Taipei Times letter:
Why Aborigines support KMTMany outsiders coming to Taiwan find Aboriginal support for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hard to understand. Given the suppression of their cultures, languages and even their names during the five decades of one-party rule, one might imagine their disenchantment with the organ of that rule would be as great or greater than that of the Hoklo Taiwanese, and that Aborigines would be staunch supporters, and even leaders, of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Reading the smug post-election “victory” analysis by Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) of the DPP-allied New Society for Taiwan (“Has Ma done anything right yet?,” Dec.13, page 8), helps to explain why Aborigines do not trust the opposition:
“In Taitung County, the DPP closed the gap from 20,000 votes in 2005 to around 5,000 this time. If we subtract the votes of the county’s Aborigines, who are mostly loyal Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) voters, the DPP would have won in Taitung. This result shows how angry people in Taitung are about the performance of outgoing county commissioner Kuang Li-chen (鄺麗貞), who used to enjoy Ma’s strong support.”
Why not go the whole hog and argue that Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) election as president should not stand because of all the women who voted for his “good looks”? But no; thanks to the influence of former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and others, sexism is taboo in the party, at least in explicit terms. Clearly not racism, however.
Ridding itself of such attitudes would help transform the DPP into a truly liberal party and, as a pleasant side effect, increase its chances of electoral success.
Showing posts with label VP Lu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VP Lu. Show all posts
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Ma switches support to Treaty of Taipei, but why?
At a ceremony held yesterday to unveil a bronze sculpture of ROC and Japanese representatives signing the April 28, 1952 “Treaty of Taipei” (see TT Treaty confirmed sovereignty: Ma) ROC President Ma Ying-jeou claimed that the 57-year-old document affirmed the transfer of Taiwan’s sovereignty from Japan to the Republic of China.
This represents a clear shift from his previous claim that it was the 1943 “Cairo Declaration” that did so.
... Independence activists, however, doubt the validity of the 1943 declaration, saying it was little more than a press release and cite the 1952 treaty to argue that Taiwan’s international status remains undefined.
... On Monday former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) had challenged Ma to declare “two Chinas” and to apologize for citing the Cairo Declaration as the KMT’s rationale that Taiwan is part of China and that the ROC is the legal government of Taiwan.
... [She] said Ma’s attendance at yesterday’s ceremony was tantamount to recognizing the Treaty of Taipei. … She also urged the president to modify high school history books to show that the ROC was not the legitimate government of Taiwan.
This represents a clear shift from his previous claim that it was the 1943 “Cairo Declaration” that did so.
... Independence activists, however, doubt the validity of the 1943 declaration, saying it was little more than a press release and cite the 1952 treaty to argue that Taiwan’s international status remains undefined.
... On Monday former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) had challenged Ma to declare “two Chinas” and to apologize for citing the Cairo Declaration as the KMT’s rationale that Taiwan is part of China and that the ROC is the legal government of Taiwan.
... [She] said Ma’s attendance at yesterday’s ceremony was tantamount to recognizing the Treaty of Taipei. … She also urged the president to modify high school history books to show that the ROC was not the legitimate government of Taiwan.
Clearly that is not going to happen. But it is good to see somebody from the opposition DPP continuing to make articulate, reasoned arguments keeping attention on the current administrations antics and shortcomings.
The rest of the opposition is engaging in cantancorous infighting that is sadly reminiscent of the UK’s Labour Party throughout the 1980s, which therefore allowed the Thatcher government too much freedom to exercise its so-called electoral mandate, and similarly of the Conservative Party during most of the current 12-year Blair/Brown Labour government. Opposition splits are only good for the government: the DPP must act quickly.
Perhaps it is Lu's independence from the electoral squabbling that allows her a statesperson-like position, she is not planning to run in the 2012 presidential election, or at least has shown no intention to do so, unlike Chen Shui-bian who has joked (?) about doing so.
Anyway, Ma certainly needs keeping a check on. Just what is he up to with this shift in position? What, for heaven’s sake, is he doing celebrating the 57th anniversary of anything? Let alone a treaty which will reach 60 (the magical number for Chinese) before the end of Ma’s 4-year term.
Is he trying to give the ROC sovereignty over Taiwan just so he can use it as a bargaining chip with China? (If so, then that's something else to worry about.)
Saturday, 18 April 2009
Taipei Times takes a cheap pot shot at former VP Lu Hsiu-lien
Towards the end of today's Taipei Times editorial "Ideology and the real political world", this "pro-localization" paper takes an uncharacteristic swipe at former Vice President Lu Hsiu-lien (呂秀蓮):
The problem with the DPP, then as now, is that it shows its ideological hand before elections at the expense of what voters want. With dire results hampering the party of late, its challenge is to attract support by tapping the concerns of a majority, gaining their trust and only then engaging wider ideological issues as necessary.
There was precious little of this understanding on show at a forum yesterday analyzing the role of the Treaty of Shimonoseki in today’s Taiwan. Former Examination Yuan president Yao Wen-chia (姚嘉文) and former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) gave speeches that indicate the older generation of democracy activists cannot deliver new ideas on how the DPP can appeal to those crucial votes that swing legislative seats.
... Lu argued that Taiwan operates on a political cycle of 30 years; after each cycle there is major change, she said, as if this seismology-flavored analysis was of the remotest use for DPP politicians 20 points behind in key electorates.
