The gas pipeline explosions in Greater Kaohsiung’s Cianjhen (前鎮) and Lingya (苓雅) districts exposed several serious issues, such as the lack of distinction between central and local government authority and accountability, mismanagement of underground pipelines, confusion over corporate social responsibility and ethics, and the question of whether the government has the nation’s best interests at heart.
The incident highlighted the absence of clear divides between central and local government authority, accountability and competence. The lack of competence within the Greater Kaohsiung Government also reflects the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) lack of competence.
A government’s ability to govern consists of several key elements: professionalism, the ability to communicate, and leadership and administration. In this era of internationalization, globalization and information, government leaders must have a professional skill set that includes basic knowledge, an understanding of international affairs and a broad vision.
The DPP’s rise and growth were based on its push for the nation’s democratization. Despite its passion, the party’s first generation of leaders lacked professionalism, the ability to communicate, and leadership and administrative abilities. Unfortunately, most of its second and third-generation leaders also lack these skills, and this is the party’s biggest problem. Although the rise of DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is likely to partially remedy the problem, the party still has to overcome its populist, even anti-intellectual, orientation, or it will have no hope in the future.
In comparison, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) leaders possess professionalism.
However, it must improve its administrative abilities and leadership. Also, it has a lack of love for the nation, which has led to recent government malfunctions and corruption cases.
The same applies to businesses, which should take social responsibility, especially publicly traded corporations and those closely related to the public’s safety as well as the nation’s political and economic development.
The upcoming generation of the nation’s business leaders share certain characteristics: many of them studied overseas, receiving a Western education, in particular, in technical and management training, holding dual nationalities, with most of their families residing abroad.
They are competent elites with sound business acumen, still, they have to develop a love for the land and their companies must show greater social responsibility.
The performance of TransAsia Airways and LCY Chemical Corp has been disappointing, and the second-generation business elites’ lack of love for the nation has played a key factor in this. This is something that must change right away.
Public participation is important in a democracy, but in practice the country is manipulated by political and business elites.
Today, national development no longer depends on one or two individuals; rather it is political and business elites who are crucial to national competitiveness, future national direction and public welfare. They must remain humble and constantly review and improve themselves to create greater happiness for the country and its people.
They should reduce the risk of disaster and improve crisis management while taking an active approach to aiding the government’s ability to rule and strengthen the social responsibility of businesses. This is the only way to put the country back on the right track.
Lin Chia-cheng is a former minister of examinations.
Translated by Eddy Chang
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
The military is conducting its annual Han Kuang exercises in phases. The minister of national defense recently said that this year’s scenarios would simulate defending the nation against possible actions the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) might take in an invasion of Taiwan, making the threat of a speculated Chinese invasion in 2027 a heated agenda item again. That year, also referred to as the “Davidson window,” is named after then-US Indo-Pacific Command Admiral Philip Davidson, who in 2021 warned that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the PLA to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. Xi in 2017
RSS