The complex implications of Taiwan general election 2012

By He Qinglian on January 18, 2012
(Translated by kRiZcPEc)

(Original Article in Chinese)

Ma Ying-jeou won in 2012 Taiwan general election, a result that the Blue camp and the business sector of the Island cheered for, and China and the United States felt relieved with.

This time, Ma Ying-jeou got 6,872,524 votes, making up 51.6% of the ballots; Tsai Ing-wen got 6,083,443 votes, or 45.7%; the two sides differed by about six percentage points. This surely wasn't a result of Tsai not having enough charisma. To be fair, no other person from the Green camp could have done a better job than she did. After Chen Shui-bian imprisoned for corruption, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), with its reputation severely tarnished, didn't quite have the strength to restart. At such a time, Tsai Ing-wen was the only opponent who, with her clean image, would make the Blue camp and Beijing pull out every stop to secure victory in the election. The real issue reflected by the election result is: Taiwan is too far away from the United States and too close to China. This conclusion is backed by the evaluation result from the International Committee for Fair Elections in Taiwan, which comprised twenty-one observers from eight countries. The Committee said that in this round of presidential and legislative elections, the public of Taiwan has by and large exhibited the free will in casting their votes. But during the election campaign there was still unfairness, in particular these two issues: influence of past authoritarian rule and foreign intervention.

Reality of China

Reality of China: A Mess of Wanton Graffiti Drawn with the Pen of Power

By He Qinglian on November 3, 2011

I remember when Mao Zedong came to be the ruler of China, he described the country as a destitute state, a sheet of blank paper on which the newest and most beautiful picture can be drawn. After that, for three decades Mao Zedong ruled and he left on China his powerful drawings, done in a manner that was willful and wild. In the three decades that followed, officials at various levels at the central and local governments have been painting the country with a host of methods at will. Now, with little white space left, the drawings on the blank sheet of China are testing the lowest limits of human esthetic values and moral principles.

China’s mouthpiece media lack social pain nerves

By He Qinglian on January 3, 2012
 

In late December 2011, the People’s Daily picked as usual the top ten news stories of the year. Unfortunately in that list I found that the social pain nerves of the most superior mouthpiece have ceased to function altogether. That newspaper would soon become rouge powder that Beijing uses to make itself look good.

How far away democratic politics is from China

He Qinglian on Dec 30, 2011

It has become a national consensus that China must implement democracy, and that the sooner that happens, the better. Yet divergent opinions on how democracy is to be implemented, and how great a price the populace is willing to pay to bring about democracy remain. The reason for this is simple: each class has its own interests to consider.