Ma is a lame duck
When people realized that “all that glitters is not gold,” we lost faith in President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who we thought could inject new momentum into the rotten politics in Taiwan. After reading your thought-provoking editorial (“KMT’s paternalism is self-defeating,” March 2, page 8), I can’t help but want to shout: “It’s the faith, stupid.”
I clearly remember the TV presidential campaign slogan Ma used: “Are you ready?” It implied that he was ready to defeat the administration of former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) and turn a new page in Taiwan’s political history. After almost a year in office, it is hard for us to see the original hope raised by that touching campaign commercial. We have witnessed how Ma has deconstructed the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and an unbearable internal party power struggle where those who resign are being replaced by Ma’s allies. The poor performance of the administration has resulted in a lack of intergovernmental communication on some critical issues, such as the US beef deal and the locally produced swine flu vaccine.
Meanwhile, the hope in our minds has dimmed.
The more Ma tries to apply the old trick of image over substance, even calling in [KMT Secretary-General] King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), the less faith we have in him.
In contrast, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) successfully led her party out of the shadow of former president Chen’s corruption scandal, bringing us a new perspective that we may want to give the DPP another try, while Ma is proving to be a lame duck leading the country.
MANDY CHOU
Taipei
KMT reform misguided
Four consecutive losses at the ballots is a clear message to the Ma administration that it is not doing enough when it comes to reform.
It’s not even that it is not doing enough, but rather that what it does is completely wrong. Do basketball players score in their own basket? Do soccer players score in their own goal? From the US beef incident to the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA), the government has mobilized all its resources to promote its views, but has that improved the standard of living or the national economy?
On the issue of reform, the only changes we’ve seen are how local governments pay their debt (think the money Taipei City owes national health insurance) and how the process for major construction projects has been streamlined (think the neglected environmental impact assessment for the Maokong Gondola).
Not only have these reforms turned logic inside out and failed to improve the situation, but they’ve actually made things worse.
The government may be working hard, but it is working in the wrong direction. It may be reforming, but the reform is wrong. If the government continues to do too little in the way of reform, the KMT will face a fifth consecutive election defeat in the year-end special municipality elections. By that time, the DPP could score its fifth consecutive election victory, but Taiwan will have lost.
HSIA YING-JEN
Taipei
As China steps up a campaign to diplomatically isolate and squeeze Taiwan, it has become more imperative than ever that Taipei play a greater role internationally with the support of the democratic world. To help safeguard its autonomous status, Taiwan needs to go beyond bolstering its defenses with weapons like anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles. With the help of its international backers, it must also expand its diplomatic footprint globally. But are Taiwan’s foreign friends willing to translate their rhetoric into action by helping Taipei carve out more international space for itself? Beating back China’s effort to turn Taiwan into an international pariah
Typhoon Krathon made landfall in southwestern Taiwan last week, bringing strong winds, heavy rain and flooding, cutting power to more than 170,000 homes and water supply to more than 400,000 homes, and leading to more than 600 injuries and four deaths. Due to the typhoon, schools and offices across the nation were ordered to close for two to four days, stirring up familiar controversies over whether local governments’ decisions to call typhoon days were appropriate. The typhoon’s center made landfall in Kaohsiung’s Siaogang District (小港) at noon on Thursday, but it weakened into a tropical depression early on Friday, and its structure
Since the end of the Cold War, the US-China espionage battle has arguably become the largest on Earth. Spying on China is vital for the US, as China’s growing military and technological capabilities pose direct challenges to its interests, especially in defending Taiwan and maintaining security in the Indo-Pacific. Intelligence gathering helps the US counter Chinese aggression, stay ahead of threats and safeguard not only its own security, but also the stability of global trade routes. Unchecked Chinese expansion could destabilize the region and have far-reaching global consequences. In recent years, spying on China has become increasingly difficult for the US
Lately, China has been inviting Taiwanese influencers to travel to China’s Xinjiang region to make films, weaving a “beautiful Xinjiang” narrative as an antidote to the international community’s criticisms by creating a Potemkin village where nothing is awry. Such manipulations appear harmless — even compelling enough for people to go there — but peeling back the shiny veneer reveals something more insidious, something that is hard to ignore. These films are not only meant to promote tourism, but also harbor a deeper level of political intentions. Xinjiang — a region of China continuously listed in global human rights reports —
RSS