Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) recently reiterated that he is “deep-green at heart,” a remark that pro-Taiwan supporters found dubious or even held in disdain.
The “deep green” faction is a pro-indigenous force that promotes Taiwanese sovereignty by putting Taiwan’s interests first. That Ko had the audacity to make a series of “anti-indigenous” moves, such as saying the “two sides of the Strait are one family,” condemning the idea of countering China and safeguarding Taiwan, proposing to revive plans of a cross-strait service trade agreement with China and partnering with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for his own political interests, have shown that he is not as “deep green” as he claims to be, for these were all intolerable actions in the eyes of pro-Taiwan supporters.
There is no way Ko is “deep green” at heart, and his comments are no more than a ploy to save his flagging polling numbers and campaign.
While Ko said the he hates the KMT, but hates the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) even more only a while ago, his claim to be “deep green” at heart has only proven him to be either schizophrenic or a political flip-flopper. If Ko considers himself “deep green,” why would he vow to transcend the KMT and DPP, establish the Taiwan People’s Party and run for president in the first place? It would have saved him a lot of trouble if he had just joined the DPP and supported Vice President William Lai (賴清德).
Ko said that he would follow in President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) footsteps regarding the military and diplomacy. Nevertheless, he has always claimed that Taiwan should maintain positive and “equidistant” ties with the US and China, condemned the US’ military arms deal as “Taiwan paying out of its own pocket for flat drill bits,” and compared Taiwan to “merchandise on the shelf” to describe the Taiwan-US relationship.
Different ludicrous remarks have always echoed the ideologies of pro-China supporters, which are in sharp contrast to Tsai’s policies and stances. Ko would be mistaken if he thinks the public could be so easily duped by his words. By messing up the “blue-white alliance,” Ko is now reverting back to “deep green” supporters to make up for his lost support from the pan-blue camp. Such opportunistic conduct only paints him as a shameful and sordid politician.
Lai Yen-cheng is a graduate student at National Chiao Tung University.
Translated by Rita Wang
Taiwan has lost Trump. Or so a former State Department official and lobbyist would have us believe. Writing for online outlet Domino Theory in an article titled “How Taiwan lost Trump,” Christian Whiton provides a litany of reasons that the William Lai (賴清德) and Donald Trump administrations have supposedly fallen out — and it’s all Lai’s fault. Although many of Whiton’s claims are misleading or ill-informed, the article is helpfully, if unintentionally, revealing of a key aspect of the MAGA worldview. Whiton complains of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s “inability to understand and relate to the New Right in America.” Many
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier this month raised its travel alert for China’s Guangdong Province to Level 2 “Alert,” advising travelers to take enhanced precautions amid a chikungunya outbreak in the region. More than 8,000 cases have been reported in the province since June. Chikungunya is caused by the chikungunya virus and transmitted to humans through bites from infected mosquitoes, most commonly Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. These species thrive in warm, humid climates and are also major vectors for dengue, Zika and yellow fever. The disease is characterized by high fever and severe, often incapacitating joint pain.
In nature, there is a group of insects known as parasitoid wasps. Their reproductive process differs entirely from that of ordinary wasps — the female lays her eggs inside or on the bodies of other insects, and, once hatched, the larvae feed on the host’s body. The larvae do not kill the host insect immediately; instead, they carefully avoid vital organs, allowing the host to stay alive until the larvae are fully mature. That living reservoir strategy ensures a stable and fresh source of nutrients for the larvae as they grow. However, the host’s death becomes only a matter of time. The resemblance
Most countries are commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II with condemnations of militarism and imperialism, and commemoration of the global catastrophe wrought by the war. On the other hand, China is to hold a military parade. According to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency, Beijing is conducting the military parade in Tiananmen Square on Sept. 3 to “mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.” However, during World War II, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) had not yet been established. It
RSS