Less than two months after the new administration took power, the stock market is in free fall, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) approval ratings are slipping and former Control Yuan president Wang Tso-yung (王作榮) and former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄) are taking turns in demanding Cabinet reshuffles, with Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Vanessa Shih (史亞平) one of those in the firing line. The government is experiencing a credibility crisis that the Cabinet cannot resolve with a few humble excuses.
The government’s problem is that Ma said too much during his presidential campaign. His election slogan promising immediate improvements made public expectations soar, when in fact Ma was overestimating the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) ability to govern and underestimating the global economic situation and the complexity of the domestic situation. The government still has to move into gear and the public no longer has confidence that Ma will deliver on his promises.
The government is trying every trick in the book to come up with a quick fix, but many of its economic measures require time, while others cancel each other out: Raising oil and electricity prices, launching a plan to increase domestic demand and promoting development will lead to inflation and higher commodity prices, while the central bank is raising interest rates in an attempt to decrease money supply and curb inflation.
While international oil prices keep rising, the government’s measures will not be able to restrict price increases and it is unlikely that commodity prices will fall and the stock index go up.
The government clearly does not have the patience to wait for its economic measures to have an effect and instead places its hopes for the economy on Chinese tourists. It is also planning to allow Taiwanese companies to set up 12-inch wafer plants in China, which will weaken the industry’s quality and also affect both national and global security.
The government’s problems clearly do not lie in isolated incidents. Rather, there is an inability to grasp overall social trends. At a time when a public consensus is missing and Ma has said the Suhua Freeway construction project will not go ahead until the environmental impact assessment has been passed, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said that sections of the freeway would be built.
When Cabinet policy is declared on the spur of the moment without going through a standardized administrative process, when policies are constantly changing and when public sentiment regarding the freeway construction is ignored, it is only natural that there will be public discontent.
The GIO director is only there to make the government look good, and Shih cannot change policy or decisions. It is not her fault that the Cabinet is mired in internal chaos, it is always a step behind in managing crises, that policy communication falters and that the government cannot grasp public sentiment. This is the responsibility of more senior officials in both the Cabinet and the Presidential Office.
The government’s most urgent task is to review the Cabinet’s performance. In addition to setting up standardized processes for decision making, the Cabinet should also be taught the meaning of the term “team work” and the ministries should discuss how to improve their understanding of public sentiment.
Chinese actor Alan Yu (于朦朧) died after allegedly falling from a building in Beijing on Sept. 11. The actor’s mysterious death was tightly censored on Chinese social media, with discussions and doubts about the incident quickly erased. Even Hong Kong artist Daniel Chan’s (陳曉東) post questioning the truth about the case was automatically deleted, sparking concern among overseas Chinese-speaking communities about the dark culture and severe censorship in China’s entertainment industry. Yu had been under house arrest for days, and forced to drink with the rich and powerful before he died, reports said. He lost his life in this vicious
A recent trio of opinion articles in this newspaper reflects the growing anxiety surrounding Washington’s reported request for Taiwan to shift up to 50 percent of its semiconductor production abroad — a process likely to take 10 years, even under the most serious and coordinated effort. Simon H. Tang (湯先鈍) issued a sharp warning (“US trade threatens silicon shield,” Oct. 4, page 8), calling the move a threat to Taiwan’s “silicon shield,” which he argues deters aggression by making Taiwan indispensable. On the same day, Hsiao Hsi-huei (蕭錫惠) (“Responding to US semiconductor policy shift,” Oct. 4, page 8) focused on
In South Korea, the medical cosmetic industry is fiercely competitive and prices are low, attracting beauty enthusiasts from Taiwan. However, basic medical risks are often overlooked. While sharing a meal with friends recently, I heard one mention that his daughter would be going to South Korea for a cosmetic skincare procedure. I felt a twinge of unease at the time, but seeing as it was just a casual conversation among friends, I simply reminded him to prioritize safety. I never thought that, not long after, I would actually encounter a patient in my clinic with a similar situation. She had
George Santayana wrote: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This article will help readers avoid repeating mistakes by examining four examples from the civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forces and the Republic of China (ROC) forces that involved two city sieges and two island invasions. The city sieges compared are Changchun (May to October 1948) and Beiping (November 1948 to January 1949, renamed Beijing after its capture), and attempts to invade Kinmen (October 1949) and Hainan (April 1950). Comparing and contrasting these examples, we can learn how Taiwan may prevent a war with
RSS