Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

‘One China’ not key to peace: president

Taipei Times

President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that it would be impossible to achieve cross-strait peace simply by accepting the so-called “1992 consensus” and Beijing’s “one China” principle.

Lai made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the Overseas Community Affairs Council Conference in Taipei after former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), who favors closer ties with Beijing, was elected as KMT chairwoman on Saturday.

The KMT on Sunday confirmed that Cheng had received a congratulatory message from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for her win and she reiterated her support for the “1992 consensus” in her reply to Xi.

Cheng’s win to shake up KMT

Taipei Times Editorial

Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) on Saturday won the party’s chairperson election with 65,122 votes, or 50.15 percent of the votes, becoming the second woman in the seat and the first to have switched allegiance from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to the KMT.

Cheng, running for the top KMT position for the first time, had been termed a “dark horse,” while the biggest contender was former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), considered by many to represent the party’s establishment elite. Hau also has substantial experience in government and in the KMT.

KMT deals with Chinese interference

Taipei Times Editorial

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has its chairperson election tomorrow. Although the party has long positioned itself as “China friendly,” the election is overshadowed by “an overwhelming wave of Chinese intervention.”

The six candidates vying for the chair are former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), former lawmaker Cheng Li-wen (鄭麗文), Legislator Luo Chih-chiang (羅智強), Sun Yat-sen School president Chang Ya-chung (張亞中), former National Assembly representative Tsai Chih-hong (蔡志弘) and former Changhua County comissioner Zhuo Bo-yuan (卓伯源).

While Cheng and Hau are front-runners in different surveys, Hau has complained of an online defamation campaign against him coming from accounts with foreign IP addresses, including a fabricated video showing Hau kissing a Taipei city councilor in public.

Cho’s dialogue shows Fu’s weakness

Chang Kuo-tsai 張國財

As the public knows, during legislative questioning of government officials, it is not a matter of whose position is “above” or “below,” or who is more important. What matters is whether the exchanges involve genuine questions with genuine answers, genuine questions with evasive answers, evasive questions with evasive answers or evasive questions with genuine answers.

Of course, genuine questions with genuine answers is the best possible outcome. Officials who answer genuine questions with evasive answers deserve criticism.

Evasive questions with evasive answers signal that both sides are shirking their public duties. Evasive questions with genuine answers reveal laziness or guilt on the part of the questioning legislator.

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