Political parties in both democratic Taiwan and autocratic China have lately experienced quite a number of fiascos and been busy expelling party members.
In Taiwan, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) expelled five Tainan city councilors for voting against the party line in last week’s council speaker election and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) terminated media personality Clara Chou’s (周玉蔻) party membership for “inappropriate” conduct.
In China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) expelled former domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang (周永康).
After meting out the punishments, both Taiwanese parties are now faced with appeals from members who feel that they have been unjustifiably expelled.
As for China, the communist government has purged the “sinner” so thoroughly he dares not utter a single sound.
As far as party operations and discipline go, it only stands to reason that the DPP should expel city councilors who were “out of line.” The DPP should also assist the Ministry of Justice in investigating allegations of vote-buying to get rid of corrupt politicians.
It also stands to reason that the KMT should kick out politicians who have been charged with bribery, but to expel Chou for “making several public remarks in the media attacking the party, immensely harming the party’s reputation and interests, rendering Chou’s actions a serious offense to party discipline” is entirely unreasonable.
A KMT statement did not deny the validity of her remarks, nor did it mention who those “offensive” remarks were referring to — the KMT’s chairman, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), or former KMT Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文)? The only thing the KMT has in mind is to suppress the freedom of speech of members who work in the media so that the party’s nasty business remains unknown to the outside world.
There is now a public consensus that the KMT under Ma’s leadership is both corrupt and inept. Does the party still possess any “reputation” that can be further destroyed? Chou’s remarks did not necessarily hurt the party’s reputation, but Ma’s obstinate behavior has caused harm to the KMT. Perhaps he is the one that should be expelled.
The party heavyweight that was expelled by the CCP was also surnamed “Chou/Zhou” (周). Like his Taiwanese namesake, he, too, was accused of “seriously damaging the party’s image.”
Regardless of whether this accusation was true or false, at least the CCP was smart enough to legitimize his expulsion by fabricating a longer and more comprehensive list of his crimes, including greed, lust and abuse of power to profit himself and his family, among others.
Zhou has been called a “big tiger” in China, and this tiger has now been captured by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
Ma also tried to purge a big tiger in Taiwan — Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) — but the tiger went on the counterattack and left Ma with wounds that might never heal.
Clara Chou was just a low-level party member who talked too much, like a crow, but she was ousted by vice president and acting KMT chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), who used to accompany rehabilitated gangsters on tours, and who has caused a lot of damage to the party’s image.
Hunting tigers, crows and greedy, dispensable low-level politicians only reveals the KMT’s fear of its own incompetence.
James Wang is a political commentator.
Translated by Ethan Zhan
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