China is “intensely worried” about the possibility of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) returning to power, a Washington conference was told on Tuesday.
Beijing does not have “a real good idea” how to handle such a development, said Shelley Rigger, a Taiwan specialist and chair of the political science department at Davidson College in North Carolina.
Rigger said that if the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) suffered important losses in Taiwan’s nine-in-one elections on Saturday next week, there could be “chaos” unleashed within the party ranks.
Addressing the Brookings Institute conference on the upcoming elections, Rigger said that major KMT losses could lead to pressure on President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to “step aside and let other people make the decisions.”
The “real excitement” would start the day after the elections as the impact from the results is felt, Rigger said.
The 2016 presidential and legislative elections would be “keenly observed” by China, she added.
Brookings Institution visiting fellow Huang Min-hua (黃旻華) said voters might still have doubts about DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) because she had not expressed clear views on cross-strait relations or definitive opinions on how to solve trade issues.
University of Canterbury political science professor Alexander Tan (陳永福) said there was little excitement at this stage over the elections although the Sunflower movement had resulted in a political awakening among young voters.
“It’s tempting to look on this election as a referendum on Ma’s performance, but it’s really not about national policy issues; this really is a local election,” Rigger said.
She said that Taiwan would not vote for the DPP as a way of showing resentment against Ma.
“He is not on the ballot and very few people who are close to Ma are on the ballot,” Rigger said.
The Sunflower movement had been a referendum on Ma’s presidency, she said, adding that the movement had resulted in an “astonishing display” of political restraint from the Ma regime.
It was hard to imagine any other country in which the legislative chamber could be taken over by demonstrators for a month and where the resolution would involve minimal repercussions for the demonstrators, but very significant repercussions for the leadership, she said.
Rigger said the Sunflower movement had sent a message of dissatisfaction with “politics as usual” and that changes had to be made.
However, the leaders of the movement were deeply skeptical of both political parties, she said.
Brookings Center for East Asia Policy Studies director Richard Bush, acting as conference moderator, said that China had begun to “lay some boundaries or lines” pointing to what it regarded as acceptable in politics and policies from ruling parties in Taiwan.
He also expressed sorrow at the death earlier this week of former American Institute in Taiwan chairman Nat Bellocchi.
Bush said Bellocchi was a “source of wise counsel” and that he would be greatly missed.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
RSS