If all goes well, a new president is to be elected when the electorate go to the polls on Jan. 16 to vote in the combined presidential and legislative elections.
As the presidential inauguration is not to take place until May 20, it means there will be a four-month gap between the presidential election and the day the new president and vice president take office.
Is this four-month period reasonable? Many political observers have their doubts.
Prior to the 2012 presidential election, the presidential poll was in March and the new president and vice president were sworn in on May 20.
However, following the Central Election Commission’s decision to combine the presidential and legislative elections, the transition period between the presidential election and inauguration has been extended.
The four-month window between the election and the inauguration did not prove to be much of an issue in the presidential election four years ago, because President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) ended up winning another term.
However, this time around Ma is certain not to be elected again.
Therefore, concerns have been raised over what could happen during the four-month post-election transition — not to mention other challenging issues, such as whether the military will remain neutral and whether the caretaker government will refrain from making major policy changes.
After all, until Ma steps down, he is still the president, and there is no way that Taiwanese can demand that he just sit on his hands during the transition period.
While some observers remain confident, saying that democracy has taken root in Taiwan and there is no need to worry, many Taiwanese remain concerned over whether power will be transferred peacefully.
Fortunately, the lawmakers to be elected on Jan. 16 are to be sworn in and begin a new legislative session on Feb. 1.
The lawmakers should make it their priority to pass the draft government transition act, ensuring that the caretaker government of the Ma administration cannot do anything that might harm the nation’s or the public’s interests in any way.
The government transition bill has been sitting idle in the Legislative Yuan for the past seven years — with no progress made.
The passage of the act is needed to stipulate a clear delineation of the powers of incumbent presidents during the transitional window — for instance, whether incumbent presidents should be able to sign treaties with other nations and how their administrations should make use of government budgets.
Another issue that needs to be addressed is how an incumbent administration provides information, resources and training to an incoming administration.
To ensure that its newly elected representatives in the Legislative Yuan truly reflect its concerns over the transition of power, the electorate should bear in mind that votes cast for legislative candidates are just as important as votes cast for presidential candidates.
US president-elect Donald Trump continues to make nominations for his Cabinet and US agencies, with most of his picks being staunchly against Beijing. For US ambassador to China, Trump has tapped former US senator David Perdue. This appointment makes it crystal clear that Trump has no intention of letting China continue to steal from the US while infiltrating it in a surreptitious quasi-war, harming world peace and stability. Originally earning a name for himself in the business world, Perdue made his start with Chinese supply chains as a manager for several US firms. He later served as the CEO of Reebok and
US$18.278 billion is a simple dollar figure; one that’s illustrative of the first Trump administration’s defense commitment to Taiwan. But what does Donald Trump care for money? During President Trump’s first term, the US defense department approved gross sales of “defense articles and services” to Taiwan of over US$18 billion. In September, the US-Taiwan Business Council compared Trump’s figure to the other four presidential administrations since 1993: President Clinton approved a total of US$8.702 billion from 1993 through 2000. President George W. Bush approved US$15.614 billion in eight years. This total would have been significantly greater had Taiwan’s Kuomintang-controlled Legislative Yuan been cooperative. During
US president-elect Donald Trump in an interview with NBC News on Monday said he would “never say” if the US is committed to defending Taiwan against China. Trump said he would “prefer” that China does not attempt to invade Taiwan, and that he has a “very good relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Before committing US troops to defending Taiwan he would “have to negotiate things,” he said. This is a departure from the stance of incumbent US President Joe Biden, who on several occasions expressed resolutely that he would commit US troops in the event of a conflict in
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in recent days was the focus of the media due to his role in arranging a Chinese “student” group to visit Taiwan. While his team defends the visit as friendly, civilized and apolitical, the general impression is that it was a political stunt orchestrated as part of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda, as its members were mainly young communists or university graduates who speak of a future of a unified country. While Ma lived in Taiwan almost his entire life — except during his early childhood in Hong Kong and student years in the US —
RSS