Taiwanese are not the best at critical thinking and often lack a sufficient understanding of public policy. This leads to unsatisfactory governance and management performances. Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) approval ratings are evidence of this. Taiwanese need to ask themselves what kind of president they want.
First, to face hardship, at home and abroad, Taiwan needs a president who is firm, rational, persistent, courageous and wise. Such a leader must lead the nation out of its current predicament. It does not need a person who is reckless, impatient and unthinking.
Second, Taiwan needs a president with a firm command of foreign affairs, specifically cross-strait relations and international diplomacy. They must be able to connect Taiwan with the international community to come up with ways to enhancing national defense. They should keep improving Taiwan’s programs to domestically manufacture warships, but must also know how to communicate with China to maintain cross-strait peace. The president should not trigger further conflict in the region.
Third, Taiwan needs a president who can maintain and bolster relations with the US to ensure the nation’s safety. Over the past few years, Taiwan has not agitated China, and the situation in the Strait has not changed as a result. Meanwhile, it has won the trust of the US, with the US Congress passing the Taiwan Travel Act, the Taiwan Assurance Act and provisions related to Taiwan in the National Defense Authorization Act.
Fourth, Taiwan needs a president with experience in managing finance, renewable energy, environmental issues, education and social welfare. Taiwan is facing a series of problems including an economic transition, insufficient investment, difficulty in participating in regional economic activities, wealth disparities, green-energy development, and the effects of an aging society and low birthrate. The president should be able to boost the economy, lessen wealth inequality, mitigate generational gaps, enhance the quality of education and environment, and institute social welfare programs.
Taiwanese cannot elect a person who lacks a comprehensive vision, nor can they vote for a politician who cannot govern a city — one who is instead focused on being fun and sensationalist, and who speaks rashly and causes problems.
Fifth, Taiwan needs a president who can carry out reforms and adhere to progressive values. With the return of former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) as part of a deep-blue conservative force, Taiwan needs a leader who can establish cultural and social values in a more profound way to transform Taiwan into a modern nation.
Ko in no way meets those five requirements. His performance shows that he is not qualified to be a national leader. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) knows well that Ko is less capable than its candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), and even less capable than Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate.
However, to win the presidential election by collaborating with Ko, the KMT dares not challenge him. Now, Ko is taking advantage of the pan-blue camp, advocating for strategic voting. Former KMT secretary-general King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), Hou’s campaign manager, could not oppose Ko’s scheme and hence proposed adopting a US-style primary election to save the KMT.
To prevent Ko from mobilizing young voters and pan-blue camp supporters, the approval ratings of the pan-white and pan-blue camps need to be kept in balance.
That would minimize Ko’s effect on Lai, so that the DPP can win the presidential election.
Michael Lin is a retired diplomat who served in the US.
Translated by Emma Liu
In the event of a war with China, Taiwan has some surprisingly tough defenses that could make it as difficult to tackle as a porcupine: A shoreline dotted with swamps, rocks and concrete barriers; conscription for all adult men; highways and airports that are built to double as hardened combat facilities. This porcupine has a soft underbelly, though, and the war in Iran is exposing it: energy. About 39,000 ships dock at Taiwan’s ports each year, more than the 30,000 that transit the Strait of Hormuz. About one-fifth of their inbound tonnage is coal, oil, refined fuels and liquefied natural gas (LNG),
To counter the CCP’s escalating threats, Taiwan must build a national consensus and demonstrate the capability and the will to fight. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) often leans on a seductive mantra to soften its threats, such as “Chinese do not kill Chinese.” The slogan is designed to frame territorial conquest (annexation) as a domestic family matter. A look at the historical ledger reveals a different truth. For the CCP, being labeled “family” has never been a guarantee of safety; it has been the primary prerequisite for state-sanctioned slaughter. From the forced starvation of 150,000 civilians at the Siege of Changchun
The two major opposition parties, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), jointly announced on Tuesday last week that former TPP lawmaker Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) would be their joint candidate for Chiayi mayor, following polling conducted earlier this month. It is the first case of blue-white (KMT-TPP) cooperation in selecting a joint candidate under an agreement signed by their chairpersons last month. KMT and TPP supporters have blamed their 2024 presidential election loss on failing to decide on a joint candidate, which ended in a dramatic breakdown with participants pointing fingers, calling polls unfair, sobbing and walking
In the opening remarks of her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) framed her visit as a historic occasion. In his own remarks, Xi had also emphasized the history of the relationship between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Where they differed was that Cheng’s account, while flawed by its omissions, at least partially corresponded to reality. The meeting was certainly historic, albeit not in the way that Cheng and Xi were signaling, and not from the perspective
RSS