Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

My regret in voting for Ko Wen-je

Lin Jin-jia 林進嘉

Middle-class people do not want Taiwan to remain stuck in a conflict between the “blue” and “green” political camps, or for every election to become a battle of ideologies. They want Taiwan to become a normal democratic country where, no matter which party is in power, there will always be a loyal opposition to strictly supervise the governing party, and where alternation of ruling parties is the norm.

However, just as the idea of a “blue-white” electoral alliance between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) seemed to be on the verge of collapse, on Friday last week former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the KMT suddenly announced via one of his advisers that he supported the suggestion made by TPP Chairman and presidential nominee Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) that a “national opinion poll” should be the basis for deciding which party’s nominee in a possible “blue-white” joint ticket should be the presidential candidate and which should stand for vice president.

‘Sixty percent want change’ a myth

Chen Ching-kuen

The presidential candidates of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) — New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) and TPP Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) — have been repeating the mantra that more than 60 percent of the public want a new party in government.

This is an obvious ploy to help the “divide and conquer” strategy that the “blue-white alliance” is working on to incite “down with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)” sentiment.

The idea that there is desire for a transition of power seems to have been invented, because opinion polls and media reports do not support it.

TPP-KMT union raises China issues

Linus Chiou 邱士哲

With campaigns for next year’s presidential and legislative elections ramping up, the pan-green camp is waging a war on two fronts against the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Taiwan’s relationship with China is at the heart of this conflict, which is exemplified by the polarizing discourse surrounding potential TPP legislator-at-large candidate Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) and KMT Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君).

With the convergence of interests between the TPP and the KMT, two sides of this conflict are merging into a unified front, albeit with trivial deviances in political ideology. On one side is the pan-green camp, which calls for a cautious approach to China, while maintaining national sovereignty. On the other side is the blue-white alliance, which sees dialogue with China as the prime means for reducing the chances of a war.

Germany eager to expand Taiwan ties: diplomat

Taipei Times

Germany has good relations with Taiwan and intends to expand them on various issues, a German Federal Foreign Office official said on Monday, calling for the cross-strait “status quo” to be preserved.

Petra Sigmund, director-general for East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific at the Federal Foreign Office, made the remarks in a keynote speech at the Second Berlin Taiwan Conference.

The conference, held on Monday and yesterday at the German capital, was organized by Reinhard Butikofer, a German member of the European Parliament and chairman of the parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the People’s Republic of China.

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