National Assembly members have a date with destiny on April 8. That is the day they must begin formal deliberations -- lasting until April 25 -- on how to eliminate elections for the Assembly, once and for all. In effect, the institution that once held the power to elect the president of this country must now castrate itself.
According to the deal struck by Assembly caucus leaders from the KMT, the DPP and the New Party, future National Assemblies will be filled by a system of proportional representation, based on party performance in elections for the Legislative Yuan. To implement this agreement, the Assembly must hold a provisional meeting -- presided over by President Lee Teng-hui
But the deal does not end there. Though the National Assembly will keep its name, its functions will be reduced and its status will be downgraded to that of a "temporary" organization used for specific missions. To quote DPP member Liu Yi-teh
Backslapping all round, then. Party leaders, the president-elect, members of the public -- it would appear that everyone except the Assembly deputies themselves have obvious reasons to be delighted with this outcome.
But will the dream be realized? We have our doubts. As Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung Sung Suu Kyi, leader of the political opposition in Myanmar, once said: "It is not power that corrupts, but fear -- fear of losing power and fear of the scourge of those who wield it." Should we really be so confident that three-quarters of the Assembly (a total of 315 extremely fallible human beings) have the courage to perform such painful surgery?
The facts of political life in Taiwan do not give cause for optimism. For instance, it is telling that even though the deal was reached three days ago, all three parties and the new People First Party
The hard, horrible truth is that there is nothing for the Assembly's incumbents to lose but their reputations if the deal fails to go through once the horse-trading begins on April 8. And if they have no chance of standing for reelection anyway, why should they care? These people spent a lot of money getting elected and, as far as they are concerned, they have contributed a great deal to their parties' mobilization efforts at the grassroots level. What will there be in return for performing a deed that seems so noble to those who don't have to live by it? Indeed, one can easily imagine them stealing the line made immortal by Cuba Gooding Jr in Jerry Maguire: "Show me the money!"
For evidence of just how necessary and urgently this demand will need to be addressed, one need look only at Soong, that master of backroom dealing, and his stance on the issue. Obviously eager to show his strength in the May 6 election and build his own power bloc in the Assembly, Soong recently said he is not against abolishing or marginalizing the Assembly, but he thinks a "package" solution will be necessary.
Which means such a radical change is unlikely to come so easily for the mainstream factions of the DPP and KMT without a tough fight with their own vested interests as well as Soong.
A Chinese diplomat’s violent threat against Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi following her remarks on defending Taiwan marks a dangerous escalation in East Asian tensions, revealing Beijing’s growing intolerance for dissent and the fragility of regional diplomacy. Chinese Consul General in Osaka Xue Jian (薛劍) on Saturday posted a chilling message on X: “the dirty neck that sticks itself in must be cut off,” in reference to Takaichi’s remark to Japanese lawmakers that an attack on Taiwan could threaten Japan’s survival. The post, which was later deleted, was not an isolated outburst. Xue has also amplified other incendiary messages, including one suggesting
Chinese Consul General in Osaka Xue Jian (薛劍) on Saturday last week shared a news article on social media about Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan, adding that “the dirty neck that sticks itself in must be cut off.” The previous day in the Japanese House of Representatives, Takaichi said that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could constitute “a situation threatening Japan’s survival,” a reference to a legal legal term introduced in 2015 that allows the prime minister to deploy the Japan Self-Defense Forces. The violent nature of Xue’s comments is notable in that it came from a diplomat,
Before 1945, the most widely spoken language in Taiwan was Tai-gi (also known as Taiwanese, Taiwanese Hokkien or Hoklo). However, due to almost a century of language repression policies, many Taiwanese believe that Tai-gi is at risk of disappearing. To understand this crisis, I interviewed academics and activists about Taiwan’s history of language repression, the major challenges of revitalizing Tai-gi and their policy recommendations. Although Taiwanese were pressured to speak Japanese when Taiwan became a Japanese colony in 1895, most managed to keep their heritage languages alive in their homes. However, starting in 1949, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) enacted martial law
“Si ambulat loquitur tetrissitatque sicut anas, anas est” is, in customary international law, the three-part test of anatine ambulation, articulation and tetrissitation. And it is essential to Taiwan’s existence. Apocryphally, it can be traced as far back as Suetonius (蘇埃托尼烏斯) in late first-century Rome. Alas, Suetonius was only talking about ducks (anas). But this self-evident principle was codified as a four-part test at the Montevideo Convention in 1934, to which the United States is a party. Article One: “The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: a) a permanent population; b) a defined territory; c) government;
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