China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
September 9, 2015
Executive Summary: Taiwan politics remains mired in vicious partisan power struggles detested by voters. Last year during the nine in one elections, deep green candidate Ko Wen-je vowed to "end blue vs. green partisanship". Taipei voters liked what they heard, and voted him into office. Next year's presidential election is fast approaching. KMT nominee Hung Shiu-chu recently went into self-imposed isolation. Upon emerging, she also called for an end to blue vs. green partisanship. Not to be outdone, Tsai Ing-wen hastily proclaimed that "The era of distinguishing friend from foe is over!" One after another, the candidates have grabbed the headlines. But are their slogans nothing more than temporary expedients? Or is something new actually taking place? Alas it was not to be. Even as Tsai Ing-wen uttered her words, the green camp was waging an all out campaign against Lien Chan. Even a statue of Lien Chan's grandfather, Lien Heng, located in Tainan, was smeared with red paint, all to “distinguish friend from foe”. Many sensed enmity on the rise. Tsai Ing-wen, apparently, is the only one who imagines that this era is over.
Full Text Below:
Taiwan politics remains mired in vicious partisan power struggles detested by voters. Last year during the nine in one elections, deep green candidate Ko Wen-je vowed to "end blue vs. green partisanship". Taipei voters liked what they heard, and voted him into office. Next year's presidential election is fast approaching. KMT nominee Hung Shiu-chu recently went into self-imposed isolation. Upon emerging, she also called for an end to blue vs. green partisanship. Not to be outdone, Tsai Ing-wen hastily proclaimed that "The era of distinguishing friend from foe is over!" One after another, the candidates have grabbed the headlines. But are their slogans nothing more than temporary expedients? Or is something new actually taking place? Alas it was not to be. Even as Tsai Ing-wen uttered her words, the green camp was waging an all out campaign against Lien Chan. Even a statue of Lien Chan's grandfather, Lien Heng, located in Tainan, was smeared with red paint, all to “distinguish friend from foe”. Many sensed enmity on the rise. Tsai Ing-wen, apparently, is the only one who imagines that this era is over.
The gap between rhetoric and reality is our greatest concern. Many remember when Chen Shui-bian trumpeted his "five noes" and "raise our standards" rhetoric. What was the result? Once Chen Shui-bian was firmly ensconced in the presidential palace, cross-Strait relations were soon strained to the limit. Washington and Beijing were forced to step in and provide “adult supervision” over Taiwan. Meanwhile the "Cape 700 Million" Chen embezzled torpedoed the green camp. In 2008, green camp presidential candidate Frank Hsieh trumpeted "reconciliation and symbiosis" even as he enaged in McCarthyite tactics that “distinguished friend from foe”. As we can clearly see, it is relatively easy to talk the talk, but considerably harder to walk the walk.
This is especially true given currently trendy "military parade" political analysis. What is green camp political demagoguery, if not "distinguishing friend from foe" thought? Who participated? Who attended? Everyone has been dragged out and subjected to Cultural Revolution "struggle sessions". Lien Chan is of course bearing the brunt of the attacks. Who cares that he dedicated years of hard work to ensuring peaceful cross-Strait exchanges? Assassination of his character knows no bounds. Even his ancestors have been exhumed and subjected to attacks. Clearly the "era of distinguishing friend from foe" is far from over. When Lee Teng-hui gave a mawkish Japanophile speech, Tsai Ing-wen stressed the need for "tolerance". But when her comrades surrounded Lien Chan and piled on him, she remained silent. Does she really not distinguish between friend and foe?
It is bad enough that her sloganeering is applied inconsistently in order to attack opponents. Even more worrisome is the prospect of such sloganeering applied to policy. That is truly frightening. For example, when Tsai Ing-wen speaks to business leaders, she promises that upon her election Taiwan will not want for electricity. But her own comrades in DPP ruled municipalities and counties forbid the burning of bituminous coal. Yesterday in Yunlin, she rejected the announcement issue by the central government Environmental Protection Bureau. She then ran off to the Number Four Nuclear Power Plant to protest. Never mind that the plant has already been mothballed. Green camp candidates oppose both nuclear power and thermal power generation. These self-styled energy experts do not worry about the lack of electricity. Taipower intends to save itself by building power plants. After all, what if Tsai Ing-wen's "guarantees" turn out to be mere slogans?
The impact of Tsai's thinking on cross-Strait policy is even more frightening. Regarding key issues such as the 1992 Consensus, Tsai Ing-wen has been deliberately vague. She has been ducking all questions on the assumption that can win the election lying down. So why risk taking a stand on the issues? In order to deceive voters, Tsai is intentionally or unintentionally spreading rumors. They include the rumor that Uncle Sammy has decided to back Little Tsai, or that Tsai already has a direct pipeline to the leaders in Beijing. These rumors are made to sound real. Meanwhile green camp standard-bearers and talking heads insist that "The 1992 Consensus does not even exist". Their ultimate argument of course is that "In any event, once we have been elected, Beijing will have no choice but to deal with us". This boast alarms people the most.
Zhang Nianchi is a veteran analyst of cross-Strait relations at Shanghai's East Asia Institute. Zhang recently published a guest editorial saying that "He hopes that Tsai Ing-wen actually has a direct pipeline to the leaders in Beijing... ". Zhang mentioned a conversation he had with a DPP leader whom he later quoted. Zhang expressed incredulity at the DPP leader's flagrant self-deception. He expressed shock at the extent to which the DPP leader actually believed his own lies. These lies include the claim that as long as the DPP returns to power, the Mainland will "resign itself" to the ruling party change and "cozy up" to it. These lies include the claim that as long as the US sides with the DPP, the Mainland will have no choice but acquiesce. Zhang Nianchi dismissed all these claims as outright lies. Assuming Zhang Nianchi's remarks reflect the thinking of Mainland leaders, this is not merely disturbing, but downright frightening.
Much of what Tsai Ing-wen says sounds fine. But after offering her vision, Tsai evades questions about how she intends to achieve it. After spouting high-minded rhetoric, her comrades violate every precept she advocated. After advocating cross-Strait peace, she categorically repudiates the basis for it, the 1992 Consensus. After trumpeting "the end of the us vs. them era", her comrades promplty incite "us vs. them" hatred.
蔡英文的敵我意識從未過去
2015年09月09日 中國時報
台灣政治陷入政黨惡鬥令選民生厭，去年九合一選舉，
口號與實踐的落差，是我們最擔心的事！相信許多人都還清楚記得，
特別是目前尚在延燒的「閱兵」政治學，依綠營熱烈炒作的方式，
令人更擔心是，這種口號與實踐不一致，如果只是用來打擊對手，
兩岸政策更是令人害怕！要知道，迄今為止在關鍵議題的表述上，
大陸資深兩岸問題評論家，上海東亞研究所所長章念馳投書媒體〈
不諱言，蔡英文的許多政治語言，都說得很漂亮，但願景提出後，
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