Former National Security Council secretary-general King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) and Tainan City Council Speaker Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) had nothing to do with each other in the past, but since the nine-in-one elections in November last year, King has resigned and Lee has been arrested. Both incidents were dramatic and the fortunes of the two have strong political implications.
Both King and Lee held high positions: One in the central government and the other at local level. According to author Neil Peng (馮光遠), King has a “special relationship” with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), while Lee and New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) are — according to Chu himself — like brothers.
King and Ma were a pair when Ma was chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), while Lee and Chu (now the KMT chairman), have become a pair in the post-Ma era. King’s resignation implies that Ma’s good fortune has run out, while Lee’s arrest on vote-buying allegations are a sign that Chu could be in for some rough weather.
Last year’s nine-in-one elections signaled the end of the Ma-King dynasty. As Qing Dynasty playwright Kong Shangren (孔尚任) wrote in his masterpiece, The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇): “The empire collapsed when your chariot departed. Civil officials panic; your warriors are demoralized. Your mountains have fallen today, your rivers run low. This tower above the moonlit waves is shaken with our cries of lamentation.”
These penetrating words written 300 years ago are a clear depiction of Ma’s regime. Since the elections, the Cabinet has virtually fallen apart. Former premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) and former minister of culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) were quick to jump ship, and were later followed by former ministers Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時) and Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔). KMT Central Standing Committee member Chiu Fu-sheng (邱復生), KMT Legislator Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩) and others have also left, followed by former Presidential Office secretary-general Timothy Yang (楊進添) and King. How can Chu fix all that?
While King’s and Lee’s stories are not exactly the same, there are similarities. At the time King and Yang offered their resignations, the nation was facing critical issues internationally and domestically: China had unilaterally declared new air routes close to the median line of the Taiwan Strait, and closely contested legislative by-elections were about to be held. The day before by-elections is a very sensitive time, yet these two officials could not wait another day to step down.
Meanwhile, Lee, in a bid to stop the vote-buying allegations, asked KMT lawmakers for help, but no one replied. No wonder a frustrated Lee complained: “I am only one person. How can I go up against the entire Democratic Progressive Party?” He decided to fly to China one day after the by-elections, forcing the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office to speed up his arrest and capture him at the airport. Is it a coincidence that Lee has ended up as miserably as Ma and King?
Even former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強), Ma’s last supporter, said in public that he had seen KMT members trying to distance themselves from Ma, prompting him to question if Chu could perform magic to revive the terminally ill KMT. Lo’s attempt to make Ma look good was a disaster, including his remark that the KMT is terminally ill: It not only negated his attempt to make Ma look good and to reprimand Chu, but also showed that the KMT is beyond help.
King’s resignation was the final nail in Ma’s coffin; he has reached the end of the road. Meanwhile, Lee’s arrest could spell the end of Chu, whose first steps as KMT chairman have likewise ended in disaster.
Chin Heng-wei is a political commentator.
Translated by Ethan Zhan
Weeks into the craze, nobody quite knows what to make of the OpenClaw mania sweeping China, marked by viral photos of retirees lining up for installation events and users gathering in red claw hats. The queues and cosplay inspired by the “raising a lobster” trend make for irresistible China clickbait. However, the West is fixating on the least important part of the story. As a consumer craze, OpenClaw — the AI agent designed to do tasks on a user’s behalf — would likely burn out. Without some developer background, it is too glitchy and technically awkward for true mainstream adoption,
On Monday, the day before Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) departed on her visit to China, the party released a promotional video titled “Only with peace can we ‘lie flat’” to highlight its desire to have peace across the Taiwan Strait. However, its use of the expression “lie flat” (tang ping, 躺平) drew sarcastic comments, with critics saying it sounded as if the party was “bowing down” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Amid the controversy over the opposition parties blocking proposed defense budgets, Cheng departed for China after receiving an invitation from the CCP, with a meeting with
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) is leading a delegation to China through Sunday. She is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing tomorrow. That date coincides with the anniversary of the signing of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), which marked a cornerstone of Taiwan-US relations. Staging their meeting on this date makes it clear that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intends to challenge the US and demonstrate its “authority” over Taiwan. Since the US severed official diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979, it has relied on the TRA as a legal basis for all
A delegation of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials led by Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) is to travel to China tomorrow for a six-day visit to Jiangsu, Shanghai and Beijing, which might end with a meeting between Cheng and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). The trip was announced by Xinhua news agency on Monday last week, which cited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Director Song Tao (宋濤) as saying that Cheng has repeatedly expressed willingness to visit China, and that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee and Xi have extended an invitation. Although some people have been speculating about a potential Xi-Cheng
RSS