A vessel for improvement
Some Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politicians like to call Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) an “empty-cored vegetable” (空心菜 — “vegetable” and “Tsai” have the same sound in Mandarin), implying she has no substance.
Tsai is well-educated in politics, economics and law and has served as vice premier and head of the Mainland Affairs Council. She was part of the think tank that served former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).
When the DPP was in trouble in 2008, Tsai bravely stood up and led the party. She let Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) run for Taipei mayor without sending a DPP candidate.
Tsai speaks fluent Hakka, Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese), Mandarin and English. She can talk to most Taiwanese and foreigners face-to-face without an interpreter.
Recently, Tsai made major diplomatic breakthroughs with the US. She has learned from her failure four years ago, and the tension in the South China Sea has increased.
Tsai is modest in describing her visits with US government officials as “smooth” instead of “successful.”
Her reply that “23 million Taiwanese are my major examiners” is diplomatic and pertinent to the remark that “she should pass the tests of 1.3 billion Chinese” made by Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai (崔天凱).
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has pressed Tsai to clarify her attitude toward the so-called “1992 consensus.” Obviously, Ma has not yet realized that this “consensus” lowers his approval rating and changes cross-strait relations bilaterally (both shores belonging to one China) as well as unilaterally (Taiwan having no respective description).
As Tsai is running for president of the Republic of China (ROC), instead of Taiwan, it is acceptable for her to say “Taiwan is the ROC and the ROC is Taiwan” and “the current ROC Constitution will be followed.” She is trying to maintain democracy, freedom and peace in Taiwan.
Tsai should take the “empty-cored vegetable” remark as a positive; “open-minded for improvement” (虛心求進).
Charles Hong
Columbus, Ohio
The club of civilized nations
Do European leaders really believe that Taiwan will join the club of civilized nations by calling on the nation to tackle climate change (“Letters,” June 4, page 8) or to stop executions (“EU calls for moratorium on executions,” June 7, page 1)?
Certainly not as long as a jellyfish called Ma Ying-jeou remains in office. In a desperate attempt to shore up votes in the idle hope of saving the presidential election for the KMT, he would rather surrender Taiwan’s reputation as a responsible and civilized nation.
Ma and the KMT do not care one iota about issues of environment or ethics.
There are many arguments against the death penalty (“Executions will not stop murders,” June 7, page 8). Another is that the crimes for which people are executed are a small and very biased selection of all the killings that people commit.
For example, it is possible that global warming has contributed to killing more than a thousand people in India (“A glimpse of Earth’s future,” June 4, page 9). Air pollution possibly kills millions of people and disproportionately affects and kills vulnerable children (http://tinyurl.com/who-ap).
Should we consequently execute the chief executives of fossil fuel corporations?
Is killing a child with a knife (“Eight-year-old who had throat cut dies in hospital,” May 31, page 1) different from killing a child with polluted air (“Air pollution a top 10 killer: study,” Dec. 19, 2012 page 6)?
In both cases, people die because of the irresponsible and selfish actions of others. Therefore, judicial executions are dispensed solely on the basis of popularity, not logic, reason, justice or equality before the law.
Morally upright media commentators have said that air-pollution is state-sanctioned mass poisoning and executions are state-sanctioned murder (“No respect for any life,” May 2, page 8). Both should be stopped immediately to protect basic human rights, which pertain to both perpetrators and victims — because human rights are not given out based on popular opinion (“Too soon to scrap death penalty: Ma,” June 1, page 1), but are inalienable.
This basic concept of human rights is apparently completely lost on the KMT.
Ma’s legacy could be to have been the last Taiwanese president to preside over state-sanctioned murder.
There is hope that the DPP, if elected, invites Taiwan to participate in the club of civilized nations by ending execution and acting responsibility in environmental matters.
Flora Faun
Taipei
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