President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Saturday last week spoke at the opening of the Ching-kuo Chi-hai Cultural Park (經國七海文化園區) and the Chiang Ching-kuo Presidential Library in Taipei.
Despite drawing criticism from all sides for doing so, she was able to kill five birds with one stone.
The first was in the grace and generosity she displayed. Tsai spoke positively about Chiang Ching-kuo’s (蔣經國) staunchly anti-communist stance, highlighting the ridiculousness of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) position of working with the Chinese Communist Party.
This was a slap in the face to pan-blue camp leaders such as former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), former KMT vice chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), who were in the audience and must have felt uncomfortable.
The gesture was also good for national unity, making Tsai look like a president for all Taiwanese, no matter their political views.
A My-Formosa.com poll showed that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has an approval rating of 46.3 percent, compared with a 23.7 percent approval and 63 percent disapproval rating for the KMT.
Tsai showed grace in her capacity as DPP chairperson to enter the library built to honor Chiang. Can anyone imagine Chu walking into the Nylon Cheng Liberty Foundation and Memorial Museum, built in honor of democracy advocate Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕)?
Nobody is happier than Beijing to see a divided Taiwan, and Tsai has shown herself to be the first to offer an olive branch to her political rivals.
No politician is perfect, and that is certainly true for Chiang. Taiwanese cannot, and should not, forgive or forget his connection to the deaths of democracy advocate Chen Wen-chen (陳文成) and the mother and twin daughters of former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄), or his role in the Kaohsiung Incident trials.
Tsai did not seek to absolve Chiang of his sins. She only recognized his anti-communist stance. In no way should her words be seen as a betrayal of the DPP’s long-held position on Chiang’s autocratic regime.
Second, she showed true grit and self-assurance by walking into the deep-blue lair, where anyone present could make a scene, or even put her personal safety at risk.
Her self-assuredness was in no small part due to her party’s victories last month with the failure of the four referendum proposals and DPP Legislator Lin Ching-yi’s (林靜儀) win in Taichung’s second district legislative by-election.
Third, Tsai has placed the cat firmly among the pigeons in the KMT camp, causing internal turmoil in a party petrified that she, having commandeered the Republic of China (ROC), is going to run off with Chiang, a symbol of the KMT’s glory days.
It is no wonder that former TVBS news anchor Lee Yen-chiou (李艷秋) said: “If even Chiang Ching-kuo has become one of the DPP’s assets, what does the KMT have left?”
This has really hit the pan-blue camp where it hurts.
Fourth, Tsai’s appearance at the park’s opening ceremony shows that she has consolidated her power. Naturally, there are those within the DPP who will criticize her for speaking at the event, but she will hopefully be able to leverage her high level of support — she has a 54 percent approval rating and 53 percent confidence rating, the My-Formosa.com poll showed — to persuade the pro-independence camp and opponents within her party to trust her.
Finally, she might win over moderate blue voters, more of whom view Chiang positively than negatively. If you do not enter the tiger’s lair, how will you steal the cubs?
The KMT often says it holds Chiang in high esteem, but this has become little more than a slogan, as it has essentially abandoned his core values, and it is Tsai who is standing up to the Chinese communists.
The blame lies at the feet of Ma, who during his presidency promised to steer clear of the topics of unification, independence and defense, and since then has gone from “not speaking of unification” to “not ruling unification out.”
Fan Shih-ping is a professor in National Taiwan Normal University’s Department of East Asian Studies.
Translated by Paul Cooper
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long been expansionist and contemptuous of international law. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the CCP regime has become more despotic, coercive and punitive. As part of its strategy to annex Taiwan, Beijing has sought to erase the island democracy’s international identity by bribing countries to sever diplomatic ties with Taipei. One by one, China has peeled away Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic partners, leaving just 12 countries (mostly small developing states) and the Vatican recognizing Taiwan as a sovereign nation. Taiwan’s formal international space has shrunk dramatically. Yet even as Beijing has scored diplomatic successes, its overreach
After 37 US lawmakers wrote to express concern over legislators’ stalling of critical budgets, Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) pledged to make the Executive Yuan’s proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.7 billion) special defense budget a top priority for legislative review. On Tuesday, it was finally listed on the legislator’s plenary agenda for Friday next week. The special defense budget was proposed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration in November last year to enhance the nation’s defense capabilities against external threats from China. However, the legislature, dominated by the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), repeatedly blocked its review. The
In her article in Foreign Affairs, “A Perfect Storm for Taiwan in 2026?,” Yun Sun (孫韻), director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington, said that the US has grown indifferent to Taiwan, contending that, since it has long been the fear of US intervention — and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) inability to prevail against US forces — that has deterred China from using force against Taiwan, this perceived indifference from the US could lead China to conclude that a window of opportunity for a Taiwan invasion has opened this year. Most notably, she observes that
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said on Monday that it would be announcing its mayoral nominees for New Taipei City, Yilan County and Chiayi City on March 11, after which it would begin talks with the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) to field joint opposition candidates. The KMT would likely support Deputy Taipei Mayor Lee Shu-chuan (李四川) as its candidate for New Taipei City. The TPP is fielding its chairman, Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), for New Taipei City mayor, after Huang had officially announced his candidacy in December last year. Speaking in a radio program, Huang was asked whether he would join Lee’s
RSS