Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Taiwan’s sole ruler is the public

James Wang 王景弘

Chinese Youth Party member and modern Chinese historian Shen Yun-lung (沈雲龍), when he was teaching in the 1960s, always warned students that they could not believe anything written in history books after 1919 and the May Fourth Movement, and that he could not talk about anything that happened afterward.

The statement has two meanings. First, during the Martial Law era there was no academic freedom or freedom of expression; second, any analysis of important historical events after the May Fourth Movement — including the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the War of Resistance Against Japan and the Chinese Civil War — were deliberate fabrications and acts of obscurantism by the government.

Playing politics with people’s lives

Taipei Times Editorial

The central government under President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has never had a good reputation for protecting the lives of the public since Typhoon Morakot in August 2009. However, its reputation for ineptness appears to have hit new heights with its negligence in the dengue fever outbreak centered in Tainan.

While much of the blame for the administration’s long list of failures can be attributed to basic ineptness, inter-agency and central/local government turf wars and the political patronage games, sometimes it is just pure gutter politics.

Advancing from wary reform to revolution

Lee Min-yung 李敏勇

The political situation in Taiwan is heading toward a time of crucial change. Although the nation continues to be called the Republic of China (ROC) domestically, the overwhelming consensus is that its name is Taiwan, not the ROC. Given the argument that the “status quo” has to be maintained, the road to reform consists of cautious advances toward national reconstruction. With this awareness, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) influence is growing as she leads the DPP toward ever-widening political support.

Lee Teng-hui, in his own words

Chen Yi-shen 陳儀深

When former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) published his book The Road to Democracy — Taiwan’s Pursuit of Identity in 1999, he was soon to leave office, and had started to sum up the major achievements of his 12 years as president of the Republic of China (ROC).

Most people are quite aware that the political reform Lee was pushing in those days went beyond the democratization of the nation; he also wanted to realize a new formula for Taiwan: a “ROC Taiwan” or “the ROC on Taiwan.”

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