Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

The KMT cannot accept democracy

Jerome Keating

The start of any new year is always a good time for introspection, reflection and resolutions.

This advice is appropriate for all. In Taiwan, it should clearly be heeded by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which continues to have its share of troubles.

The KMT has had so many difficulties in the past decade that it almost seems to revel in them with the celebration of each new year.

What then could be done? The KMT can begin by examining the present and slowly tracing backward to see how the dots are connected.

Five jailed in PRC vote-buying scheme

Taipei Times

Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises Changsha City Branch chairmnan Lin Huai enters the Taipei District Court on June 8, 2020.
Photo: CNA

Five Taiwanese businesspeople working in China were yesterday found guilty of taking money from Chinese authorities to buy votes for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) in the 2020 presidential election.

The Taipei District Court sentenced Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises (台灣同胞投資企業協會) Changsha City Branch chairman Lin Huai (林懷) to three years and 10 months in jail, with deprivation of his civil rights for four years.

Transitional justice shortcomings pose ‘democracy threat’

Taipei Times

Transitional Justice Commission Deputy Chairman Sun Pin, right, attends a forum in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times

A failure to sufficiently implement transitional justice measures could threaten democracy, the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee said yesterday.

Committee vice chairman Sun Pin (孫斌) made the statement during a forum on democracy hosted by the legal reform group Taiwan Forever Association in Taipei.

Vilnius on democracy’s front line

The Liberty Times Editorial

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Dec. 4 last year that his country’s decision to allow the opening of a Taiwanese mission in Vilnius bearing the name “Taiwan” was a “mistake.” Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Vytaute Smaizyte-Kuliesiene responded by saying that “the Lithuanian government stands firm on its decision to welcome the opening of the Taiwanese Representative Office.”

Lithuanian Seimas Speaker Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen also expressed disagreement with Nauseda and questioned why he had only criticized the decision after China launched retaliatory actions against the Baltic state.

A fundamental shift in local politics

Taipei Times Editorial

Sunday’s by-election in Taichung’s second electoral district was another loss for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). It was also an example of an unforced strategic error, initiated by former KMT chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) and continued by the current chairman, Eric Chu (朱立倫).

The hapless Chu gifted the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) — which already has a legislative majority — another seat in the legislature and caused a potential headache for Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) of the KMT.

The question is not why the KMT’s candidate, Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒), lost; it is why the party thought he could win.

Resolutions to engage with China

Chang Yan-ting and Paul Chiou 張延廷，邱萬鈞

As we embark upon a new year, tensions across the Taiwan Strait continue to heighten by the day.

While countries around the world are preoccupied with combating a fresh wave of COVID-19, China is using the opportunity to employ increasingly repressive measures in Hong Kong, Xinjiang — particularly to Turkic Uighurs — and Inner Mongolia.

Meanwhile, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army is using every method at its disposal to continue to harass Taiwan, elevating the Taiwan Strait on a par with Ukraine as an issue of primary concern for the international community.

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