Since the 2004 presidential election the pan-blue camp's goal has been to pull down President Chen Shui-bian (
To punish an enemy, the easiest way is to look into their finances. No matter how careful people are, there will always be some small fault somewhere.
That explains why the administration of US President George W. Bush used the Internal Revenue Service to audit the books of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People after its chairman publicly criticized Bush.
That also explains why the pan-blue camp wants to look into Chen's secret diplomacy fund.
An accountant friend told me that according to the Chinese way of keeping records, when receipts are required to clear an expenditure, any receipt will do regardless where it comes from. Chen used his wife's receipts from a jewelry purchase to help close the expenditures of the secret account.
Chen did what his predecessors did, and fell into a trap.
Taiwanese need to understand that this is a political case, that this is a part of the pan-blue strategy to pull down Chen, and that it is not a simple case of corruption. The Taiwanese need to fight to keep Chen. And they need to understand that they are not fighting to keep Chen the person -- they are fighting to keep a president who is Taiwanese.
Remember: If the pan-blue camp returns to power, Taiwan will be lost.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) have said explicitly that merging Taiwan into China is their ultimate goal. Taiwan will become a province of China and the Taiwanese will become Chinese, if the pan-blues get back into power.
There won't be democracy and justice under foreign rulers.
If the Taiwanese just want democracy and justice regardless who the ruler is, they should ask the Iraqis why they are fighting the US Army in Iraq. They should ask the Palestinians why they are fighting Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Ken Huang
California
I came to Taiwan to pursue my degree thinking that Taiwanese are “friendly,” but I was welcomed by Taiwanese classmates laughing at my friend’s name, Maria (瑪莉亞). At the time, I could not understand why they were mocking the name of Jesus’ mother. Later, I learned that “Maria” had become a stereotype — a shorthand for Filipino migrant workers. That was because many Filipino women in Taiwan, especially those who became house helpers, happen to have that name. With the rapidly increasing number of foreigners coming to Taiwan to work or study, more Taiwanese are interacting, socializing and forming relationships with
Whether in terms of market commonality or resource similarity, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co is the biggest competitor of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC). The two companies have agreed to set up factories in the US and are also recipients of subsidies from the US CHIPS and Science Act, which was signed into law by former US president Joe Biden. However, changes in the market competitiveness of the two companies clearly reveal the context behind TSMC’s investments in the US. As US semiconductor giant Intel Corp has faced continuous delays developing its advanced processes, the world’s two major wafer foundries, TSMC and
We are witnessing a sea change in the government’s approach to China, from one of reasonable, low-key reluctance at rocking the boat to a collapse of pretense over and patience in Beijing’s willful intransigence. Finally, we are seeing a more common sense approach in the face of active shows of hostility from a foreign power. According to Article 2 of the 2020 Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法), a “foreign hostile force” is defined as “countries, political entities or groups that are at war with or are engaged in a military standoff with the Republic of China [ROC]. The same stipulation applies to
The following case, which I experienced as an interpreter, illustrates that many issues in Taiwan’s legal system originate from law enforcement personnel. The problem stems not so much from their education and training, but their personal attitude — characterized by excessive self-confidence paired with a lack of accountability. One day at 10:30am, I was called to a police station in New Taipei City for an emergency. I arrived an hour later. A man was tied to a chair, having been arrested at the airport due to an outstanding arrest warrant. It quickly became apparent that the case was related to
RSS