Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Imprint of Taiwanese outweighs Ma’s vision

James Wang 王景弘

A senior figure in the pan-green camp has recently caused a bit of a storm, urgently pushing his idea of the “constitutional consensus” (憲法共識). For him, a Taiwanese consensus cannot but bear the imprint of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). He believes the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution represents the major consensus in Taiwan at this moment. Eloquently put, albeit sounding like President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) protecting his version of the Constitution.

For too long, Taiwan has been branded by the mark of the KMT.

The myth of Taiwan’s China policy

Taipei Times Editorial

Asked about the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) China policy in an interview with Radio Taiwan International last week, DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) responded with two concepts: “Seagull on the beach” and “China plus one.”

Su said the cross-strait relationship should be like “a seagull on the beach” because “a man on a beach should learn how to watch a seagull and appreciate its beauty from a distance. If he tried to catch it, it would fly away.” He also urged Beijing to create a “China plus one” situation by stopping the oppression of Taipei’s international space and respecting it in bilateral engagements, so that both sides could coexist in the international community.

INTERVIEW: Deng Nan-jung widow resists comparisons to suicide bomber, teens

Taipei Times

The anti-change, conservative forces in Taiwanese society have never gone away and have prevented democracy from taking root in the seemingly democratized nation, former Presidential Office secretary-general Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) says.

The widow of democracy activist Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕), who has recently become the center of media attention following a controversy over naming a plaza at National Cheng Kung University, made the remarks in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) on Saturday.

No response to Ma’s unmet promises

Taipei Times Editorial

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is doing it again: After his failure to deliver on his “6-3-3” campaign pledge — 6 percent annual GDP growth, an unemployment rate of less than 3 percent and US$30,000 annual per capita income — his failure to donate half of his salary as he had said he would if he fell short of the “6-3-3” targets, his failure to seek compensation from Beijing for the damage caused to Taiwanese firms in 2008 over the imports of melamine-tainted milk products, and his broken promise of not doubling as president and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman, Ma is adding another item to his list of broken campaign pledges.

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