2014 - 4th Quarter
2015 Will be Decision Time for the KMT
Events in 2014 have made it an ill-fated if not disastrous year for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and President Ma Ying-jeou. The year began in the courts with Ma losing the "September Strife" battle to oust Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng from the KMT and the Legislative Yuan. ...
Self Reliance, a Quality that Taiwan Must Develop
In any youthful and developing democracy, elections, even local ones, will raise the formative issues of identity and national direction. ...
China's New 'Bling Empire' in Democracy's Way
Unlikely and strange as it may seem, changes, serious changes, continue now in the alleged "Middle Kingdom" China. They are conflicting changes whose directions may not necessarily be for the better. Some will champion these changes while others will try to contest them or spin them into minimalism. Few could have anticipated them especially with all of their ramifications, but ...
Three Islands, Three Histories, Three Identities
With Taiwan's crucial nine-in-one elections on the doorstep, Taiwanese have much to think about, as well as be cautious and discriminating in their choices. Those elected will be influencing internal affairs in the nation's major cities for the next four years, and care need be taken to select competent people who can both relate to and understand the needs of ...
What China Wills is Certainly not Democracy
"Where there is a will, there is a way" is an age-old saying. Put it more directly and it becomes, "He who wills the end, wills the way." This is a maxim that most accept, and it is also one that can apply not only to individuals but to nations as well. With this in mind then the United Kingdom ...
KMT Red Herrings: Who Should be Mayor?
With less than two months to go before the Nov. 29 nine-in-one elections, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is pulling out all stops in its attacks on Ko Wen-je, independent Taipei mayoral candidate and chief opponent of KMT candidate, Sean Lien. ...
A Modest Proposal for Hollow Men
For Taiwan, it is now some four years since President Ma introduced the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) and a year since its "promised land" subsequent cross-strait service trade agreement. The calculated plan of all this has been that it would surely kick-start Ma's Golden Decade. That decade with promises of renewed prosperity would in turn hopefully salvage Ma's bogus ...
A Taiwan Wake-up Call as Hau Pei-tsun Misses Again
At a recent seminar hosted by the New Party's New Chinese Children's Association, Taiwan's former premier Hau Pei-tsun once again managed to both put his foot in his mouth as well as resurrect the question of how many members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) still continue to live in the KMT's past make believe world and alternate universe? ...