Following the 2014 Sunflower movement, the slogan “If the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) does not fall, Taiwan will never get well” became commonplace during the nine-in-one elections that year and during the 2016 presidential and general election.
It reflected public sentiment and the political atmosphere at the time. In 2016 election, the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) defeated the pro-China, pro-unification KMT in a landslide victory.
While the sentiment behind the slogan was justified, and although the KMT has a blood-stained history, having ruled the nation with an iron fist for half a century, it also went through a democratization process, which allowed Taiwan to evolve into a peaceful democracy.
In a democratic political system, it is reasonable for the KMT to be given a chance to go through a period of introspection, reform and renewal to become a democratic party that identifies with Taiwan and holds the government to account as it performs the role of a loyal opposition party.
However, in the past four years, the KMT’s conduct has been utterly disappointing. There has been no meaningful self-reflection, no reform and no identification with Taiwan.
Instead, the KMT continues to cling to its dream of unification with China as it surrenders to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and remains hell-bent on selling out Taiwan.
The party clearly reveled in Burkina Faso’s severing of diplomatic relations with Taiwan, kicking the government while it was down in yet another sign that the KMT is not a democratic Taiwanese party performing its duty as an opposition party, but rather a stooge for Beijing and a fifth column working for the enemy.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) response was crystal clear when she said in a news conference that Taiwan — not the “Republic of China” — would no longer be “patient and accommodating” toward China — not “the mainland.”
US and British media reported Tsai’s reaction as “defiant” and resolute on Taiwanese independence.
The reaction from KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起), former minister of foreign affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) and others has been to condemn Tsai for having brought this on herself.
They have said that Tsai’s refusal to recognize the so-called “1992 consensus” and Beijing’s “one China” principle is why diplomatic allies are cutting relations with Taiwan. According to their warped logic, Tsai — not Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — is in the wrong.
Ou went even further, daring Tsai to declare independence.
The stupidity is astounding. Of course Tsai is gunning for independence — what else does the KMT think Tsai and her party stand for?
Also, the KMT really should reflect on its own dismal record. In more than half a century, its leaders, from Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), have all promised to “take back the mainland,” “liberate our fellow compatriots” and “unite China.” How has that worked out?
Having failed to achieve these goals, the party is selling out Taiwan and waiting for annexation. Not only is the KMT failing to perform its role as a loyal opposition party, it has set itself up as a mortal enemy of the nation.
At November’s nine-in-one elections, the public must rally together to face off the increasingly serious threat from authoritarian China and terminate the KMT at the ballot box.
It is high time that this moribund party was swept into the dustbin of history.
Chiou Chwei-liang is a professor at the University of Queensland, Australia.
Translated by Edward Jones
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