The new cross-party administration will be taking over in the absence of any precedent and established system for a transfer of power. We lack the type of party-to-party negotiations and coordination for power transfer often seen in the West.
If the new administration occasionally expresses skepticism or disapproval over the old administration, or if the old administration is unable to abandon its authoritarian and egotistic approach during the transition period, conflicts between the two over allegations of "resistance" to the transfer or "discourteousness" will repeatedly take place. It is difficult for the civil servants who are caught between the old and new bosses as well. This is not good for the country.
The rotation of ruling parties will necessarily create chaos and conflicts at first. However, there may be a chance to see the light of day for politics throughout the process.
Chaos results from a lack of trust between the parties. Right now no law exists to regulate the transfer process. In the future, relevant regulations on issues including the obligations of the incoming cabinet members should be drafted as soon as possible.
Although incumbent cabinet members are legally empowered to make decisions before jointly submit their resignation, they should avoid making any decisions on long-term policies, except those of exceptional urgency, to prevent misunderstandings or criticism.
The making of policies that are either biased in favor of a certain party or irreversible should be avoided, so that the new cabinet will not be incapable of correcting the policies and public trust toward the government will be endangered by attempts to reverse such policies.
Next, the transfer of power between administrations should be done on a collective and interactive basis.
Although President-elect Chen Shui-bian
This is because Chen's authority has been legitimized by his election and no gap should exist during the transfer process on important national security matters such as the defense and foreign policy.
New cabinet members are not legally empowered because they have not been officially appointed yet. Therefore, they have no right to issue commands or orders. It is easy to imagine the difficulties facing those incumbent cabinet members who will be joining the new administra-tion.
Besides establishing a singular channel of communication through inter-party negotiations, the existing cabinet should also officially order all the ministries to appoint civil servants as consultants for the new cabinet. This is so that civil servants would not have to face accusations of betrayal or lack legal basis for helping the new cabinet.
All the administrative agencies and bodies are partly staffed by impartial civil servants on long term basis. Administrative officials should learn to delegate jobs to avoid being trapped into minute management details. They must also learn to guide with concepts and policies to correct civil servants' customs of staying passive and inactive.
The new administration should not waste its energy bickering over every last detail of the transfer. Instead, it should immediately examine all the inappropriate legal orders and submit new policies and suggestions. It should bring some new ideas to the government and lead the government onto a new path. It should compete with the incumbent administration in terms of administrative accomplishments.
All the incumbent cabinet members who will be stepping down have no need to reject the new-comers out of a sense of pride or self-defensiveness. Keep in mind only a smooth and efficient transfer will please the public.
However, it is part of the job of departing government heads to make decisions regarding promotions and job evaluations of their subordinates. It is also quite reasonable to help those civil servants who have worked under them find new jobs. It is unimportant whether the jobs arranged for them are important jobs so long as they are qualified for the posts.
All such appointments and promotions must be done fairly and reasonably. Rather than denying the incumbents' authorities to make personnel decisions, the new administration might as well try to understand whether each individual promotion is justified. It should establish a committee to evaluate and discuss these promotions and make any necessary adjustments after the power transfer. Most important of all, it should design and submit a promotion system that is based on the talents of the civil servants.
Ronald Ho is a senior staff member of the Executive Yuan.
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) trip to China provides a pertinent reminder of why Taiwanese protested so vociferously against attempts to force through the cross-strait service trade agreement in 2014 and why, since Ma’s presidential election win in 2012, they have not voted in another Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate. While the nation narrowly avoided tragedy — the treaty would have put Taiwan on the path toward the demobilization of its democracy, which Courtney Donovan Smith wrote about in the Taipei Times in “With the Sunflower movement Taiwan dodged a bullet” — Ma’s political swansong in China, which included fawning dithyrambs