Two months ago this newspaper warned about China's secret assistance to Taiwan's opposition parties in the Dec. 1 elections -- a story the world heard about in a CNN report on Wednesday. The CNN report pointed out that during closed-door meetings with important KMT personnel, China's officials promised to give the KMT support to ensure the DPP loses the elections -- by reducing the number of seats held by the DPP in the Legislative Yuan.
Even though Taiwan's biggest opposition party has strongly denied the veracity of the CNN report, there are good reasons to believe it is close to the truth. The party's conduct since it lost last year's presidential election has made it appear to be a puppet dancing to China's manipulations to disrupt Taiwan's political stability.
For example, in autumn last year the KMT and other opposition parties abused their legislative majority in an attempt to recall President Chen Shui-bian (
China has made repeated attempts to interfere whenever Taiwan has held elections. China's missile tests in March 1996 and subsequent military practices during Taiwan's elections clearly demonstrate the degree to which it is willing to go to meddle. Thankfully, however, each time Beijing has tried large-scale intimidation tactics, its plans have backfired by triggering widespread among the voters of Taiwan. Parties and candidates whom China strongly disapproved of won with landslides victories, such as former president Lee Teng-hui (
The only way Taiwan can survive living next to such a bully is to firmly stand its ground. In each election the people of Taiwan must continue to tell China, through their votes, that they do not welcome any political interference from the other side of the Strait.
Some people, of course, do vote for pro-Beijing politicians, but they are not representative of the general public and have no chance of becoming a majority. So Beijing is just wasting its money by supporting political dinosaurs who don't seem to realize they are close to extinction. While localized parties which advocate a "Taiwan first" ideology have not yet become a stable legislative majority, they will, given time. It is even possible that this goal of many Taiwanese will become a reality after next week's legislative elections.
This newspaper has said before and will continue to press home the message that the voters of Taiwan must use every opportunity they have to tell Beijing loud and clear that no matter how much money China spends, no matter how much aid it might give opposition parties to help them buy TV and newspaper ads, or how many military exercises it stages, the people of Taiwan should and will continue to say "no" to Beijing.
By choosing candidates who truly advocate the "Taiwan first" ideology, voters will be ensuring that they and their descendents will enjoy the right to vote and to live in a democratic nation.
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
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