The results of the recently concluded nine-in-one elections have given the overseas Taiwanese community new hope for the nation’s future. These elections demonstrated that Taiwanese are willing to work hard for their freedom and preserve their vibrant democracy.
For the first time since the transition to democracy in the early 1990s, Taiwan has a more level political playing field. Until now, elections were too often determined by who had the most money, power and influence.
However, this virtual monopoly has now been ended by the influence of the Internet and the involvement of a new generation of young people, inspired by the Sunflower movement students and activists who occupied the legislature earlier this year to protest the handling of the cross-strait service trade agreement.
The “politics as usual” spell has been broken: The electorate has grown tired of the massive TV advertising campaigns, the mudslinging, the huge billboards along the roads and the ubiquitous campaign trucks with loudspeakers. As the campaign waged by Taipei mayor-elect Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) showed, people are more impressed by down-to-earth solutions to practical problems, transparency and good governance.
All of this promises a better Taiwan, but the hard work is still ahead. The country still needs to go through a number of reforms to make the nation truly better — a better place to live, a better homeland for all.
Two places to start are judicial reform and legislative reform: The judicial system is still too beholden to one political party and too prone to political influence. Taiwan needs a judicial system that is truly independent, with rule of law instead of rule by law.
Legislative reform is also badly needed, since the political stalemate seen recently has occurred in part been due to legislators’ lack of freedom to make up their own mind on the issues before them. In particular, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers are often too beholden to the central party leadership to get funding for their campaigns, making them unwilling to deviate from the party line.
In addition, the Legislative Yuan needs to assume a true checks and balance role vis-a-vis the executive branch.
Economic reforms are also badly needed. While Taiwan’s economy still has a lot of vitality and ingenuity, it is being dragged down by old state-run enterprises like Taiwan Power Co, China Steel Corp, China Shipbuilding Corp, China Airlines, etc. These corporations are run by KMT party stalwarts who hold their plush jobs because of their party connections. A large-scale shakeup would hopefully bring new vitality and more competitiveness.
The impact of the Nov. 29 elections goes way beyond domestic issues: The results were a rejection of the way President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has handled international relations and cross-strait affairs. Under Ma’s rule, Taiwan has hardly gained any international space.
Cross-strait affairs are, of course, the most crucial issue. No one is against having good relations with China, but this engagement needs to be balanced, transparent and respectful of the freedom and democracy Taiwan has achieved.
Ma’s rapprochement policy toward China is only leading Taiwan further into international isolation, making the nation increasingly economically dependent on China, so that eventually Taiwanese will have no choice regarding their future.
Taiwanese-Americans fully support the nation’s vibrant democracy and will do everything to help Taiwan be accepted as a full, equal member in the international family of nations.
Mark Kao is the president of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs, a Taiwanese-American grassroots organization headquartered in Washington.
Two sets of economic data released last week by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) have drawn mixed reactions from the public: One on the nation’s economic performance in the first quarter of the year and the other on Taiwan’s household wealth distribution in 2021. GDP growth for the first quarter was faster than expected, at 6.51 percent year-on-year, an acceleration from the previous quarter’s 4.93 percent and higher than the agency’s February estimate of 5.92 percent. It was also the highest growth since the second quarter of 2021, when the economy expanded 8.07 percent, DGBAS data showed. The growth
In the intricate ballet of geopolitics, names signify more than mere identification: They embody history, culture and sovereignty. The recent decision by China to refer to Arunachal Pradesh as “Tsang Nan” or South Tibet, and to rename Tibet as “Xizang,” is a strategic move that extends beyond cartography into the realm of diplomatic signaling. This op-ed explores the implications of these actions and India’s potential response. Names are potent symbols in international relations, encapsulating the essence of a nation’s stance on territorial disputes. China’s choice to rename regions within Indian territory is not merely a linguistic exercise, but a symbolic assertion
More than seven months into the armed conflict in Gaza, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the risk of genocide following a case brought by South Africa regarding Israel’s breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The international community, including Amnesty International, called for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to prevent further loss of civilian lives and to ensure access to life-saving aid. Several protests have been organized around the world, including at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and many other universities in the US.
Every day since Oct. 7 last year, the world has watched an unprecedented wave of violence rain down on Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories — more than 200 days of constant suffering and death in Gaza with just a seven-day pause. Many of us in the American expatriate community in Taiwan have been watching this tragedy unfold in horror. We know we are implicated with every US-made “dumb” bomb dropped on a civilian target and by the diplomatic cover our government gives to the Israeli government, which has only gotten more extreme with such impunity. Meantime, multicultural coalitions of US