Recalls require flexibility, awareness

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2025.2.19

The first phase of a recall movement launched early this month, beginning with petitions against 18 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators and suspended Hsinchu mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) delivered to the Central Election Commission (CEC) for approval. The first phase required signatures from more than 1 percent of a constituency’s voters to formally start each recall process. The hurdles for the second phase are much higher, requiring 10 percent of a constituency’s voters to sign the petition within 60 days.

Forty-one KMT lawmakers could be recalled, but to stop the KMT’s and Taiwan People’s Party’s (TPP) destruction of the Constitution and the hobbling of the government, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would need to elect a minimum of eight DPP candidates to gain a legislative majority.

Recalls require flexibility, awareness

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2025.2.19

The first phase of a recall movement launched early this month, beginning with petitions against 18 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators and suspended Hsinchu mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) delivered to the Central Election Commission (CEC) for approval. The first phase required signatures from more than 1 percent of a constituency’s voters to formally start each recall process. The hurdles for the second phase are much higher, requiring 10 percent of a constituency’s voters to sign the petition within 60 days.

Forty-one KMT lawmakers could be recalled, but to stop the KMT’s and Taiwan People’s Party’s (TPP) destruction of the Constitution and the hobbling of the government, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would need to elect a minimum of eight DPP candidates to gain a legislative majority.

Macau is the poster child for China’s ‘two systems’

    By Paul Li 林保華
Taipei Timea 2025.1.19

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Central Economic Work Conference in Beijing at the end of last year failed to find a solution for China’s economy. Although Chinese officials claimed that the foreign trade surplus hit a record high last month, China’s and Hong Kong’s stock markets have kept tumbling this year, with the latter’s Hang Seng Index dropping below 19,000 points on Monday.

While being stuck with the downturn, there is good news for Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), who visited Macau at the end of last year to celebrate the 25th anniversary of China‘s takeover of the territory in 1999. Surprisingly, Xi stayed there for three days.

Wed, Oct 23, 2024 page8

Marking 75 years of CCP’s misrule

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Timea  2024.10.5

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) celebrated the 75th anniversary of its establishment on Tuesday. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has managed to stay in power for 75 years, even though it has been responsible for the loss of tens of millions of people through its missteps during that time.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) might be wondering how long this can go on.

The importance of press freedom

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times  2024.9.21

I was a member of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) when I was in Hong Kong. Although I was not a journalist, my income from doing media work exceeded that from my job at school. That was why I was able to join.

I was oppressed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) before Hong Kong’s handover in 1997. I was even denied entry by China, which was recorded in the HKJA’s yearbook. The union voicing support for me was the reason why I have been keeping an eye on what has been happening to them despite having left the territory.

China’s hypocritical land claims

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times  2024.9.15

During a televised interview with ERA TV earlier this month, President William Lai (賴清德) said that China wants to annex Taiwan not for the sake of territorial integrity, but for hegemony. Otherwise, China should take back the territory it ceded to Russia in the Treaty of Aigun, especially now that Russia is in its “weakest state.”

Despite Lai’s statement being reported on and republished by international media, China did not dare to respond directly. It was instead a spokesperson from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs who provided a response, saying that the 2001 Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship and the Supplementary Agreement on the Eastern Section of the China-Russia Boundary Line between the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation were the final solutions to the border disputes between the two countries.

Deciphering a dictator’s poker face and smile

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times  2024.9.10

Dictators always wear a poker face to look daunting. If they put on a smile, they must be after something. Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) recently showed a smile — despite being a fake one, it carried profound meaning.

There is a communication channel between China and the US to avoid conflicts: irregular meetings between Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

How to be a ‘die-hard’ separatist

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times  2024.8.17

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) on Wednesday last week said it would “use legal means to punish die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists.” The TAO’s latest list of expanded “Taiwanese independence separatist” targets include former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), former legislative speaker You Si-kun (游錫?), National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌), Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) and Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), NSC Deputy Secretary-General Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) and Government Watch Alliance spokesperson Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華). Nearly all of those listed are members of the DPP.

Are there truly only 10 “die-hard Taiwanese separatists?” That number is far too low. Are they truly the most prominent “separatists”? How was this list cooked up exactly? Were the listees chosen based on their age, experience, speeches or actions? However much we look into the matter, the connections seem absent.

The CCP, reform and the Third Plenum

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2024.7.30

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has formally convened the third plenary session of its 20th Standing Committee. Since the third plenary session of 1987, when the party introduced economic reforms and policies to open up the country, the theme of each third plenum has been the proposal of a new reform blueprint.

