Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Foil to Ma: The Unexpected Role of Taiwan's James Soong

Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

James Soong continues to play cat and mouse games in Taiwan politics. Aside from a potential motive of self aggrandizement, observers ponder what thoughts, game plans and strategies are running through his mind nowadays. He already has the required signatures needed to declare himself as a presidential candidate, but he has forestalled an official declaration until the end of October. At that time, he hopes he will have one million signatures. Is he fishing? One million signatures could make him secure in the hope to get with certainty at least 5 per cent of the vote. That would allow his People's First Party (PFP) the right to appoint legislators at large. Then, he adds the declaration that he may or may not attend the Double Ten celebrations, particularly if there is the danger that it be thought that he had made peace with Taiwan's current president, Ma Ying-jeou. Ironically however, despite these antics, Soong has already provided Taiwanese voters with a valuable service. Valuable, how so? Yes, Soong and his past record intentionally or unintentionally serve as the perfect foil with which to measure and expose the unfortunate shallowness and ineptitude of President Ma.

Referendum Act not fit for purpose, academics say

Taipei Times

A National Human Rights preliminary report scheduled to be released by the Presidential Office later this month should include a review of the Referendum Act (公民投票法), which deprives people of their rights, a number of academics said yesterday.

The act, enacted in 2003, has been dubbed “birdcage” legislation because of the unreasonably high threshold needed to launch a referendum drive.

The act stipulates that a referendum proposal, after completing a first stage whereby signatures from 0.5 percent of the number of eligible voters in the previous presidential election have been collected, must obtain approval from the Referendum Review Committee before it can proceed to the next stage, which involves collecting signatures from 5 percent of voters.

No blank check for Ma and ‘1992 consensus’

Allen Houng 洪裕宏

The word “consensus” refers to “recognition and agreement.” If the Taiwanese and Chinese governments had reached a so-called “1992 consensus,” this would mean that the two governments agreed on the content of a particular agreement. Evidence would suggest otherwise.

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) says the “1992 consensus” means “one China, with each side having its own interpretation.” According to this logic, Taipei and Beijing both recognize and agree on the “one China” principle, but it is up to the two governments how they interpret the meaning of “one China.” Judging from the actions taken by the Chinese government around the world, this “1992 consensus” is a complete lie.

Now Ma suddenly loves the ROC flag

Taipei Times Editorial

After a recent TV campaign blitz launched by President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) re-election campaign office featuring the Republic of China (ROC) national flag, one cannot help but wonder whether Ma’s campaign staff are deranged or are simply assuming for some unknown reason that Taiwanese will not remember Ma’s track record on the national flag.

One TV ad released by Ma’s campaign office focused on the passion Taiwanese feel for the flag and the nation, while another thanked anyone who had ever waved an ROC flag, praising their patriotism and calling them the true guardians of the nation’s dignity.

Unfortunately for Ma, while he may see nothing ironic about holding himself up as a defender of Taiwanese dignity, the two TV ads remind people of the way the ROC flag has been trampled on during his three years in office.

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