During a press conference Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) announced that he was ready to commit suicide if KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is not elected after KMT lawmakers intruded on DPP candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) Taipei campaign office.
What does this statement reveal? It shows KMT members do not really care about social order. Fai's statement shows that the KMT is not about maintaining and enforcing modes of relating and behaving. It is not about conserving social structures, institutions and practices. All that matters is to get the post, make Ma the president. It is all about the crown.
During the campaign, the KMT has tried to convince us that the increasing number of suicides is the result of the erroneous policies of the present government and that the new government and the new president can somehow fix it.
Fai's statement that he would consider suicide is nothing but a farce. A politician must be able to face the ups and downs of the profession he or she is voluntarily engaged in and must take full responsibility for his or her actions and words.
The lack of integrity shown by these KMT politicians casts doubts on whether a KMT victory would really be "a change that Taiwanese people should believe in."
Hanna Shen
Taipei
The US Senate’s passage of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which urges Taiwan’s inclusion in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise and allocates US$1 billion in military aid, marks yet another milestone in Washington’s growing support for Taipei. On paper, it reflects the steadiness of US commitment, but beneath this show of solidarity lies contradiction. While the US Congress builds a stable, bipartisan architecture of deterrence, US President Donald Trump repeatedly undercuts it through erratic decisions and transactional diplomacy. This dissonance not only weakens the US’ credibility abroad — it also fractures public trust within Taiwan. For decades,
In 1976, the Gang of Four was ousted. The Gang of Four was a leftist political group comprising Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members: Jiang Qing (江青), its leading figure and Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) last wife; Zhang Chunqiao (張春橋); Yao Wenyuan (姚文元); and Wang Hongwen (王洪文). The four wielded supreme power during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), but when Mao died, they were overthrown and charged with crimes against China in what was in essence a political coup of the right against the left. The same type of thing might be happening again as the CCP has expelled nine top generals. Rather than a
The ceasefire in the Middle East is a rare cause for celebration in that war-torn region. Hamas has released all of the living hostages it captured on Oct. 7, 2023, regular combat operations have ceased, and Israel has drawn closer to its Arab neighbors. Israel, with crucial support from the United States, has achieved all of this despite concerted efforts from the forces of darkness to prevent it. Hamas, of course, is a longtime client of Iran, which in turn is a client of China. Two years ago, when Hamas invaded Israel — killing 1,200, kidnapping 251, and brutalizing countless others
A Reuters report published this week highlighted the struggles of migrant mothers in Taiwan through the story of Marian Duhapa, a Filipina forced to leave her infant behind to work in Taiwan and support her family. After becoming pregnant in Taiwan last year, Duhapa lost her job and lived in a shelter before giving birth and taking her daughter back to the Philippines. She then returned to Taiwan for a second time on her own to find work. Duhapa’s sacrifice is one of countless examples among the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who sustain many of Taiwan’s households and factories,