum in Taipei early last month. Tseng Yueh-ying (曾月英) in the response (“A misreading of Johnson’s speech,” Aug. 24, page 8) does not dispute that Johnson referred repeatedly to Taiwan as “a segment of the Chinese population,” but asserts that the phrase challenged Beijing by questioning whether parts of “the Chinese population” could be “differently Chinese.” This is essentially a confirmation of Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formulation, which says that
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Taiwan stands at the epicenter of a seismic shift that will determine the Indo-Pacific’s future security architecture. Whether deterrence prevails or collapses will reverberate far beyond the Taiwan Strait, fundamentally reshaping global power dynamics. The stakes could not be higher. Today, Taipei confronts an unprecedented convergence of threats from an increasingly muscular China that has intensified its multidimensional pressure campaign. Beijing’s strategy is comprehensive: military intimidation, diplomatic isolation, economic coercion, and sophisticated influence operations designed to fracture Taiwan’s democratic society from within. This challenge is magnified by Taiwan’s internal political divisions, which extend to fundamental questions about the island’s identity and future
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