President-elect Ma Ying-jeou (
The people of Taiwan -- who gave Ma 58.45 percent of their votes against 41.55 percent for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rival Frank Hsieh (
Many Taiwanese might also have decided to vote for Ma because they were fed up with corruption scandals and government bickering between legislative and executive branches, but admittedly the election results shows they were more concerned about their salaries and living standard.
On Saturday night, Ma made his first move by saying that his first priority would be to establish direct air links with China and allow more Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan.
During his campaign, Ma promised to establish a "cross-strait common market," or as his rivals labeled it, a "one China market." But it will take more than a decade to turn this idea into reality because it involves talks across the Taiwan Strait that would certainly touch on the sensitive sovereign status issue on which neither side is likely to concede.
There is also the question of when and how China would want to work with the new Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government on these matters -- the ball is in Beijing's court, not Taipei's.
Ma's real priority should be forming a Cabinet that is both professional and capable of dealing with the nation's immediate economic problems, especially the issue of rising consumer prices.
The DDP government has tried to intervene in the market through a series of price-control measures, including freezing both energy and utility prices in the wake of recent dramatic fluctuations in global commodity and raw material prices.
Although these price controls were aimed at easing the import-driven inflation facing this nation, they have also resulted in growing losses at state-run energy and utility companies.
It is easy to say that the caps on fuel prices, for example, are unfair for all taxpayers because people who drive cars are generally more financially capable of coping with inflation. The problem is how the new government wants to address this issue: Will it scrap the controls on fuel prices or impose an energy tax to curb consumption?
During their campaign, Ma and Hsieh both advocated closer economic links with China, despite differences in their approaches. But Taiwan and China have experienced completely different industrial structure and investment environments over the past eight years. Many Taiwanese businesspeople who left for China eight years ago are now trying to relocate elsewhere because of China's new labor and tax laws.
Ma now faces the test of whether his economic policies can safeguard the interests of overseas Taiwanese businesspeople, while improving Taiwan's investment environment and increasing domestic consumption.
Other problems such as unbalanced regional development in Taiwan, the growing gap between the rich and the poor and the demise of local agricultural sector will also pose challenges to Ma's government.
Problems such as a slowing US economy and global financial woes, however, will always have a negative impact on Taiwan's export-oriented economy, which the new government will also need to be prepared to handle.
In the past month, two important developments are poised to equip Taiwan with expanded capabilities to play foreign policy offense in an age where Taiwan’s diplomatic space is seriously constricted by a hegemonic Beijing. Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) led a delegation of Taiwan and US companies to the Philippines to promote trilateral economic cooperation between the three countries. Additionally, in the past two weeks, Taiwan has placed chip export controls on South Africa in an escalating standoff over the placing of its diplomatic mission in Pretoria, causing the South Africans to pause and ask for consultations to resolve
An altercation involving a 73-year-old woman and a younger person broke out on a Taipei MRT train last week, with videos of the incident going viral online, sparking wide discussions about the controversial priority seats and social norms. In the video, the elderly woman, surnamed Tseng (曾), approached a passenger in a priority seat and demanded that she get up, and after she refused, she swung her bag, hitting her on the knees and calves several times. In return, the commuter asked a nearby passenger to hold her bag, stood up and kicked Tseng, causing her to fall backward and
In December 1937, Japanese troops captured Nanjing and unleashed one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century. Over six weeks, hundreds of thousands were slaughtered and women were raped on a scale that still defies comprehension. Across Asia, the Japanese occupation left deep scars. Singapore, Malaya, the Philippines and much of China endured terror, forced labor and massacres. My own grandfather was tortured by the Japanese in Singapore. His wife, traumatized beyond recovery, lived the rest of her life in silence and breakdown. These stories are real, not abstract history. Here is the irony: Mao Zedong (毛澤東) himself once told visiting
When I reminded my 83-year-old mother on Wednesday that it was the 76th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, she replied: “Yes, it was the day when my family was broken.” That answer captures the paradox of modern China. To most Chinese in mainland China, Oct. 1 is a day of pride — a celebration of national strength, prosperity and global stature. However, on a deeper level, it is also a reminder to many of the families shattered, the freedoms extinguished and the lives sacrificed on the road here. Seventy-six years ago, Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東)
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