Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) has made clear her intention not to run in next year's presidential election, saying she will be happy to pave the way for someone more qualified. Is this true?
Another source tells us that Lu has told two senior DPP members she will not run again, and that she hopes President Chen Shui-bian (
If she really is serious about not running -- which would relate to what Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) has called "a feeling that one's own abilities are limited" -- and wants to give Chen a free hand in choosing his partner, she shouldn't say in public that he should "choose someone from within the DPP," and have someone reveal on her behalf that she will "recommend someone talented."
Furthermore, her suggestion that a new candidate be picked within the party actually eliminates the hottest candidates figuring in present rumors -- Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Taiwan High-Speed Railway chairwoman Nita Ing (殷琪) and even Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲), shrinking the field of contestants to Taipei County Commissioner Su Chen-chang (蘇貞昌) and Premier Yu Shyi-kun.
Chen is well aware of how violent the aggressive Lu can become when she does not receive recognition.
He suffered for two years before he changed his approach and began doting on her and coaxing her. She wants to be the other half of the team building the nation, not a vice president on stand-by, and so Chen has brought her along on troop reviews and Cabinet meetings. Since she does not like to be cold-shouldered, Chen has been praising her in public, both to comfort her and to stop her from holding him back.
Chen really does not want to pair up with Lu again. His Justice Alliance faction understands this well -- they say a Chen-Lu ticket has "lost its freshness." If that pairing in the end is once again promoted, it will be out of frustration, due to some dream-team options turning down the offer.
Lu's strategy seems to be to retreat in order to be able to advance, which isn't necessarily the clever thing to do. To succeed in such an approach, a trump card is necessary, eg, control of the military, so that a retreat would frighten one's opponents, forcing them to bring one back by offering better conditions than before.
Lu does not hold such a trump card, nor is her prestige among the public very high or her position in the DPP very strong. Her only strength is the support of Taiwan-independence proponents. However, in the stand-off between the green and blue camps, they have no choice but to support the DPP. If the choice of vice presidential candidate must reflect the independence faction, Tsai's performance at the Mainland Affairs Council should be sufficient to mollify independence proponents.
Lu's assurances that she won't run are met with distrust. Chen's status is declining both within and outside the DPP, and a decision to once again pair up with Lu would be met with the same distrust. These two contradictory "factors of distrust" are certain to create a tense political situation.
Chen Ro-jinn is a freelance writer.
Translated by Perry Svensson
They did it again. For the whole world to see: an image of a Taiwan flag crushed by an industrial press, and the horrifying warning that “it’s closer than you think.” All with the seal of authenticity that only a reputable international media outlet can give. The Economist turned what looks like a pastiche of a poster for a grim horror movie into a truth everyone can digest, accept, and use to support exactly the opinion China wants you to have: It is over and done, Taiwan is doomed. Four years after inaccurately naming Taiwan the most dangerous place on
Wherever one looks, the United States is ceding ground to China. From foreign aid to foreign trade, and from reorganizations to organizational guidance, the Trump administration has embarked on a stunning effort to hobble itself in grappling with what his own secretary of state calls “the most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted.” The problems start at the Department of State. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has asserted that “it’s not normal for the world to simply have a unipolar power” and that the world has returned to multipolarity, with “multi-great powers in different parts of the
President William Lai (賴清德) recently attended an event in Taipei marking the end of World War II in Europe, emphasizing in his speech: “Using force to invade another country is an unjust act and will ultimately fail.” In just a few words, he captured the core values of the postwar international order and reminded us again: History is not just for reflection, but serves as a warning for the present. From a broad historical perspective, his statement carries weight. For centuries, international relations operated under the law of the jungle — where the strong dominated and the weak were constrained. That
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
RSS