The point of entering government and politics is to establish a political domain. Achieving the goal of political office involves more than just courting votes — one must follow mainstream public opinion, which means altering one’s political positions when necessary.
However, political movements are different. They have fixed political positions and rarely align entirely with mainstream public opinion. This is what makes political movements essential.
The Republic of China (ROC) that occupied Taiwan after World War II was a foreign autocratic regime. Under this regime, Taiwanese were politically discriminated against because of where they were born. This gave rise to the democratization movement.
However, confronting a foreign power gave rise to a different movement — the Taiwanese independence movement.
However, the fact that both of these movements — Taiwanese independence and Taiwanese civil rights — were promoted by the same constituency, gave rise to the mistaken belief that they are one and the same.
The democratization movement aimed for citizens to become the masters of their destiny and form their government through a democratic process.
The Taiwanese independence movement hoped to expel the foreign presence of the ROC government.
Both of these are challenging tasks. Writer and vocal critic of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Henry Liu (劉宜良) was assassinated in a house fire in the US in 1984. As a result, his family could no longer carry on the movement.
Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) then brought Taiwan from a dictatorship to a democracy.
In the 1990s, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) began participating in the ROC government system, forming the first DPP government in 2000.
The party transformed from a political movement into an organization seeking to become a party of government, doing so by upholding the ROC and falling in line with public opinion.
The Taiwanese independence movement remains a political movement, but its goal has shifted from expelling the ROC to advocating for constitutional reform and renaming the country.
The DPP and the Taiwanese independence movement have taken different paths. As both sides have gone their separate ways, no one can label the DPP as being pro-independence.
However, some members of the Taiwanese independence movement have overly tenacious personalities with a talent for finding resources, similar to cockroaches.
They constantly fly the banner of Taiwanese independence and latch onto the DPP, making it difficult for outsiders to differentiate between the two. As a result, the DPP has been stained by the Taiwanese independence movement, leading the Chinese Communist Party to accuse the ROC and the DPP of being pro-independence.
Those pro-independence cockroaches have tainted Taiwan’s political environment.
Chen Mao-hsiung is a retired National Sun Yat-sen University professor and chairman of the Society for the Promotion of Taiwanese Security.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
On a quiet lane in Taipei’s central Daan District (大安), an otherwise unremarkable high-rise is marked by a police guard and a tawdry A4 printout from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicating an “embassy area.” Keen observers would see the emblem of the Holy See, one of Taiwan’s 12 so-called “diplomatic allies.” Unlike Taipei’s other embassies and quasi-consulates, no national flag flies there, nor is there a plaque indicating what country’s embassy this is. Visitors hoping to sign a condolence book for the late Pope Francis would instead have to visit the Italian Trade Office, adjacent to Taipei 101. The death of
As the highest elected official in the nation’s capital, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) is the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate-in-waiting for a presidential bid. With the exception of Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), Chiang is the most likely KMT figure to take over the mantle of the party leadership. All the other usual suspects, from Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) to New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) to KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) have already been rejected at the ballot box. Given such high expectations, Chiang should be demonstrating resolve, calm-headedness and political wisdom in how he faces tough
RSS