Editorial: A future betrayed

What is the cost of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (核四) fiasco? We do not mean the NT$1.4 billion in increased construction costs. We mean how serious is the blow to this government's credibility and effectiveness?

In a nutshell, the answer is: devastating. And anybody who cares about the development of liberal democracy, the rule of law and civil society in this country has to be chagrined that Taiwan's first real chance to step out of the mire of corruption which has been the country's experience of KMT government for the past 50 years should be damaged so badly by the ineptitude with which policy on the power plant has been conducted.

What is that damage? First, Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) has no credibility left. He was originally expected to be a good premier, given his long experience in the legislature, where, of course, the DPP is at its weakest. Now we have seen that this experience counts for nothing. Chang might have saved his reputation had he been able to maintain some independence from President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) -- as, constitutionally, he is supposed to do -- and protect the government from his folly. Instead Chang was quite willing to become Chen's compliant tool. The problem is that Chen was a bungling craftsman and the tool is now broken.

Who might replace Chang, God alone knows. There would be few takers, we suspect, for a job best described as: "Whipping boy, to be beaten by the legislature for the president's incompetence."

Chen himself has now to cope with two problems. First, rank and file DPP supporters are extremely bitter towards him for his awful handling of the power plant issue, for example forcing the premier to announce the plant's cancellation without first having an extensive anti-nuclear PR campaign to sway those Taiwanese more worried about power shortages than nuclear safety.

Secondly, Chen's impression on voters in general has been appalling. It is not just that they have seen him implement a policy without adequate preparation, cause unprecedented political chaos and then reverse himself within a four-month period. They have also seen him betray the DPP and betray Chang. Who can voters trust? Not Chen.

Of course the president might say that, given his party's weakness in the legislature, he had no option but to resume the plant's construction. To which the only reasonable comment can be an accusatory "you should have thought of that before you started."

The irony is that at last the DPP is working with environmental NGOs to organize anti-nuclear rallies, while the Control Yuan is to consider the legality of the plants environmental impact assessment. These are all sensible moves but have been started a year too late.

Given the weakness of the premier, the lack of direction of the Cabinet and the incompetent and dishonorable behavior of the president, things look bad for the DPP. It is now impossible for the party to win a legislative majority in the December elections. This means that the current gridlock between the government and the legislature will continue for the rest of Chen's term as president. And that term will be the only term a throughly fed-up public is likely to give him. So in 2004 we can probably expect either President James Soong (宋楚瑜) or President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九); nothing to look forward to there.