President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has performed poorly during his time in office; his campaign slogan “total government, total responsibility” is nothing but empty words. Ma is a true politician. He excels in taking credit for things that go right and passing the buck when they go wrong.
Ma exploits former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) for his own political benefit, using him to foment ethnic tensions through Chen’s continued imprisonment. As a result, non-violent democratic reforms have been tainted by confrontation between the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and opposition camps. Although Ma named the plaza at Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building the “democratic plaza against corruption,” it should have been called the “corruption plaza against democracy.” What an embarrassment.
Ma has placed his hopes in China, his great benefactor, depending on Beijing, while putting Taiwan’s sovereignty at risk. Meanwhile, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) continues to bully the Republic of China (ROC). On Monday, China’s Global Times even mocked Ma as a “local government head” after he expressed support for the Occupy Central pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
With the nine-in-one elections approaching, now is a good time for voters to scrutinize Ma’s political record. Some say that the nation cannot make progress until the KMT collapses.
The KMT nominated former Kaohsiung County commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興), who left the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and National University of Tainan president Huang Hsiu-shuang (黃秀霜) for the Kaohsiung and Tainan mayoral elections respectively.
However, their support ratings are significantly lower than those of the DPP’s Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) and Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德), who are both running for re-election.
In Greater Taichung, DPP mayoral candidate Lin Chia-lung’s (林佳龍) support ratings are also much higher than those of the KMT’s Greater Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強), who is running for re-election.
As for Taipei City, independent mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) is an “atypical” candidate, having formed a “grand opposition coalition,” and has a high degree of support among younger voters and women. He has surpassed the blue and green camps on the political map, with higher support ratings than the KMT’s mayoral candidate, Sean Lien (連戰), who has been abandoned by some KMT members.
However, some KMT politicians have attempted to create friction between the blue and green camps to help Lien by stirring up the party’s supporters. Even the KMT’s Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), after being repeatedly insulted by Ma, recently said that Lien is likely to win the Taipei mayoral election. Is he serious?
In order to save the KMT, the nation should let the party fail, so it can wake up and understand the true meaning of democracy. Voters should terminate KMT rule so a new nation can be born. Then, as the ROC transforms into a new nation named Taiwan, it can end the PRC’s ambition to annex the ROC.
If the KMT suffers a major defeat in the elections, the party would have to review itself before the 2016 presidential and legislative elections. This might change the evil KMT regime, and the fake nation named the ROC.
The recent food safety scandals reflect the poor health of the nation’s politics. To address the problem from the roots, the KMT should be removed from power. The public must distinguish between right and wrong, and in doing so, it can make progress toward a promising new nation.
Lee Min-yung is a poet.
Translated by Eddy Chang
From the Iran war and nuclear weapons to tariffs and artificial intelligence, the agenda for this week’s Beijing summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is packed. Xi would almost certainly bring up Taiwan, if only to demonstrate his inflexibility on the matter. However, no one needs to meet with Xi face-to-face to understand his stance. A visit to the National Museum of China in Beijing — in particular, the “Road to Rejuvenation” exhibition, which chronicles the rise and rule of the Chinese Communist Party — might be even more revealing. Xi took the members
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on Friday used their legislative majority to push their version of a special defense budget bill to fund the purchase of US military equipment, with the combined spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.78 billion). The bill, which fell short of the Executive Yuan’s NT$1.25 trillion request, was passed by a 59-0 margin with 48 abstentions in the 113-seat legislature. KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), who reportedly met with TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) for a private meeting before holding a joint post-vote news conference, was said to have mobilized her
The inter-Korean relationship, long defined by national division, offers the clearest mirror within East Asia for cross-strait relations. Yet even there, reunification language is breaking down. The South Korean government disclosed on Wednesday last week that North Korea’s constitutional revision in March had deleted references to reunification and added a territorial clause defining its border with South Korea. South Korea is also seriously debating whether national reunification with North Korea is still necessary. On April 27, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung marked the eighth anniversary of the Panmunjom Declaration, the 2018 inter-Korean agreement in which the two Koreas pledged to
I wrote this before US President Donald Trump embarked on his uneventful state visit to China on Thursday. So, I shall confine my observations to the joint US-Philippine military exercise of April 20 through May 8, known collectively as “Balikatan 2026.” This year’s Balikatan was notable for its “firsts.” First, it was conducted primarily with Taiwan in mind, not the Philippines or even the South China Sea. It also showed that in the Pacific, America’s alliance network is still robust. Allies are enthusiastic about America’s renewed leadership in the region. Nine decades ago, in 1936, America had neither military strength
RSS