The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has three chairmen. Two of them are “honorary,” ie former chairmen, and the third has no honor at all.
At the party’s recent 19th national congress, the one without any honor at all revealed his true colors as he made a shameless grab for power amid much criticism. When one of the honorary ones took the stage, he wept and wept and wept.
The other honorary chairman was careful to stay far away from the congress and the shoes that filled the air, instead choosing to travel to the US, where he was presented with a dubious award for lifetime achievement.
When former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) received the award from the US-China Policy Foundation, he received a silly award from a group of muddleheaded people, denigrating himself in the process.
Although the “honorable” Lien values awards as if they were the water of life, he should make sure that he understands what kind of organization he is accepting tribute from.
The US-China Policy Foundation is registered to Wang Chi (王冀), who is president and co-chair. Former Chinese ambassador to the US Zhou Wenzhong (周文重) is an adviser. The organization moves on the margins of China’s united front work and undertakes some of the issues that are too delicate for the Chinese embassy to deal with.
Wang’s Chinese-language resume boasts that he has received former Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) and former Chinese presidents Jiang Zemin (江澤民) and Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), as well as former Chinese premiers Zhu Rongji (朱鎔基) and Wen Jiabao (溫家寶), assisted the US and China in the setting up of liaison offices and organized Soong Mayling’s (宋美齡) — Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) wife — address to the US Congress (February 1943).
The resume also states that Lien “asked me to pave the way for his visit to China, and I was happy to agree to contact the person in charge of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office and facilitate Lien Chan’s visit to China.”
Lien has been played by a man who likes to exaggerate, and he even thinks that a great honor has been bestowed on him. However, Lien’s office only issued a statement containing the address he delivered at the award ceremony, boasting about the partnership between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party and his ice-breaking visit to China, during which he sold Taiwan down the river.
The statement said nothing about who had presented the award or which prominent figures that attended the ceremony, making it pretty clear that these are not things to be proud of.
Whether as foreign minister, premier or vice president, the “honorable” Lien has moved from anti-communism to siding up with the communists, resembling, to a certain extent, former ROC vice president and acting president Lee Tsung-jen (李宗仁), who attempted to negotiate with the communists during the end of the Chinese Civil War. Still, that he would have to rely on such a small foundation concocting such a thing as a “lifetime achievement award” as a pretext for endorsing his achievements implies a lot of muddleheadedness.
And that is not all. Drawing some conclusions based on the foundation’s services and members, it seems pretty clear that it is relying on China for financial support.
Lien does not understand the importance of such matters, and he belittled himself by accepting the award. He even said that his trip to China to sell out Taiwan was a result of Hu’s determination, and that Hu also should have received an award.
Rarely do we see such confusion and muddleheadedness.
James Wang is a political commentator.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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