Embroiled in multiple scandals, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Thursday announced that he would apply for a three-month leave of absence from his role as party leader, creating uncertainty about the future of the TPP and the “new politics” that he had promised to bring.
Shortly after his announcement, Ko’s home and office were searched and he was questioned by prosecutors over his suspected involvement in a corruption case related to a real-estate development project.
He was arrested early Saturday morning after he refused to be questioned at night and attempted to leave the prosecutors’ office.
In the first half of the year, Ko was listed as a suspect due to possible misuse of public power for private profit and contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) for his involvement in the Core Pacific City (京華城) mall redevelopment and the Beitou Shilin Science Park (北投士林科技園區) projects, both passed in his second term as Taipei mayor.
Last month, pundits and Ko’s former aides noticed discrepancies in Ko’s campaign finance reporting, including irregular and opaque transactions with a few marketing firms, as well as more than NT$4 million (US$125,235) being transferred to Ko’s personal bank account.
To make matters worse, local Chinese-language media reported on Tuesday that Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), recently visited, with a view to possibly buying, a NT$120 million luxury apartment in Taipei, leading to speculation about how the family could afford it.
After it was recently reported that Ko in May paid NT$43 million in cash for an office unit, he admitted to using his presidential election subsidy to purchase the unit.
These reports contradict the TPP’s claim to being “transparent, honest and upright” and “rational, pragmatic and scientific.”
While Ko’s housing decisions were not illegal, they have seriously damaged his reputation of having integrity, and the allegations of suspected corruption in development projects might even lead to his imprisonment.
Since the TPP’s founding on Aug. 6 — Ko’s birthday — five years ago, it has been widely seen as a “one-man party” with Ko at its center.
His inordinate role in the party can be seen by how he single-handedly signed an agreement with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) during the presidential election, and then arbitrarily backed out of it, expelling online influencers from the party who criticized him and receiving more votes in January’s presidential election than the TPP won votes in the legislative election.
The party says it has a “pragmatic” — or as its critics say, a “chameleon” — stance on ideology and policy, but while it has attracted young people who dislike the confrontation between the KMT and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the party lacks a solid political philosophy and clear direction.
The now temporarily rudderless TPP leaves many people wondering whether the new “third force” in the nation’s political scene is beginning to wither, or whether it can overcome the crisis and persevere.
Recent polls show that the party’s support has dropped. However, the crisis could be an opportunity for it to transform into a healthier organization with a clearer organizational structure, code of conduct and realistic long-term goals rather than serving as a platform for the whims of one man.
The TPP still retains its eight seats and the balance of power in the legislature (as neither the KMT nor the DPP holds a majority).
However, it remains to be seen whether the TPP would continue its strategy of only cooperating with the KMT or whether it would start working with the DPP to pass bills that would truly benefit the public and restore the TPP’s reputation.
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not
RSS