Some have said that although last Saturday's local government elections were a debacle for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), they were a major victory for Taiwan's democracy. This is an excellent point. A number of renowned DPP candidates graciously admitted defeat and congratulated their opponents, and managed to contain their disgruntled supporters' emotions after the results were released. Such an attitude prevented a repeat of the chaotic scenes following last year's presidential elections, and indicates that the nation's democracy has matured.
Following the elections, pan-green camp supporters have begun to review why they lost. Instead of blaming the pan-blue camp, they have pointed fingers at the DPP leadership, criticizing the imprudent remarks made by President Chen Shiu-bian (
People should especially praise Luo Wen-chia (
Many corruption cases were uncovered in the lead-up to the vote -- including the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) scandal, the excessive bad loans of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) Taipei County Commissioner-elect Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) and Kaohsiung County commissioner nominee Lin Yi-shih (林益世), the defamatory VCD against the KMT's Taoyuan County commissioner-elect Chu Li-lun (朱立倫), the disclosure of the medical records of Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) and recent developments in the Lafayette scandal. The judicial branch must hasten its investigations and deal with those who either committed crimes or made false accusations. We must not allow criminals to escape the reach of the law, for this would only encourage more negative campaign tactics in the future.
It doesn't matter much how the ruling party reorganizes in the wake of its defeat. But whatever it does, it should take this opportunity to establish a model of behavior within a democratic system. Democracies are built on the rule of law, and for this reason it is essential that a proper investigation be conducted into all of the disputes that arose during the campaign. The custom of letting accusations drop after the elections should not be continued, for that would encourage more bad behavior in future. Only in this way can we gradually improve the nation's political culture.
President Chen has done a poor job leading the DPP through legislative and local elections, and on both occasions a number of the party's elite were defeated. He should now focus on further consolidating Taiwan's democratic foundations.
In addition to pushing forward probes into allegations raised during the campaign, the DPP should also seek advice from scholars and experts to decide what the nation's government should look like. The nation must settle on whether it will adopt a presidential or Cabinet system, and whether it should have a five-branch or three-branch system of government.
President Chen should also work to establish an independent investigative system and a government watchdog to maintain ethical practices and monitor government officials' abuse of power. Only in this way will the DPP administration be able to justify its use of taxpayers' money, even if its powers to act in the current situation are considerably curtailed.
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
RSS