Ideology and a sense of mission provide undeniable energy and inspiration for political figures and their supporters. But the privileging of righteousness over hard tactics amounts to nothing more than indulgence, which is the politest word describing such behavior at a time of growing national threat.
What is the TT's agenda here? The forum's agenda was the role of the Treaty of Shimonoseki in today’s Taiwan, which seems to be what Yao and Lu were addressing. Why does the TT use this ridiculous-sounding soundbite out of context? Moreover, if one wishes to criticize someone (in this instance Lu for having no new policy ideas) but one does not propose something constructive (new policy ideas), then one is simply name-calling. That is what blogs do (more often than not), but it is below the journalistic expectations readers have of a serious newspaper, especially in an editorial.
So why is the TT taking this cheap pot shot at VPL? Is it trying to distance itself from the former vice head of state, like it has from former president Chen? If so, why?
Surely it is not because of the launch last week of her new "Formosa Post" newspaper (should i declare here my tenuous connection with that publication?, though in fact I've had many more articles published in the TT than i ever will in the FP), which aims to share (compete for?) a similar pro-Taiwan readership. Surely the Liberty Times Group doesn't see the underfunded under-resourced FP as a threat.
The problem with the DPP, then as now, is that it shows its ideological hand before elections at the expense of what voters want. With dire results hampering the party of late, its challenge is to attract support by tapping the concerns of a majority, gaining their trust and only then engaging wider ideological issues as necessary.
There was precious little of this understanding on show at a forum yesterday analyzing the role of the Treaty of Shimonoseki in today’s Taiwan. Former Examination Yuan president Yao Wen-chia (姚嘉文) and former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) gave speeches that indicate the older generation of democracy activists cannot deliver new ideas on how the DPP can appeal to those crucial votes that swing legislative seats.
... Lu argued that Taiwan operates on a political cycle of 30 years; after each cycle there is major change, she said, as if this seismology-flavored analysis was of the remotest use for DPP politicians 20 points behind in key electorates.
Ideology and a sense of mission provide undeniable energy and inspiration for political figures and their supporters. But the privileging of righteousness over hard tactics amounts to nothing more than indulgence, which is the politest word describing such behavior at a time of growing national threat.
What is the TT's agenda here? The forum's agenda was the role of the Treaty of Shimonoseki in today’s Taiwan, which seems to be what Yao and Lu were addressing. Why does the TT use this ridiculous-sounding soundbite out of context? Moreover, if one wishes to criticize someone (in this instance Lu for having no new policy ideas) but one does not propose something constructive (new policy ideas), then one is simply name-calling. That is what blogs do (more often than not), but it is below the journalistic expectations readers have of a serious newspaper, especially in an editorial.
So why is the TT taking this cheap pot shot at VPL? Is it trying to distance itself from the former vice head of state, like it has from former president Chen? If so, why?
Surely it is not because of the launch last week of her new "Formosa Post" newspaper (should i declare here my tenuous connection with that publication?, though in fact I've had many more articles published in the TT than i ever will in the FP), which aims to share (compete for?) a similar pro-Taiwan readership. Surely the Liberty Times Group doesn't see the underfunded under-resourced FP as a threat.
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Busy Lady, Lu
Not content with publishing a book last month presenting her memories of (and suspicions about) the March 19, 2004 shooting incident ...
and taking The Journalist back to court to elicit the public apology it owes her for wrongfully accusing her of spreading rumours about an alleged affair between then president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his interpreter Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) ...
this weekend Lu Hsiu-lien (呂秀蓮) launched a new newspaper, the "Formosa Post" (玉山午報, or "Formosa Weekly" 玉山周報 until it goes daily) ...
which may (but probably will not) have some English-language/international section, so my own contribution is so far limited to one photo and half an interview:
without even a credit for the photo (though they did cut my nasty shadows off)
and taking The Journalist back to court to elicit the public apology it owes her for wrongfully accusing her of spreading rumours about an alleged affair between then president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his interpreter Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) ...
this weekend Lu Hsiu-lien (呂秀蓮) launched a new newspaper, the "Formosa Post" (玉山午報, or "Formosa Weekly" 玉山周報 until it goes daily) ...
which may (but probably will not) have some English-language/international section, so my own contribution is so far limited to one photo and half an interview:
without even a credit for the photo (though they did cut my nasty shadows off)
Monday, 13 April 2009
Lu: "yes" to cross-party, "no" to party-to-party across the Strait
Meanwhile, former vice president Lu Hsiu-lien (呂秀蓮) of the DPP and legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) of the KMT show how cross-party harmony should be conducted when Wang appeared at a fundraising event for one of Lu's foundations.
Of course it didn't stop them having a little spat about relations between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).While Lu said she was in favor of abolishing the party-to-party platform, Wang said it remained essential.
Lu, as always, is forging her idiosyncratic path, which, by refusing to rule out visiting China, is raising hackles within certain sections of the DPP. "I am not against [visiting China], but there's no timetable. I don't have to go." She said at a press conference held to launch her latest project, the "Formosa Post".
Of course it didn't stop them having a little spat about relations between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).While Lu said she was in favor of abolishing the party-to-party platform, Wang said it remained essential.
Lu, as always, is forging her idiosyncratic path, which, by refusing to rule out visiting China, is raising hackles within certain sections of the DPP. "I am not against [visiting China], but there's no timetable. I don't have to go." She said at a press conference held to launch her latest project, the "Formosa Post".
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