KMT’s old habits die hard
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) ostensible ignorance of the impact of declining public opinion could stem from his confidence in being able to preempt the opposition by shutting it down before the next poll.
And if that means extinguishing Taiwan’s democracy and human rights, Ma and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) aren’t doing anything they are not accustomed to.
Aside from unleashing a partisan judiciary on pan-green figures, Ma has resorted to a host of measures to advance his plans that could soon allow him to achieve parity with Beijing in terms of notoriousness.
Reacting to the sit-ins by the Wild Strawberry Student Movement, the Ma administration floated the idea of increasing military personnel on college campuses, possibly to clamp down on wider student unrest and nipping any anti-government sentiment in the bud before it can spread.
Answering both domestic and international concerns regarding police conduct during Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin’s (陳雲林) visit last month, Taipei ensured that precinct captains involved in the security operation received promotions, while many of those deemed “responsible” for “attacking” police were arrested.
Preoccupied with a slumping economy, Taiwanese do not have the time or energy to worry over the possibility that Ma may be stealthily jettisoning Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Likewise, to distract people from the deals inked between the two sides during Chen’s visit, Ma fabricated political quarrels over revisions to the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法).
Ma would like Beijing to see the merits of allowing the KMT to rule Taiwan in perpetuity while resisting the urge to forcefully annex Taiwan, an act that would assuredly provoke a regional conflict.
The morphing of Taiwan into a police state is also a way for Ma to identify with Beijing in terms of values — a forerunner to China and Taiwan teaming up against the West.
To avoid this becoming a reality, Taiwanese must start by putting an end to the KMT’s old habits.
HUANG JEI-HSUAN
Los Angeles, California
Taiwan has lost Trump. Or so a former State Department official and lobbyist would have us believe. Writing for online outlet Domino Theory in an article titled “How Taiwan lost Trump,” Christian Whiton provides a litany of reasons that the William Lai (賴清德) and Donald Trump administrations have supposedly fallen out — and it’s all Lai’s fault. Although many of Whiton’s claims are misleading or ill-informed, the article is helpfully, if unintentionally, revealing of a key aspect of the MAGA worldview. Whiton complains of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s “inability to understand and relate to the New Right in America.” Many
US lobbyist Christian Whiton has published an update to his article, “How Taiwan Lost Trump,” discussed on the editorial page on Sunday. His new article, titled “What Taiwan Should Do” refers to the three articles published in the Taipei Times, saying that none had offered a solution to the problems he identified. That is fair. The articles pushed back on points Whiton made that were felt partisan, misdirected or uninformed; in this response, he offers solutions of his own. While many are on point and he would find no disagreement here, the nuances of the political and historical complexities in
Taiwan is to hold a referendum on Saturday next week to decide whether the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, which was shut down in May after 40 years of service, should restart operations for as long as another 20 years. The referendum was proposed by the opposition Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and passed in the legislature with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Its question reads: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant should continue operations upon approval by the competent authority and confirmation that there are no safety concerns?” Supporters of the proposal argue that nuclear power
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier this month raised its travel alert for China’s Guangdong Province to Level 2 “Alert,” advising travelers to take enhanced precautions amid a chikungunya outbreak in the region. More than 8,000 cases have been reported in the province since June. Chikungunya is caused by the chikungunya virus and transmitted to humans through bites from infected mosquitoes, most commonly Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. These species thrive in warm, humid climates and are also major vectors for dengue, Zika and yellow fever. The disease is characterized by high fever and severe, often incapacitating joint pain.
RSS