The right time to celebrate
We all saw the reaction of certain Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) being handcuffed: They wanted to celebrate with firecrackers.
It so happens that presidential candidates and politicians have opponents with whom they must debate. It so happens that presidents do not gain the support of everyone in the country. Political opponents do not have to love each other — but they can show respect.
Most importantly, lawmakers produce and guard laws, and they should never forget the principle of ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat — the burden of proof rests on he who asserts, not on he who denies.
The reaction of KMT lawmakers, mocking the former president, and their statements celebrating his arrest are shameless and should be condemned by the Harvard-educated president, the leaders of the party and the media. It is yet another below-standard performance made in Taiwan.
The time to celebrate will come when the KMT and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) deliver all the promises they made during the election campaign. Then we, the people, will let off firecrackers instead of venting disappointment.
Hanna Shen
Taipei
Cuffing potential
The arrest and detention of former president Chen Shui-bian is a joke.
First, in any civilized country, fraud or corruption is a white-collar crime. Was there a need to handcuff Chen, who was head of state just six months ago and who has not been convicted of any crime?
It is ludicrous that the prosecutors’ request to remand Chen in custody was based on their assumption that the former president might tamper with evidence in the bribery case against him. If Chen were guilty, he would have tampered with evidence weeks ago.
Chen is not perfect, but Taiwanese should ask themselves whether it is Chen or Ma who would have been able and willing to stand up and protect Taiwan’s interests at all costs.
The answer is clear: It was Chen.
Jason Lee Boon Hong
Singapore
Weeks into the craze, nobody quite knows what to make of the OpenClaw mania sweeping China, marked by viral photos of retirees lining up for installation events and users gathering in red claw hats. The queues and cosplay inspired by the “raising a lobster” trend make for irresistible China clickbait. However, the West is fixating on the least important part of the story. As a consumer craze, OpenClaw — the AI agent designed to do tasks on a user’s behalf — would likely burn out. Without some developer background, it is too glitchy and technically awkward for true mainstream adoption,
On Monday, a group of bipartisan US senators arrived in Taiwan to support the nation’s special defense bill to counter Chinese threats. At the same time, Beijing announced that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had invited Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) to visit China, a move to make the KMT a pawn in its proxy warfare against Taiwan and the US. Since her inauguration as KMT chair last year, Cheng, widely seen as a pro-China figure, has made no secret of her desire to interact with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and meet with Xi, naming it a
A delegation of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials led by Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) is to travel to China tomorrow for a six-day visit to Jiangsu, Shanghai and Beijing, which might end with a meeting between Cheng and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). The trip was announced by Xinhua news agency on Monday last week, which cited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Director Song Tao (宋濤) as saying that Cheng has repeatedly expressed willingness to visit China, and that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee and Xi have extended an invitation. Although some people have been speculating about a potential Xi-Cheng
The ongoing Iran conflict is putting Taiwan’s energy fragility on full display — the island of 23 million people, home to the world’s most advanced semiconductor manufacturing, is highly dependent on imported oil and gas, especially that from the Middle East. In 2025, 69.6 percent of Taiwan’s crude oil and 38.7 percent of liquified natural gas were sourced from the Middle East. In the same year, 62 percent of crude oil and 34 percent of LNG to Taiwan went through the Strait of Hormuz. Taiwan’s state-run oil company CPC Corp’s benchmark crude oil price (70 percent Dubai, 30 percent Brent)
RSS