Now that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has pressed charges against Council for Economic Planning and Development Minister Christina Liu (劉憶如) and several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers for their accusations that DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was guilty of wrongdoing in the government’s 2007 investment in a biotechnology startup, the presidential campaigns need to shift their focus back to the issues that are actually close to voters’ hearts.
During the past few days, the public has been subject to yet another mudslinging campaign initiated by KMT lawmakers, with high-ranking Executive Yuan officials bickering about the procedural steps surrounding the startup of Yu Chang Biologics Co (now known as TaiMed Biologic Co) and Tsai’s involvement in her capacity as vice premier at the time. This has left many people asking: “What is this Yu Chang case and why are the details surrounding it important to me?”
While it was necessary for Tsai and the DPP to respond to the initial allegation — which put Tsai’s reputation on the line — and defend her integrity, it is time for the DPP as well as the KMT to put this issue aside and avoid any more mudslinging over the Yu Chang case.
After all, the truth is that the case does not affect voters’ daily lives. There are far more important and urgent issues that the public is concerned with. People throughout the nation are waiting for the presidential candidates to provide solid details about their policy platforms so that they can make an informed decision about who is most deserving of their vote on Jan. 14 and who will lead the nation toward a more promising future.
For example, many people are concerned about the rise in already high real-estate prices. Many voters, especially young adults and newlyweds, are feeling the financial pressure and find themselves unable to afford housing because of the continued appreciation in property values. What solutions are the candidates proposing for this major problem?
Unemployment and underemployment also remain real issues for many Taiwanese, not to mention workers’ fears about the increasing practice of companies asking their employees to take unpaid leave. How do the candidates propose to fix these problems?
As politicians engage in silly-season fights over non-issues and take turns jabbing at each other in the media, many Taiwanese remain victims of the nation’s high unemployment rate, unequal distribution of wealth and government resources, as well as the problematic judicial system that fails to adequately protect human rights.
And what are the presidential candidates’ long-term agricultural policies? After all, there is more to the nation’s agricultural problems than plummeting persimmon prices. Supply and demand imbalances have existed for a long time and now other products, such as ginger, have also begun to experience such problems — and then there are the issues of food security and self-sufficiency.
Most important, however, is that voters are still waiting for the presidential candidates to outline their visions of how to develop the nation and equip the people in Taiwan with more national pride so that they would have the guts and determination to stand up for their nation’s sovereignty and dignity in an effort to create more international space for Taiwan in the face of China’s constant pressure.
The public is still waiting for the candidates to present their visions and solutions to all of these problems, and at the end of the day, these are the issues that will truly matter to the voters come Jan. 14 when they cast their ballots.
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under