Now that the war in Iraq has officially begun, many important and urgent tasks await the government. Fortunately, despite a "much-ado-about-nothing" panic about terrorist suspects from Pakistan, the government's response to the war has so far been decent.
Since Taiwan plays no real part in the war, the biggest tasks at hand for the government are to calm public anxiety, maintain social order and see to it that there are no shortages of materials essential to people's daily lives. In addition, it must get ready for participation in the post-relief work in Iraq.
In this regard, Premier Yu Shyi-kun's briefings to the public and to the Legislative Yuan about the government's response have been both timely and effective. In those briefings, Yu reassured the public that it need not worry about an oil shortage as there are enough reserves to meet the domestic demand for up to 115 days.
But shortages are not the only worry. Before the war began, many had expressed concerns about the possibility of China seizing the opportunity to make hostile moves toward Taiwan. To those people, Yu said that there has been, so far, no change in the cross-strait situation. In fact, in an effort to calm fears, both Yu and Minister of National Defense Tang Yau-ming (
These gestures by Yu have been reciprocated with support from the Legislative Yuan. After Yu's briefing yesterday, Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
It is very important for the Legislative Yuan and Executive Yuan -- and in fact all branches of government -- to show such unity at a time like this. Anything less would create deep skepticism about the government's ability to deal with potential crises and make the public vulnerable to fear-mongering and panic.
Still, it is hard to say whether this truce and appearance of cohesion will be ruined by the verbal fire of loose-cannon lawmakers seeking to scupper the ship of state and make a name for themselves. It is hoped that Yu's attempts to reach out to all the political parties can win him some goodwill from the opposition.
The political parties may get some inspiration from their American counterparts and do the right thing for a change. On Thursday, the US Senate united behind President George W. Bush and voted 99-0 in support of the deployment of troops in Iraq.
In reality, this can be intepreted not so much as unanimous support for the war but as a desire to show American unity in time of need.
Before the war was launched, whether it was right or wrong to do so was -- in accordance with democratic traditions -- an issue open to debate. Last fall, a substantial number of US Congress members voted against giving formal congressional approval to military action against Iraq. In addition, the Democratic opposition leader Tom Daschle openly criticized Bush's handling of the Iraqi question.
But now that the battle has begun, the arguments are moot. Such differences are put aside and even Daschle has voiced his support for Bush. This is because everyone knows that the country needs their cooperation to see things through.
We can only hope that the same kind of unity can be seen in Taiwan.
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