US meddling in democracy
It is a shame that despite protests of neutrality, someone or some ones in the US executive office are once again trying to meddle in Taiwan’s presidential election. Since Taiwan is a democracy, this makes such meddling all the more shameful.
First, we had the “secret leak” to the Financial Times that US President Barack Obama’s administration was displeased and mistrustful of Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) almost immediately after her visit to Washington. The leak was of course “confidential,” (such leaks always are to avoid individual responsibility and blame for meddling), but allegedly from “high up, reliable [read: cowardly] sources.”
The almost immediate action of the leak barely after Tsai’s plane had left the ground indicates it was either pre-planned or Tsai did not give the “patsy” answers to questions asked that the US wanted. One has to remember that the US has for more than half a century maintained the official manipulative stance of “undecided and undetermined” regarding Taiwan’s political status even after it achieved its full-fledged democratic status in 1996.
Now three weeks before the presidential election with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in deep trouble, the US has thrown a bone to their “good little boy Ma who has pledged to do nothing,” ie, his “three noes.”
The US via the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) announced that Taiwan has been nominated (not approved) for the US visa-waiver program. This nomination must be followed by an “extensive and detailed evaluation” of Taiwan’s homeland security and immigration systems. One can only imagine how long that will take, especially with “good boy Ma” encouraging and allowing citizens of the People’s Republic of China to waltz in and out of the country almost at will.
Nonetheless, despite such a long-anticipated review process, the AIT was compelled (should we read ordered?) to officially announce it immediately after the nomination and with only three weeks to go before the presidential election. One could not be neutral and wait for another three weeks, especially since nothing will be done in Washington while the Christmas and New Year’s holidays are upon us?
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), of course, immediately referred to the deal as if it were in the bag. However, there are several real questions that Taiwanese and Americans should ask: If the US really trusted “good boy Ma,” why have they only given military upgrades to Taiwan’s aging air force instead of the latest F-16s? Is Ma the perfect patsy for the US as it maintains its manipulative limbo status on Taiwan’s identity and democracy? Is it because Ma will not support Taiwanese self-identity and choice? And finally, for the world, why does the US, which defends all of its wars and military interventions as being based on a belief in promoting democracy, then turn around and meddle in Taiwan’s democracy?
Jerome Keating
Taipei
Just who is Ma loyal to?
Apparently President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is now strongly disavowing that he stands in favor of “ultimate unification.” Such a claim might be believable were it not for two small facts, which I am happy to invite the KMT to rebut if I have somehow become confused or misinformed.
First, whilst touring abroad in February 2006, Ma said that if elected, “the main goal will be to shape domestic conditions for unification and plant the unification idea deep in every sector of society in order to move from an anti-independence strategy toward a pro-unification push.” Later, on the same trip, he said reunification could not proceed without the consent of the Taiwanese people.
What seems apparent from his first statement is that he was planning on building that consent for unification first, absent any great enthusiasm among the self-identifying Taiwanese, whilst at the same time preparing Taiwan, perhaps economically, legally or physically, for unification.
Ma may have achieved many of his aims. He has managed to convince many that the mythical “1992 consensus” is some sort of “Taiwan consensus” about different interpretations of “one China,” despite Beijing having never recognized Ma’s formulation.
His party has managed to sign 15 agreements with the Chinese Communist Party and to ram the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) through the Legislative Yuan without oversight, creating a basis for deepening Taiwanese economic dependency on China.
He has reformulated the status of Taiwan to just being a region of “China” and even rejects the popularly democratic notion of Taiwan as equal to the Republic of China (ROC) and the ROC as equal to Taiwan. Are these not the retrogressive steps of a president seeking to return Taiwan to the pre-democratic era when Taiwanese pride and self-identity were prohibited by the jackboot of KMT martial law, when unelected dinosaur legislators from China still filled the Legislative Yuan and National Assembly and backed the Constitution that was still regarded as applicable to all of China?
Second, I have heard a rumor that the urn containing the ashes of Ma’s late father has some interesting words inscribed on it that, in effect, call on Ma to be a good and filial son by working to achieve the unification his father dearly wished for.
According to Chinese culture, filial piety is one of the core Confucian values to be taken with the utmost seriousness. If the words are true, perhaps Ma can explain to whom he feels the greatest responsibility — the people of Taiwan whose sovereign and self-determining democracy put him in power, or to his father?
Perhaps Ma and the KMT could clarify these points so the public will be less confused about the position of the president and his identity.
Ben Goren
Taichung
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) has repeatedly voiced concern over the weakening cost competitiveness of its US fabs and challenged the US’ “on-shore” policy of building domestic semiconductor capacity. Yet not once has the government said anything, even though the economy is highly dependent on the chip industry. In the US, the cost of operating a semiconductor factory is at least twice the amount required to operate one in Taiwan, rather than the 50 percent he had previously calculated, Chang said on Thursday last week at a forum arranged by CommonWealth Magazine. He said that he had
The Twenty-Four Histories (中國廿四史) is a collection of official Chinese dynastic histories from Records of the Grand Historian (史記) to the History of the Ming Dynasty (明史) that cover the time from the legendary Yellow Emperor (黃帝) to the Chongzhen Emperor (崇禎), the last Ming emperor. History is written by the victors. These histories are not merely records of the rise and fall of emperors, they also demonstrate the ways in which conquerors embellished their own achievements while deriding those of the conquered. The history written by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is no exception. The PRC presents its
The International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant issued on Friday last week for Russian President Vladimir Putin delighted Uighurs, as Putin’s today signals Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) tomorrow. The crimes committed by Xi are many times more serious than what Putin has been accused of. Putin has caused more than 8 million people to flee Ukraine. By imprisoning more than 3 million Uighurs in concentration camps and restricting the movement of more than 10 million Uighurs, Xi has not only denied them the opportunity to live humanely, but also the opportunity to escape oppression. The 8 million Ukrainians who fled
In August 2013, Reuters reported that Beijing had been gaining soft power with investment commitments and trade with countries in Latin America. However, instead of jumping on the chance to make new allies, China stalled requests to establish diplomatic relations with the countries to avoid galling Taiwanese voters. Beijing was also courting then-president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), and the tactic left China with a trump card if cross-strait relations turned cool. China had rebuffed at least five countries’ requests to switch diplomatic recognition to Beijing, the report said, quoting a China analyst. Honduras could become the ninth diplomatic ally, and also the fifth