Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), former chairman of Broadcasting Corp of China and leader of the “blue fighters,” recently announced that he had canned his trip to east Africa, and he would stay in Taiwan for the recall vote on Saturday. He added that he hoped “his friends in the blue camp would follow his lead.”
His statement is quite interesting for a few reasons. Jaw had been criticized following media reports that he would be traveling in east Africa during the recall vote. While he decided to stay in Taiwan after drawing a lot of flak, his hesitation says it all: If the level of enthusiasm of a “deep-blue” figure like him has fallen so much, that speaks volumes of the popularity of these Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators among their constituents.
As an old hand, Jaw must have known how prominent being a leader of the “blue fighters” is. If not even he could be bothered to vote, KMT Legislator Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) would not be the only casualty; many more would be dethroned, especially “blue fighters” such as KMT Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯). They might seem like a coherent gang, but they flee when they catch a whiff of a threat.
If KMT legislators like Lo are confident about holding on to their seats, Jaw could have just gone on vacation. In other words, Jaw’s reversal must have been informed by Lo’s uncertainty, and he chose to drop his travel plans as a result. In the event of Lo’s defeat, Jaw’s public statement might save him from becoming the whipping boy and a total bankruptcy of his political power within the blue camp.
When Jaw said he hoped “his friends in the blue camp would follow his lead,” he must have known that many of them would not vote; they have already booked their flights and would rather follow their schedules. If that was not the case, then who would he be calling on?
Huang Wei-ping works in public service.
Translated by Cayce Pan
A failure by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to respond to Israel’s brilliant 12-day (June 12-23) bombing and special operations war against Iran, topped by US President Donald Trump’s ordering the June 21 bombing of Iranian deep underground nuclear weapons fuel processing sites, has been noted by some as demonstrating a profound lack of resolve, even “impotence,” by China. However, this would be a dangerous underestimation of CCP ambitions and its broader and more profound military response to the Trump Administration — a challenge that includes an acceleration of its strategies to assist nuclear proxy states, and developing a wide array
Eating at a breakfast shop the other day, I turned to an old man sitting at the table next to mine. “Hey, did you hear that the Legislative Yuan passed a bill to give everyone NT$10,000 [US$340]?” I said, pointing to a newspaper headline. The old man cursed, then said: “Yeah, the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] canceled the NT$100 billion subsidy for Taiwan Power Co and announced they would give everyone NT$10,000 instead. “Nice. Now they are saying that if electricity prices go up, we can just use that cash to pay for it,” he said. “I have no time for drivel like
Twenty-four Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers are facing recall votes on Saturday, prompting nearly all KMT officials and lawmakers to rally their supporters over the past weekend, urging them to vote “no” in a bid to retain their seats and preserve the KMT’s majority in the Legislative Yuan. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which had largely kept its distance from the civic recall campaigns, earlier this month instructed its officials and staff to support the recall groups in a final push to protect the nation. The justification for the recalls has increasingly been framed as a “resistance” movement against China and
Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), former chairman of Broadcasting Corp of China and leader of the “blue fighters,” recently announced that he had canned his trip to east Africa, and he would stay in Taiwan for the recall vote on Saturday. He added that he hoped “his friends in the blue camp would follow his lead.” His statement is quite interesting for a few reasons. Jaw had been criticized following media reports that he would be traveling in east Africa during the recall vote. While he decided to stay in Taiwan after drawing a lot of flak, his hesitation says it all: If
RSS