On Sept. 23, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said, "The Ministry of Finance is trying to destroy the farmers' and fishermen's associations by having commercial banks take over their credit units. If it acts recklessly on policy affecting the farmers' and fishermen's associations, the DPP will have to be careful of losing power." Presi-dent Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) responded by saying that "reform will continue even if it risks costing us power."
Chen's statement was inspiring and people from all walks of life sought to generate ideas on how the NT$1.05 trillion Financial Restructuring Fund should be used. Eventually, however, under pressure from a series of planned marches and protests by farmers and fishermen, the government decided to suspend the implementation of risk-management measures aimed at regulating the associations' credit units. That decision has brought a halt to the financial reform of the units.
In 1996, non-performing loans (NPL) extended by farmers' and fishermen's credit units totaled NT$72.3 billion. After six years, this has increased to NT$137 billion as of June this year. The NPL ratio was 8.57 percent in 1996, as opposed to 21.53 percent in June this year.
We will come to regret postponing grassroots financial reform if no action is taken soon.
The problem of financial reform was caused by the KMT administration's laissez-faire approach and procrastination, which it found beneficial in controlling local party factions.
The administration's decision to suspend the implementation of risk-management measures has halted some reforms that had already been set in motion.
The difficulty of grassroots financial reform lies in the complex ties between the farmers' and fishermen's associations and political factions, not from the implementation of financial measures. We believe that it is impossible to reform every aspect of the system; trying to make everyone happy will result in hypocrisy. We can only try our best to allay the opposition of vested interests. In the face of opposition from the "targeted groups," we should neither hesitate nor flinch from our mission.
Grassroots financial reform is irrelevant to politics. The grass-roots financial institutions are a timebomb that could trigger a financial crisis at any time. Their senior officials do not belong to any particular party or faction; they care only about pursuing their own interests.
In 2000, the people's disappointment with KMT reforms led to a change in government. Today, that same sense of disappointment has re-emerged. It is obvious that simple, vigorous reform does not necessarily result in loss of power. But the administration certainly risks losing power by advocating reform and then caving in to anti-reform protests.
Since the 2000 election, we, as founding members of the DPP, have felt increasingly powerless about the party's apparent abandonment of its past ideals and resolve.
Hong Chi-chang and Tuan Yi-kang are DPP legislators.
Translated by Grace Shaw
A chip made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) was found on a Huawei Technologies Co artificial intelligence (AI) processor, indicating a possible breach of US export restrictions that have been in place since 2019 on sensitive tech to the Chinese firm and others. The incident has triggered significant concern in the IT industry, as it appears that proxy buyers are acting on behalf of restricted Chinese companies to bypass the US rules, which are intended to protect its national security. Canada-based research firm TechInsights conducted a die analysis of the Huawei Ascend 910B AI Trainer, releasing its findings on Oct.
Pat Gelsinger took the reins as Intel CEO three years ago with hopes of reviving the US industrial icon. He soon made a big mistake. Intel had a sweet deal going with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the giant manufacturer of semiconductors for other companies. TSMC would make chips that Intel designed, but could not produce and was offering deep discounts to Intel, four people with knowledge of the agreement said. Instead of nurturing the relationship, Gelsinger — who hoped to restore Intel’s own manufacturing prowess — offended TSMC by calling out Taiwan’s precarious relations with China. “You don’t want all of
In honor of President Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday, my longtime friend and colleague John Tkacik wrote an excellent op-ed reassessing Carter’s derecognition of Taipei. But I would like to add my own thoughts on this often-misunderstood president. During Carter’s single term as president of the United States from 1977 to 1981, despite numerous foreign policy and domestic challenges, he is widely recognized for brokering the historic 1978 Camp David Accords that ended the state of war between Egypt and Israel after more than three decades of hostilities. It is considered one of the most significant diplomatic achievements of the 20th century.
In a recent essay in Foreign Affairs, titled “The Upside on Uncertainty in Taiwan,” Johns Hopkins University professor James B. Steinberg makes the argument that the concept of strategic ambiguity has kept a tenuous peace across the Taiwan Strait. In his piece, Steinberg is primarily countering the arguments of Tufts University professor Sulmaan Wasif Khan, who in his thought-provoking new book The Struggle for Taiwan does some excellent out-of-the-box thinking looking at US policy toward Taiwan from 1943 on, and doing some fascinating “what if?” exercises. Reading through Steinberg’s comments, and just starting to read Khan’s book, we could already sense that