There is nothing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) could do to stop the tsunami-like mass recall campaign. KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) reportedly said the party does not exclude the option of conditionally proposing a no-confidence vote against the premier, which the party later denied.
Did an “actuary” like Chu finally come around to thinking it should get tough with the ruling party?
The KMT says the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is leading a minority government with only a 40 percent share of the vote.
It has said that the DPP is out of touch with the electorate, has proposed a bloated budget and has brought about a worsening of cross-strait relations.
The KMT has formed a strong opposition coalition with the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), together holding a majority that claims to represent 60 percent of the vote and stands on the same side with the general public.
The KMT has tried to please the electorate by proposing a universal cash payout.
It advocates for frequent exchanges with China as “the two sides of the Strait are one family.”
It has pushed through several “reform” bills it claims are “beneficial” to the nation, and saved the public from a huge military budget, personnel costs and operating expenses for four branches of the government.
Notably, it has not done anything to cut the operating budget for the Legislative Yuan.
It also passed a bill to amend the Criminal Code to subject those found in contempt of the legislature to criminal proceedings in a bid to “alleviate the burden” of the Judicial Yuan, while rejecting all seven judicial nominees for the Constitutional Court.
It has pushed through amendments to the National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法), affecting the normal functioning of the commission.
Facing such a sound “supervision,” the premier has not behaved, it says.
Instead, he has asked for reconsiderations and constitutional interpretations of the bills passed by the legislature.
Enough is enough.
The premier apparently does not know his place, choosing to do things the hard way instead of just letting the legislature get its way.
What is it, then, that is stopping a strong opposition camp like the KMT and the TPP, which holds a majority in the legislature and has wide public support, from proposing a no-confidence vote?
The reality is that the opposition is well-aware that the next step after proposing a vote of no confidence would be to dissolve the Legislative Yuan.
After that, snap elections would have to be called.
From the perspective of the TPP, none of its candidates won constituency seats in the legislative elections last year.
Things could not get worse in a re-election. It would be considered a huge gain if it could grab one or two seats.
Regarding legislator-at-large seats, the party could definitely secure support from its die-hard fans, as TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) decried the “political persecution” of the party’s former chairman, Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who is being detained for alleged corruption-related offenses.
A re-election would allow Huang to foster his charisma and authority in the post-Ko era, while also appealing to the party’s supporters to make political donations by pretending it is in desperate financial need.
Why would it not do so when it could kill two birds with one stone?
From the perspective of the KMT, as the DPP only has 40 percent public support, the number of seats it would hold after a re-election would drop from 51 to 45, or 40 percent of the total of 113 seats.
Meanwhile, the KMT would secure 58 seats, the TPP eight at-large seats, and two seats would be held by KMT-sympathetic independent candidates.
In other words, the KMT would hold a majority on its own. It would be invincible in the legislature.
A promising future is within easy reach. The leaders and politicians of the KMT and the TPP should be confident enough to propose a no-confidence vote, dismiss the legislature, call a re-election and witness the latest public opinion.
Let us turn a new page in history. How about it?
Chang Kuo-tsai is a retired National Hsinchu University of Education associate professor.
Translated by Fion Khan
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
RSS