However, since the reforms of former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) in the late 1980s, particularly after the Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 4, 1987, China’s so-called reforms have been limited to the economy.

The consequences of war for China

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2024.6.16

From May 31 to June 2, 37 ministers of defense attended the 21st International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, including Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍).

Anyone who tried to separate Taiwan from China would be “crushed to pieces,” he said during the premier defense summit.

Taiwan’s successful tech industry

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2024.6.10

Computex Taipei 2024, organized by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), started on Tuesday last week.

The event had 4,500 booths and attracted 1,500 companies, more than 13,000 international professionals and nine technology giants — including Intel Corp, Qualcomm Inc, Ammann Group Holding and other major companies. Among the companies, there is competition and more cooperation. The event also attracted more than 1,000 news reporters from around the world.

DPP should work with some TPP lawmakers

    By Paul lin 林保華
2024.5.19

President-elect William Lai (賴清德) and vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) take up their official positions tomorrow. Many of the new Cabinet members are not members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Among these are minister of economic affairs-designate J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) and minister of culture-designate Lee Yuan (李遠).

China remains a serious challenge

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2024.4.26

With tensions between China and the Philippines heating up, face-offs have not only occurred in the South China Sea, but the Philippines also skipped the Western Pacific Naval Symposium — which received delegations from 29 countries, including the US — hosted by China.

Lately, many Chinese exchange students have flocked to Cagayan province in the northern Philippine island of Luzon, leading to a surging enrollment in private universities in Tuguegarao City.

US is still affirming Taiwan’s sovereignty

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2024.4.10

Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) went to China this month to pay obeisance, adding to the perception of him “loving China and opposing the US.” Meanwhile, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chair Laura Rosenberger made a last-minute trip to Taiwan from March 31 to last Saturday, yet during her stay, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) was nowhere to be found. Did he go to Washington to report that something had happened within the KMT?

Signed in 1952, the San Francisco Peace Treaty, which settled affairs in the Pacific after World War II, never designated who would possess sovereignty over Taiwan and Penghu after Japan relinquished ownership. This was handed over to the US from Japan after World War II. The US passed Taiwan to Chinese Nationalist hands in a trusteeship framework, though Taiwan’s ultimate fate rested in US hands. The Taiwan Relations Act is a US domestic law. The act has a higher status than an international treaty and there is a reason for that.

‘Bumbler’ Ma set to go to China

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2024.03.31

Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) announced he is to travel to China tomorrow, which is April Fool’s Day. The date must have been deliberately chosen by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is clearly trying to court Ma while also fashioning him into a sock puppet.

The Economist once called Ma a “bumbler” and China takes a similar view. He seems to have cheerily accepted the sobriquet.

TSMC’s expansion win for Taiwan

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 240305

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) held an opening ceremony for its first chip manufacturing fab in Kumamoto, Japan. It is owned by a joint venture, Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Inc (JASM), of which TSMC is the controlling shareholder.

TSMC founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) attended the ceremony, saying that the JASM fab would “improve the resilience of the chip supply for Japan and for the world” and “start a renaissance of semiconductor manufacturing in Japan.”

Chinese President Xi’s self-deception

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times  2024.2.26

At a gathering held by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese State Council during this year’s Spring Festival, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) reviewed the achievements of the past year.

“Good scenery on this side only” (風景這邊獨好), he said about the global situation.

Legislature speakership predictions

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times  2024.1.29

Given that none of the three main political parties won a majority in the Legislative Yuan, the elections have left Taiwanese with a serious question: Who will be elected as the legislative speaker?

The pan-blue, pan-green and white camps continue to compete with one another, and nobody knows how this will play out, or who will eventually cooperate with whom.

Abysmal financial decline of Hong Kong
Taipei Times  2023.12.3
    By Paul Lin 林保華

On Tuesday, Taiwan’s TAIEX stock index peaked at 17,360 points and closed at 17,341 points, surpassing Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index, which fell to 17,303 points and closed at 17,541 points. A few years ago, the gap between the Taiwanese and Hong Kong stock indices was more than 20,000 points, but this was before the 2019 anti-extradition protests.

Hong Kong is one of the world’s most important financial centers, but many Chinese Internet users joke that it is only a ruin today. When asked by a legislative councilor whether he would communicate with social media platforms in the mainland to request deleting or blocking such posts, Office of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in Beijing Director Rex Chang (鄭偉源) said that the office had been paying attention to the comments and would continue to trace the sources of the remarks, pledging to keep a close eye on it.