As the world bade farewell to the year gone by and ushered in the new year with fireworks, festivities and new year’s resolutions, the nation’s political leaders expressed their wishes for the coming 12 months.
“In the coming year, our government’s goal is to overcome our difficulties and take Taiwan to new heights,” President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said on Friday at her end-of-year news conference, adding in a video released by the Presidential Office late on Sunday that she wishes everyone in Taiwan happiness and prosperity in 2018.
Premier William Lai (賴清德), in a visit to Taipei’s Longshan Temple (龍山寺) yesterday, wished for the well-being of the nation and its people, while Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) called for unity in the party and expressed his hope that it would win support in this year’s local elections.
People yearn for optimism at the beginning of each new year. While their lists might differ, the overall sentiment is the same: joy, enthusiasm and hope for improvement in all aspects of daily life.
As the saying goes: “Well begun is half done.” It is therefore encouraging and comforting to see national leaders, with looks of resolute determination, extending good wishes as they paint a rosy picture and pledge efforts to build a better future.
Looking ahead on issues of critical importance, the government, the governing party and the opposition all have their work cut out for them.
One major political event in the coming year is the nine-in-one local elections, which are to be held either on Nov. 24 or Dec. 1, pending a final decision by the Central Election Commission.
The election of new mayors in the six special municipalities and other cities, as well as county commissioners, could redraw the nation’s political landscape and the public is awaiting the candidates’ campaign platforms to see how they promise to serve the public.
On the legislative front, amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) and the Organic Regulations for Irrigation and Water Conservancy Associations (農田水利會組織通則), as well as various proposed tax reform packages, economic reforms and other tasks require that lawmakers roll up their sleeves, as these measures are crucial for the nation to remain competitive.
The public is also anticipating progress in implementing the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例) that was passed last month.
The law requires that the Executive Yuan set up a nine-member independent committee to implement measures set forth under the act, including investigating human rights abuses under the Martial Law-era KMT regime, rectifying unjust verdicts from that era and retrieving political archives held by political parties and their affiliated organizations.
However, other than an announcement that the Executive Yuan has put Minister Without Portfolio Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) in charge of overseeing the formation of the committee, no further progress has been made. Time is of the essence so that justice can be served and the reputations of the victims restored.
An equally important task for the government is to boost the nation’s visibility in the international arena. The Tsai administration should have a strategy on how to increase Taiwan’s international presence while protecting the nation’s dignity.
If even the nation’s own officials shy away from correctly saying “Taiwan” on the international stage to appease China, how does the nation expect others to voice their support?
Hopefully, government officials will practice what Tsai and Lai have preached and translate their pledges into concrete results, as the public welcomes the new year in the hope that it will usher in a new era of growth, progress and development.
Because much of what former US president Donald Trump says is unhinged and histrionic, it is tempting to dismiss all of it as bunk. Yet the potential future president has a populist knack for sounding alarums that resonate with the zeitgeist — for example, with growing anxiety about World War III and nuclear Armageddon. “We’re a failing nation,” Trump ranted during his US presidential debate against US Vice President Kamala Harris in one particularly meandering answer (the one that also recycled urban myths about immigrants eating cats). “And what, what’s going on here, you’re going to end up in World War
Earlier this month in Newsweek, President William Lai (賴清德) challenged the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to retake the territories lost to Russia in the 19th century rather than invade Taiwan. He stated: “If it is for the sake of territorial integrity, why doesn’t [the PRC] take back the lands occupied by Russia that were signed over in the treaty of Aigun?” This was a brilliant political move to finally state openly what many Chinese in both China and Taiwan have long been thinking about the lost territories in the Russian far east: The Russian far east should be “theirs.” Granted, Lai issued
On Tuesday, President William Lai (賴清德) met with a delegation from the Hoover Institution, a think tank based at Stanford University in California, to discuss strengthening US-Taiwan relations and enhancing peace and stability in the region. The delegation was led by James Ellis Jr, co-chair of the institution’s Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region project and former commander of the US Strategic Command. It also included former Australian minister for foreign affairs Marise Payne, influential US academics and other former policymakers. Think tank diplomacy is an important component of Taiwan’s efforts to maintain high-level dialogue with other nations with which it does
On Sept. 2, Elbridge Colby, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development, wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal called “The US and Taiwan Must Change Course” that defends his position that the US and Taiwan are not doing enough to deter the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from taking Taiwan. Colby is correct, of course: the US and Taiwan need to do a lot more or the PRC will invade Taiwan like Russia did against Ukraine. The US and Taiwan have failed to prepare properly to deter war. The blame must fall on politicians and policymakers