Premier Tang Fei (
After three months, Tang's Cabinet finally has a firm grip on governing. It has discovered it lacks many things, including consistent financial and economic policies, organized policy implementation, and a coordination and integration mechanism among members of the Cabinet. All this contributes to divergent views, contradictory statements, and insubordination among Cabinet members. These problems are creating the biggest and newest crisis in the Cabinet.
Taiwan citizens' insecurity about the nation's shaky financial and economic policies are taking a toll on their confidence toward the government. In a recent popular poll, support for the financial and economic officials were found to be at rock bottom. Legislators from the opposition parties even openly requested that Minister of Finance Shea Jia-dong (
A primary reason for the lack of integration and coordination in the Cabinet is its members' lack of seniority. The Council for Economic Planning and Development was once considered a "miniature financial and economic Cabinet." Its chairman was deemed as a powerful mini-premier. However, the current chairman is a former scholar-turned-politician. His academic qualifications have been deemed inadequate and the situation has been aggravated by the fact that he is not concurrently an Executive Yuan minister.
Tang's announcement of the establishment of the financial and economic task force has not only failed to solve the problem, but has become the target of scorn by the opposition parties which believe the most urgent task is to propose more substantive financial policies, rather than the establishment of yet another task force.
Some scholars went as far as saying that "food prepared by the chefs is the same, wherever it may be prepared."
From the "national security tax" to the increase in business taxes and the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, the Cabinet's financial and economic policies have been widely criticized. The people have lost faith.
After all, financial and economic affairs are nothing like the cross-strait relationship in which the line between truth and reality is blurred, parties get to sing their own tunes, and sometimes "no policy is the best policy." Decisions on financial and economic policy directly impact people's pocketbooks. Such direct and personal interests cannot be addressed with the "innovative ambiguities" currently being used to handle the cross-strait issue.
The Ministry of Justice's recent large-scale efforts in cracking down on "black gold" have been highly praised. The financial and economic team should learn from it. Create substantive policies to revitalize the economy and restore people's faith in the government's ability to manage the economy soundly. Hopefully, after two days of brainstorming in scenic Nantou, the financial and economic officials will be able to prove that they are a group of excellent chefs who can whip up an excellent meal anywhere.
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