Both President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who also serves as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman, and former vice president and KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) have impressive educational pedigrees, having been educated in the US.
And yet, for the benefit of the Taipei mayoral candidacy of Sean Lien (連勝文), a third-generation heir to the Lien political and financial dynasty, the two men have somehow persuaded two legislators to risk their reputations to do their political dirty work for them. One legislator is acting as Sean Lien’s campaign chairman, while the second is a popular pundit whose sole focus lately has been Sean Lien’s political rival.
It is easy to imagine that both Ma and Lien Chan will say that this is all above board and perfectly legal, and that legislators are free to act as they please and can defend themselves, as the Republic of China Constitution says nothing to prohibit them from punditry or playing the political attack dog.
Legislators, they would also say, have the right and the freedom to take on other jobs if they so wish.
The powers-that-be treat the rules of democracy with contempt, adhering only to the party-state ideology. They demonstrate a lack of respect for legislatorial independence and the elevated role legislators in their positions as elected representatives of the public, and encourage them to neglect their main duties. It is a disgrace.
Meanwhile, the legislators have no self-respect and are negligent in their clearly defined constitutional responsibilities.
The indulgent resorting to political thuggery, with veins bulging and spittle flying, is debasing to the institution of the legislature.
Members of the US Congress who appears on TV do so for one of two reasons: They are either being interviewed or they are discussing a specific issue, representing the party to which they are affiliated. They are not paid extra for their allotted tasks of keeping tabs on the government or of communicating with the electorate. They do not confuse their roles or become pugnacious political commentators.
In something of a miraculous political turnaround, the pundit, a KMT legislator, previously known for voicing her opinions on political talk shows and occasionally taking issue with what her own party was doing, has suddenly come out fighting in Sean Lien’s corner. God only knows what the KMT did to get at her, but there she has been on TV, sharp-tongued and bullish.
Perhaps she was reluctant to do the fighting for Sean Lien, but she has denied that her decision to do so has anything to do with the Liens’ fortune. She says that knowledge is a form of wealth in itself, and so she is wealthier than the Lien family, and would not be influenced by their money.
She might want to define wealth in this way, but it does not wash.
Lien senior and junior are both well-educated and they also have prodigious wealth. She cannot use this to gloss over the fact that she has turned into the Liens’ attack dog.
The KMT has bull-headed chairmen and it employs bull-headed thugs to do its dirty work.
James Wang is a political commentator.
Translated by Paul Cooper
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
On Wednesday last week, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) asserting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) territorial claim over Taiwan effective 1945, predicated upon instruments such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation. The article further contended that this de jure and de facto status was subsequently reaffirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly issued a statement categorically repudiating these assertions. In addition to the reasons put forward by the ministry, I believe that China’s assertions are open to questions in international
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of
As strategic tensions escalate across the vast Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as more than a potential flashpoint. It is the fulcrum upon which the credibility of the evolving American-led strategy of integrated deterrence now rests. How the US and regional powers like Japan respond to Taiwan’s defense, and how credible the deterrent against Chinese aggression proves to be, will profoundly shape the Indo-Pacific security architecture for years to come. A successful defense of Taiwan through strengthened deterrence in the Indo-Pacific would enhance the credibility of the US-led alliance system and underpin America’s global preeminence, while a failure of integrated deterrence would
RSS