With 23 days to go until the Nov. 29 elections, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) appears to be banking on a strategy of polarizing pan-blue and pan-green voters. Despite general dissatisfaction with President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) governance and poor polling numbers by some candidates, KMT nominees could nonetheless achieve electoral success if voters are swayed to follow traditional blue-green lines in areas where pan-blue voters predominate.
This strategy was evident in comments by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who expressed optimism over KMT Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien’s (連勝文) chances of being elected, despite less-than-satisfactory survey results.
“A child with a scabby head is nonetheless one’s own,” Wang reportedly said.
In Taipei’s five previous mayoral elections, no pan-green candidate has ever won more than 50 percent of the vote. The best showing the pan-green camp ever scored was in the 1998 election, when then-Taipei mayor Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost his re-election bid to Ma with 45.9 percent of the vote, to Ma’s 51.1 percent.
The strategy to provoke pan-blue and pan-green voters for electoral gain was also evident in comments Lien made on Tuesday. In response to an incident earlier in the day when a man crashed a car into the gate of Ma’s residence, Lien was quick to link the act to the election by calling on the public to remain rational about voting, even though the man said he was protesting the nation’s bureaucratic medical system.
People have a right to express their opinion, but such violent methods should not be encouraged. The incident was the third case this year in which people have attempted dangerous acts that could have harmed the president. That people feel they need to resort to such drastic measures to express their frustration suggests public grievance is running high.
If Ma were a responsible and wise leader who genuinely wanted to solve grievances, he would ask himself what measures he could take to better alleviate people’s worries and improve their livelihoods.
Instead, the public was treated to scenes of the president hopping around the streets, accompanying Lien to canvas votes in bustling Ximending (西門町). Ma was, as many had anticipated, heckled several times throughout the event, with sporadic clashes between protesters and security officials.
Ma’s presence prompted speculation that he wanted to be heckled or even incite someone to throw another book at him, which would generate more tension and further polarize voters.
This situation means it is the DPP that is most concerned with Ma’s safety, fearing that any harm to the president might hurt the DPP’s chances at the polls. It is little wonder that prior to Ma’s outing on Wednesday last week, the DPP headquarters issued a directive to its party members not to stage protests where Ma and Lien would be, to avoid heckling that might lead to a flare-up between pan-blue and pan-green voters.
Furthermore, with Ma exposing himself to potential harm by engaging in activities in such close proximity to the public, the need to beef up security puts great stress on security agents and the police, as well as inconveniencing the public and holding up traffic.
The competition for the mayoral seat in the capital is fierce. However, Ma should be reminded that he is not only the KMT chairman, he is also the head of state. It would be utterly despicable if he has only his party’s interests in mind and is intentionally creating opportunities for confrontations between pan-blue and pan-green supporters.
Such a ploy would be playing with fire. No one can know for sure what might happen, and the damage to Taiwan’s democratic development could be severe.
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
The past few months have seen tremendous strides in India’s journey to develop a vibrant semiconductor and electronics ecosystem. The nation’s established prowess in information technology (IT) has earned it much-needed revenue and prestige across the globe. Now, through the convergence of engineering talent, supportive government policies, an expanding market and technologically adaptive entrepreneurship, India is striving to become part of global electronics and semiconductor supply chains. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision of “Make in India” and “Design in India” has been the guiding force behind the government’s incentive schemes that span skilling, design, fabrication, assembly, testing and packaging, and
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.