Taiwan’s values versus Taiwanese values

Taiwan’s values versus Taiwanese values

On January 23, 2018, Tsai Ing-wen said in her SET TV interview that Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je should define “Taiwan’s values” but she refused to define what she meant by “Taiwan’s values”.

Since then, there has been a raging debate as to what exactly are Tsai Ing-wen’s “Taiwan’s values” and what are mayor Ko Wen-je’s “Taiwan’s values”.

The ongoing debate is revealing two sets of “values”.  One set consists of Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je’s positive “values” and the other set consists of Tsai Ing-wen’s negative and vengefully myopic “Taiwanese values”.

The mayor’s “Taiwan’s values” are based on “两岸一家親” or “people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are of one family” which Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party and Taiwan independence advocates refute and deny.

“Taiwan’s values” also include the belief that commercial, educational and cultural exchange between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland is mutually beneficial.  Tsai Ing-wen’s government has blocked 176 flights from the Chinese mainland that fly the M503 corridor to Taiwan, and is preventing 40,000 Taiwanese businessmen and students who live, work and study on the Chinese mainland from returning to Taiwan for the Chinese New Year’s family reunion.  This has angered the Taiwanese who want to return to Taiwan for the New Year’s holiday and for their family reunions.

This is an extremely cruel political vendetta that harms only the people of Taiwan.

Other commentators say “Taiwan’s values” should be prosperity and peace between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland and eventual peaceful unification.

Tsai Ing-wen’s negative and vile “Taiwanese values” are “Taiwan independence”, “de-Chinalization”, “political vendetta” and “political correctness”.  Other commentators say Tsai Ing-wen’s “Taiwanese values” include populism, low wages and over worked workers, soot and black smog, and razor wire barricades everywhere.

Those who are highly educated are now bulking at the Democratic Progressive Party.  Their trust in Lai Ching-de, the chief cabinet minister, has dropped from 54.6% to 46.6%.  Their trust in Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je has risen from 74.6% to 79.6%.  This drop in trust in Lai Ching-de and the rise in trust in Ko Wen-je indicates a drop in trust in Tsai Ing-wen’s vile “Taiwanese values” and a rise in trust in Ko Wen-je’s positive “Taiwan’s values”.

A public opinion poll of 1,074 people conducted on January 21-23, 2018, shows that favorable opinion towards Tsai Ing-wen is now at 31.7%, and 46.7% hold an unfavorable opinion towards her, 30.6% are satisfied with her performance in handling Taiwan’s economy while 59% are dissatisfied.

Support for Tsai Ing-wen’s Democratic Progressive Party is now at 28% while support for the Kuomintang is at 24%, the closest since the Sunflower Student movement in 2014, and 43.4% claim themselves politically neutral.  One comment says that the Democratic Progressive Party’s government acts like a wild animal roaming about and biting each other and tearing at each other with its political teeth and acts like a rabid dog biting people.  It has angered the politically neutral voters.  Dysfunction of Tsai Ing-wen’s government is putting Taiwan’s democracy in danger.

A poll conducted by the Beautiful Island Electronic News of 1,075 responses on January 24-28, 2018, shows that 30.3% have a favorable opinion of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and 50.8% have an aversion towards the DPP.  Among those 40-49 years old, 58.5% have an aversion towards the DPP.  Favorable opinion towards the Kuomintang is now at 31.1% and aversion towards the Kuomintang is at 45.3%.

Trust of Tsai Ing-wen is now at 30.2% and distrust of her is at 54.5%.  Satisfaction towards her overall performance is at 25.3% and dissatisfaction of her overall performance is at 64.4%.

A Taiwanese commentator even predicts the political future of Tsai Ing-wen for the rest of her term by quoting the statement:  “First they ignore you.  Then they laugh at you.  Then they fight you.  Then you win”, a quote wrongly attributed to Mahatma Gandhi.

When referring to Tsai Ing-wen, this description is the exact opposite.

I prefer the version of unionist Nicholas Klein in his 1918 speech to the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America in Baltimore:  “First they ignore you.  Then they ridicule you.  And then they attack you and want to burn you.  And then they build monuments to you.”

This version is a very apt description of the Russian television series “Ne Rodis Krasvoy” (Don’t be born a beauty) or Katya u Andrei.

But it is in reverse for Tsai Ing-wen.

Tsai Ing-wen had support of 67% when she was elected the first female president of Taiwan and was standing high on her monumental pedestal.  Then, the so-called elders of the fanatical Taiwan independence faction within the Democratic Progressive Party began to dismantle her pedestal, saying that Tsai Ing-wen should serve as president for only one term, that a person who wears a skirt is unfit to be president, that after one term, she should let Lai Ching-de who is more favored than she to run for president instead of letting her run for a second term, her government’s policies are being criticized, businesses are suffering because them, her government’s vengeful policy is preventing Taiwanese businessmen and students from returning home for New Year’s family reunions.

Tsai Ing-wen is the pig faced swan that is now turning into an ugly, vengeful and devilish female hog.