So President Chen Shui-bian (
There are those within the pan-green camp who might be happy at the prospect of Premier Su Tseng-chang (
But the president's decision poses dangers for Su. After all, it is unlikely the move will defuse any of the scandals plaguing the administration. The insider-trading scandal that has ensnared Chen's son-in-law reflects on the first family's honor and integrity.
As Presidential Office Spokesman David Lee (
The stain of corruption has tainted Chen. Even if he is completely honest, he has surrounded himself with the crooked and the corrupt -- and in the case of former top adviser Chen Che-nan (
And this is what brings us back to Su. The premier faces a number of difficulties as he tries to balance his responsibilities as the nation's chief executive with the need to distance himself from Chen.
The basic problem is that, regardless of what happens to Chen, Su is going to be left with the unenviable task of cleaning up the mess. It is Su that must deal with the aftermath of the various scandals that have erupted. It is Su who will have to take the flak for the landslides, floods, typhoons, crop damage, financial problems and myriad other issues that a premier has to deal with each year.
Contrast this with Ma, who has no national responsibilities. As Taipei mayor, he is responsible for the most developed and wealthiest part of the nation, which may have periodic problems, but obviously not on the scale of the rest of the country. So Ma isn't likely to have to make many decisions of national import. He will appeal to voters because all he has to do is sit on the sidelines and snipe at the administration with carefully crafted press releases.
But Su is in the trenches. He has to get himself down in the dirt of the day-to-day operations of the government. Su will have to demonstrate whether or not he has the ability to lead this nation long before he ever has a chance to run for head of state.
One suspects that Ma isn't being entirely sincere when he implies Chen should step down. He must be satisfied with things as they are now: The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration is in disarray, beset by scandal and unable to find its direction. His most likely rival for the presidency is at the mercy of forces beyond his control, and Ma will have ample opportunities to let his henchmen knock the premier down a notch or two whenever a problem erupts.
Of course, what is best for Ma is not necessarily best for the country. The people should ask themselves why it is that Su is where he is now. They should ask themselves if they would prefer a leader who is unafraid to risk his political capital simply to get things done, as is Su, or one who calculates from the shadows and takes advantage of others' mistakes, as does Ma.
If Taiwan chooses the spider, it shouldn't cry when it gets bitten.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) has caused havoc with his attempts to overturn the democratic and constitutional order in the legislature. If we look at this devolution from the context of a transition to democracy from authoritarianism in a culturally Chinese sense — that of zhonghua (中華) — then we are playing witness to a servile spirit from a millennia-old form of totalitarianism that is intent on damaging the nation’s hard-won democracy. This servile spirit is ingrained in Chinese culture. About a century ago, Chinese satirist and author Lu Xun (魯迅) saw through the servile nature of
In their New York Times bestseller How Democracies Die, Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt said that democracies today “may die at the hands not of generals but of elected leaders. Many government efforts to subvert democracy are ‘legal,’ in the sense that they are approved by the legislature or accepted by the courts. They may even be portrayed as efforts to improve democracy — making the judiciary more efficient, combating corruption, or cleaning up the electoral process.” Moreover, the two authors observe that those who denounce such legal threats to democracy are often “dismissed as exaggerating or
Monday was the 37th anniversary of former president Chiang Ching-kuo’s (蔣經國) death. Chiang — a son of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), who had implemented party-state rule and martial law in Taiwan — has a complicated legacy. Whether one looks at his time in power in a positive or negative light depends very much on who they are, and what their relationship with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is. Although toward the end of his life Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law and steered Taiwan onto the path of democratization, these changes were forced upon him by internal and external pressures,
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus in the Legislative Yuan has made an internal decision to freeze NT$1.8 billion (US$54.7 million) of the indigenous submarine project’s NT$2 billion budget. This means that up to 90 percent of the budget cannot be utilized. It would only be accessible if the legislature agrees to lift the freeze sometime in the future. However, for Taiwan to construct its own submarines, it must rely on foreign support for several key pieces of equipment and technology. These foreign supporters would also be forced to endure significant pressure, infiltration and influence from Beijing. In other words,
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