Signs suggest that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and his lackeys may be looking for ways for Lien to stay in the party chairman post. Now that Lien has experienced the imperial reception accorded by Beijing during his recent trip to China, it must be difficult for him to start packing up for the retirement home.

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By the Liberty Times editorial
Taiwan's "China fever" has reached the boiling point. Right after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) returned from his trip to China last Tuesday against a backdrop of skepticism from the Taiwanese people, People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) embarked on a similar trip. Perhaps more surprising, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was visiting allies in the South Pacific at the time.

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By Wang Dan 王丹
Owing to China's red-carpet treatment and its propaganda machine, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) recent visit to China has become a major topic of discussion among the Chinese people. Throughout his historic tour of China, Lien was greeted by countless smiling faces, compliments and accolades. Nevertheless, there are probably some different voices that he did not get to hear, so I feel obliged to relay these to him.

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Blair's face-slapping by the British electorate may in the end turn out to be a good thing for the nation's democracy
By Jonathan Freedland
Most among the long faces of the UK's Labour Party was this fact: a party which had never won two full terms in government won a third.

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A disheartened prime minister, shaken by public hostility toward him during the election campaign, now faces a number of very difficult decisions
By Patrick Wintour and Ewen Macaskill
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been shocked by the personal hostility shown towards him during the election campaign and is doubtful that he can win back the trust of the British people, some of his closest political colleagues admit.

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By William Safire
The sleepwalking Lady Macbeth, obsessively trying to wash her hands of imaginary blood, is observed by a Doctor of Physic and a horrified Waiting-Gentle-Woman. As Shakespeare's most famous villainess cries, "Out, damned spot!" the doctor whispers a warning to his fellow witness: "Go to, go to; you have known what you should not."

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By Huang Jei-hsuan
Taiwan's democracy is in the midst of the most trying period of its young life.

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