For those present it was a memorable night. On March 17, 2000, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was holding its election-eve rally in support of its presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian (
The location was the Zhongshan Soccer Stadium in Taipei. Behind the stage was a stand full of the party faithful and representatives of civic organizations. One by one, these groups ran on stage to pump up the crowd, witnessed by a VIP group at the front that included foreign media and academics.
A number of celebrities took the stage, carefully chosen for their appeal across the ethnic divide. Yang Chuan-kuang (
As interminable as election rallies can be, this one was something special, and a surprise had been promised to finish the night.
That surprise was a video endorsement by Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (
The choice was hardly difficult. Of Chen's two main opponents, one was a man who in most countries would already have found himself in jail; the other was a man who in most countries would be denounced as unfit for high office, if not as a traitor.
Even so, Lee's support seemed to lend Chen a last boost in credibility -- 12 hours before voting stations opened. Lee's injection into the campaign has since been mythologized as significant, if not decisive.
In retrospect it is unclear that Lee's support affected the result, as close as it was. But Lee's reputation was enhanced -- not so much as a kingmaker as a person of wisdom who had the needs of the average Taiwanese in mind as much as those of the ruling elite or the academic world.
His role in the Chen administration therefore became more influential as he attempted to ease cross-strait tensions and push for other reforms.
Six-and-a-half years later and the cycle of support and abandonment is complete. Lee, no longer head of Academia Sinica, has urged Chen to resign over the scandals besetting the Presidential Office.
For Chen, though painful, Lee's appeal is merely one of a series of personal blows and can therefore be placed in some sort of perspective.
But Chen's constitutional position remains unchanged, and assuming he survives the third recall motion, his decision to stay or step down should be made with the interests of the nation in mind, not the degree of regard in which he is held by a scientist, even one as venerable as Lee.
Lee's currency as a moral arbiter has also been compromised -- not by any error of commission on his part, but by the fact that his political agenda was never more than half-fulfilled, notably the naive assumption that goodwill toward Beijing would have any meaningful effect.
There is something rather tragic about the Chen-Lee relationship. Chen has been stained by serving his politically fractured country, while Lee's reputation -- for most people -- has only been enhanced. It is hoped that Lee, as he attends his overseas conference with his comfortable scientist's aura, will understand this, and especially that he only ever gained from his association with the president.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long been expansionist and contemptuous of international law. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the CCP regime has become more despotic, coercive and punitive. As part of its strategy to annex Taiwan, Beijing has sought to erase the island democracy’s international identity by bribing countries to sever diplomatic ties with Taipei. One by one, China has peeled away Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic partners, leaving just 12 countries (mostly small developing states) and the Vatican recognizing Taiwan as a sovereign nation. Taiwan’s formal international space has shrunk dramatically. Yet even as Beijing has scored diplomatic successes, its overreach
For Taiwan, the ongoing US and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets are a warning signal: When a major power stretches the boundaries of self-defense, smaller states feel the tremors first. Taiwan’s security rests on two pillars: US deterrence and the credibility of international law. The first deters coercion from China. The second legitimizes Taiwan’s place in the international community. One is material. The other is moral. Both are indispensable. Under the UN Charter, force is lawful only in response to an armed attack or with UN Security Council authorization. Even pre-emptive self-defense — long debated — requires a demonstrably imminent
Since being re-elected, US President Donald Trump has consistently taken concrete action to counter China and to safeguard the interests of the US and other democratic nations. The attacks on Iran, the earlier capture of deposed of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and efforts to remove Chinese influence from the Panama Canal all demonstrate that, as tensions with Beijing intensify, Washington has adopted a hardline stance aimed at weakening its power. Iran and Venezuela are important allies and major oil suppliers of China, and the US has effectively decapitated both. The US has continuously strengthened its military presence in the Philippines. Japanese Prime
After “Operation Absolute Resolve” to capture former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, the US joined Israel on Saturday last week in launching “Operation Epic Fury” to remove Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his theocratic regime leadership team. The two blitzes are widely believed to be a prelude to US President Donald Trump changing the geopolitical landscape in the Indo-Pacific region, targeting China’s rise. In the National Security Strategic report released in December last year, the Trump administration made it clear that the US would focus on “restoring American pre-eminence in the Western hemisphere,” and “competing with China economically and militarily
RSS