After maintaining a suitable distance from post-election disputes and focusing on reforming his party and reconstituting his Cabinet, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has showed the public that the country is not only moving on but is moving in the right direction.
Chen's decisions so far in reshuffling the Cabinet show that he intends to build leadership in his second term by using the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) own base of talent.
By recruiting new officials, Chen has put the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) failure to reorganize itself in a bad light.
This is a good start.
Chen's greatest challenge now is to translate his campaign message into concrete action. To fulfill his pledges, Chen must have a clear strategy.
Most importantly, Chen must be a chief executive who insists on tough discipline, with Pre-mier Yu Shyi-kun carrying out his policies.
A good executive is one who understands how to recruit people and how to delegate, how to assign authority and responsibility, how to hold people accountable for results and how to mold a group of people into a team.
To accomplish these goals, Chen must succeed in several areas.
He needs to elaborate a strategy. He must explain to the public the direction in which he will lead the nation. What are his priorities? How can he heal the pain and bridge the ethnic divisions that the campaign caused?
He must explain in clear detail how he plans to break the cross-strait deadlock, what pragmatic steps he will take to unite the nation and how Taiwan's economy can be transformed into a new model for globalization.
Moreover, as a reform-minded leader, Chen should take decisive steps to fight crime, reform the educational system and help the disadvantaged.
Chen must build discipline within his administration. One of the key features of the Cabinet's reorganization lies in Chen's recruiting more DPP talent. Doing so helps cultivate the DPP's capabilities as a ruling party and also reinforces Cabinet discipline.
Departmental cooperation can be improved. A more balanced bureaucratic culture can take root.
Chen can reduce displays of "loose-cannon" behavior and policy implementation can be more consistent., eliminating policy flip-flops.
Chen must leverage his assets. His victory in the presidential election should be taken as evidence that the DPP is in line with Taiwan's mainstream. That is, most people believe that the country is on the right track.
The election result reveals a public eagerness for more political stability, economic improvement, governmental reform and social reorganization.
By tackling problems like corruption and crime and addressing issues like economic growth and downsizing of the government, Chen can win the support of people who did not vote for him this time around.
Finally, in addition to "hot issues" like cross-strait normalization and peace, Chen should pay attention to "soft issues" such as school discipline, women's rights, social welfare and healthcare.
If Chen and the DPP show leadership in these desperately important areas, their base of support will grow larger and a favorable environment for creating national unity will be created.
Taiwan's people have paid a high cost for democracy. It's time for Chen to establish himself as a model of leadership for the next generation.
Liu Kuan-teh is a Taipei-based political commentator.
The conflict in the Middle East has been disrupting financial markets, raising concerns about rising inflationary pressures and global economic growth. One market that some investors are particularly worried about has not been heavily covered in the news: the private credit market. Even before the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, global capital markets had faced growing structural pressure — the deteriorating funding conditions in the private credit market. The private credit market is where companies borrow funds directly from nonbank financial institutions such as asset management companies, insurance companies and private lending platforms. Its popularity has risen since
The Donald Trump administration’s approach to China broadly, and to cross-Strait relations in particular, remains a conundrum. The 2025 US National Security Strategy prioritized the defense of Taiwan in a way that surprised some observers of the Trump administration: “Deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority.” Two months later, Taiwan went entirely unmentioned in the US National Defense Strategy, as did military overmatch vis-a-vis China, giving renewed cause for concern. How to interpret these varying statements remains an open question. In both documents, the Indo-Pacific is listed as a second priority behind homeland defense and
In an op-ed published in Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said that Taiwan should not have to choose between aligning with Beijing or Washington, and advocated for cooperation with Beijing under the so-called “1992 consensus” as a form of “strategic ambiguity.” However, Cheng has either misunderstood the geopolitical reality and chosen appeasement, or is trying to fool an international audience with her doublespeak; nonetheless, it risks sending the wrong message to Taiwan’s democratic allies and partners. Cheng stressed that “Taiwan does not have to choose,” as while Beijing and Washington compete, Taiwan is strongest when
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) are expected to meet this month in Paris to prepare for a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). According to media reports, the two sides would discuss issues such as the potential purchase of Boeing aircraft by China, increasing imports of US soybeans and the latest impacts of Trump’s reciprocal tariffs. However, recent US military action against Iran has added uncertainty to the Trump-Xi summit. Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) called the joint US-Israeli airstrikes and the
RSS