On Wednesday last week, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) nominated New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) as its candidate for next year’s presidential election.
In his speech, Hou repeatedly called for “another power transfer” without elaborating on what changes he and the KMT would bring to Taiwan if the party were to win. His call was nothing but a campaign slogan.
Based on the focus of discussion of pro-blue media and key opinion leaders over the past few years, there are at least three things that Hou should answer clearly and definitively as the KMT’s presidential candidate.
First, would he restart the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant project in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮)?
As the mayor, Hou has postponed the construction of dry storage facilities for the Second Nuclear Power Plant in the city’s Wanli District (萬里). As a result, there is not enough storage space for spent fuel rods at the plant.
He has also said numerous times that “without nuclear safety, there would be no nuclear energy.” Now, in the face of many pro-blue supporters and business groups’ calls to increase deployment of nuclear energy, he has the responsibility to explain what role nuclear power would play in his energy policy, and where nuclear waste would go.
Next, would he reverse the pension reforms for military personnel, civil servants and public school teachers?
Faced with a potential financial crisis, President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration dealt with this “hot potato” that it inherited from former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, thus angering many of the these public servants and even their family members with the pension reductions.
Once a power transfer takes place, is Hou going to reverse the pension reform, or even retrospectively repay those whose pensions were cut? Many retirees are surely waiting for an answer from the mayor.
Last, would he maintain the current short-term military service?
In response to the growing military threat from the Chinese Communist Party, the Tsai administration announced at the end of last year that mandatory military service would from next year be extended from four months to one year. While the extension is good for national security and can reinforce allies’ confidence in Taiwan, it has become an excuse for critics to attack the Tsai administration and become a weapon for them to sensationalize the risks of a war.
The extension would also have an impact on conscripts’ career plans and deployment of massive national resources. However, it is representative of the government’s attitude in the face of Beijing’s military threats.
As a potential commander-in-chief of the nation’s armed forces, Hou should clarify whether he would make a U-turn on mandatory military service if he takes over the reins of government.
If Hou is not planning to restart the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant project, cancel pension reforms and support the extension of military service, is there a need for a power transfer?
Huang Wei-ping is a former think tank researcher and a Kaohsiung resident.
Translated by Eddy Chang
On May 7, 1971, Henry Kissinger planned his first, ultra-secret mission to China and pondered whether it would be better to meet his Chinese interlocutors “in Pakistan where the Pakistanis would tape the meeting — or in China where the Chinese would do the taping.” After a flicker of thought, he decided to have the Chinese do all the tape recording, translating and transcribing. Fortuitously, historians have several thousand pages of verbatim texts of Dr. Kissinger’s negotiations with his Chinese counterparts. Paradoxically, behind the scenes, Chinese stenographers prepared verbatim English language typescripts faster than they could translate and type them
More than 30 years ago when I immigrated to the US, applied for citizenship and took the 100-question civics test, the one part of the naturalization process that left the deepest impression on me was one question on the N-400 form, which asked: “Have you ever been a member of, involved in or in any way associated with any communist or totalitarian party anywhere in the world?” Answering “yes” could lead to the rejection of your application. Some people might try their luck and lie, but if exposed, the consequences could be much worse — a person could be fined,
Xiaomi Corp founder Lei Jun (雷軍) on May 22 made a high-profile announcement, giving online viewers a sneak peek at the company’s first 3-nanometer mobile processor — the Xring O1 chip — and saying it is a breakthrough in China’s chip design history. Although Xiaomi might be capable of designing chips, it lacks the ability to manufacture them. No matter how beautifully planned the blueprints are, if they cannot be mass-produced, they are nothing more than drawings on paper. The truth is that China’s chipmaking efforts are still heavily reliant on the free world — particularly on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing
Keelung Mayor George Hsieh (謝國樑) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Tuesday last week apologized over allegations that the former director of the city’s Civil Affairs Department had illegally accessed citizens’ data to assist the KMT in its campaign to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) councilors. Given the public discontent with opposition lawmakers’ disruptive behavior in the legislature, passage of unconstitutional legislation and slashing of the central government’s budget, civic groups have launched a massive campaign to recall KMT lawmakers. The KMT has tried to fight back by initiating campaigns to recall DPP lawmakers, but the petition documents they
RSS