Han Kuo-yu wrong choice
In Saturday’s election, no party secured a majority in the 113-member legislature, with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) winning 51 seats, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) 52 and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) eight, making the TPP the key player in deciding whether an appointment or legislation would pass. That power is to be put to the test on Feb. 1, when the new batch of lawmakers are to be sworn in and elect a legislative speaker and deputy speaker.
Before the election, the blue camp said it would make KMT legislator-at-large in waiting Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) the new legislative speaker, and the white camp seemed to have no objection.
However, Citizen Congress Watch (公民監督國會聯盟) said that Han’s record as a legislator in the past was far from exemplary, while Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫?) of the DPP, who was re-elected on Saturday as a legislator-at-large, was highly recognized for promoting parliamentary diplomacy and reform. Citizen Congress Watch said that the candidate for the post should be someone who is proficient in deliberation procedures and has excellent performance, so that Taiwanese can rest assured.
If Han, who is controversial, confrontational and unpredictable, is appointed speaker, the Legislative Yuan might become a political battlefield or a stage for personal and political theater, which is not conducive to deliberation and negotiation, and his appointment might even make the legislature the biggest source of chaos in the country.
The TPP and its chairman, Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), should listen to the opinions of all parties, carefully and objectively evaluate the pros and cons of Han, You or other candidates, and do not make their first strategic deployment in the new session of the Legislative Yuan monkey business.
Tien Fong-wen
New Taipei City
The US Department of Defense recently released this year’s “Report on Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China.” This annual report provides a comprehensive overview of China’s military capabilities, strategic objectives and evolving global ambitions. Taiwan features prominently in this year’s report, as capturing the nation remains central to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) vision of the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” a goal he has set for 2049. The report underscores Taiwan’s critical role in China’s long-term strategy, highlighting its significance as a geopolitical flashpoint and a key target in China’s quest to assert dominance
The National Development Council (NDC) on Wednesday last week launched a six-month “digital nomad visitor visa” program, the Central News Agency (CNA) reported on Monday. The new visa is for foreign nationals from Taiwan’s list of visa-exempt countries who meet financial eligibility criteria and provide proof of work contracts, but it is not clear how it differs from other visitor visas for nationals of those countries, CNA wrote. The NDC last year said that it hoped to attract 100,000 “digital nomads,” according to the report. Interest in working remotely from abroad has significantly increased in recent years following improvements in
Monday was the 37th anniversary of former president Chiang Ching-kuo’s (蔣經國) death. Chiang — a son of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), who had implemented party-state rule and martial law in Taiwan — has a complicated legacy. Whether one looks at his time in power in a positive or negative light depends very much on who they are, and what their relationship with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is. Although toward the end of his life Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law and steered Taiwan onto the path of democratization, these changes were forced upon him by internal and external pressures,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) has caused havoc with his attempts to overturn the democratic and constitutional order in the legislature. If we look at this devolution from the context of a transition to democracy from authoritarianism in a culturally Chinese sense — that of zhonghua (中華) — then we are playing witness to a servile spirit from a millennia-old form of totalitarianism that is intent on damaging the nation’s hard-won democracy. This servile spirit is ingrained in Chinese culture. About a century ago, Chinese satirist and author Lu Xun (魯迅) saw through the servile nature of
RSS