Farewell to a divided society
Independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) sweeping victory bodes well for Taipei, or even the whole nation, in that the political stalemate created long ago by politicians from the two major political parties can really be broken.
During the campaign, the two major candidates, Ko and the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Sean Lien (連勝文), built their strategies based on two very different visions. Lien’s strategy basically assumed that the gap between the pan-blue camp and the pan-green camp was clear-cut and would never be crossed over.
In contrast, Ko recognized the gap and tried hard to mend it. His campaign theme was: Even though Taipei residents have diverse family backgrounds and political inclinations, the “wall” between the camps could be torn down.
Due to different perceptions, Lien and Ko focused their campaigns on different groups of people. Lien basically appealed to the ruling party’s traditional constituencies: big businesses, military and government employees, and the party’s many affiliated associations. However, Ko tried to outflank the established strongholds of the ruling party and appealed directly to the vast majority of residents, especially the young.
As a result, both men’s campaign activities were distinct. Lien’s was solemn: The themes are party survival, economic development and even the nation’s “life or death.” The venues were traditional campaign battlefields — TV commercials, newspaper ads, campaign motorcades, big rallies, etc.
In contrast, Ko’s campaign activities were a lot merrier. They were hikes, parades, parties and concerts. With a limited budget, he relied on social networking and online communities to summon up supporters, many of whom were young men and women.
Ko’s vision of “one city, one family” has brought about a tremendous change in Taipei’s political landscape. It is time for him to take an even bigger stride to meet the aspirations of society.
Johnway Chen
Taipei
PayPal squeezing customers
A foreigner recently wrote about trouble with PayPal in Taiwan (Letter, Nov. 17, page 8). PayPal has forced its clients in Taiwan to open accounts with E.Sun Bank after entering a mutually beneficial arrangement.
PayPal cares little about the inconvenience to its clients. The foreigner was told that he could not withdraw his funds because he had less than a year left on his Alien Resident Certificate (ARC).
The bank refused to give this gentleman his own money, a shocking case of stupidity and greed as it allowed the bank to continue to collect interest on somebody else’s money. Unfortunately, as a small business owner, I had the same experience when a smug bank employee told me I could not withdraw my own money for the same reason.
I notified a judge about this situation.
PayPal responded in the Taipei Times, blaming Taiwan’s foreign exchange regulations without explaining how this affected removing funds in New Taiwan dollars (Letters, Nov. 30, page 8). It concluded with: “From early next year E.Sun Bank is set to make the withdrawal service more widely available.”
Holding a doctorate in English, I do not understand what this doubletalk means. I still do not know if the same situation will continue or if I will be able to remove funds during the last year of each ARC period.
PayPal has shown once again its contempt for its clients. It is bad enough that the banks pay almost zero interest — do they need to squeeze even more?
Chaim Melamed
Pingtung
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