At a campaign rally for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative candidate Chang Szu-kang (張斯綱) on Thursday last week, Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) — a former health minister, no less — made some predictably horrid comments about Chang’s female opponent. Somehow blaming the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for the low birthrate, Yaung called DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) “useless” for being unable to bear children at nearly 50 years of age. He even turned to a KMT city councilor sitting near him and told her to “go home to make love” with her husband when she told him she had no children. The next day he refused to apologize, saying he was “just stating facts.”
Wu rightfully blamed her opponent for inviting Yaung to speak at the rally. The former minister was still given a microphone, despite months earlier causing an uproar when he blamed domestic violence on the public being unable to beat up President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). Wu and her fellow DPP members were also quick to turn the situation around, saying that such remarks represent the “mainstream view” within the KMT.
Although it goes too far to insinuate that most KMT politicians would agree with Yaung’s remarks, the incident points to systemic issues that remain unaddressed. That the KMT still stands behind someone like Yaung, who is also a key figure in the party’s think tank, indicates a fundamental disregard for women’s issues. Especially after this past hallmark year for Taiwan’s #MeToo movement, it is damning that the party feels as if it does not need to loudly and publicly denounce the man behind such comments.
Other parties are not off the hook either. A questionnaire on gender-related policies released last week produced “disappointing” results, the 28 civic groups who initiated the survey said. The DPP mostly proposed continuing its existing policies, while the KMT and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) proposals were “lackluster, unambitious and uninterested in advancing gender equality,” they said. All three gave nonspecific responses to most of the items, offering vague ideas such as “more flexible” parental leave or promising to continue discussions on issues. They might not be openly hostile like Yaung, but that the parties chose to answer with unclear platitudes shows that women’s issues are not a priority.
Do not forget the many sexist comments that have come from TPP Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) over the years. He seems to have reined it in somewhat since his “suitable for sitting at reception” and obstetricians “only deal with one hole” comments 10 years ago, but there is no evidence to show that his attitude has changed. If he and his party were unable to see how inviting scantily clad dancers dressed as flight attendants to perform at the inauguration of his women’s campaign support group in August last year was offensive, they likely cannot be trusted to listen to women when drafting policies.
Voters should also remember how the parties handled the cascade of #MeToo allegations last year, especially accusations of sweeping sexual harassment complaints under the rug. All three main parties were implicated, and all three require some serious introspection, but the opposition seemed more preoccupied with attacking the DPP than looking inward. That they would use people’s worst experiences as political fodder is pretty damning.
Gender issues are far and away not the only thing these candidates must address during this packed campaign season, but they are still important. A politician’s or party’s treatment of women shows how they consider perspectives different from their own, providing a rare peek behind the curtain of what these candidates are really like behind the bluster. Voters would do well to pay attention.
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
On May 13, the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment to Article 6 of the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法) that would extend the life of nuclear reactors from 40 to 60 years, thereby providing a legal basis for the extension or reactivation of nuclear power plants. On May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislators used their numerical advantage to pass the TPP caucus’ proposal for a public referendum that would determine whether the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant should resume operations, provided it is deemed safe by the authorities. The Central Election Commission (CEC) has
RSS