President Chen Shui-bian (
Problems between the two are hardly news. But the recent public sniping between the two is distressing. There has been frequent friction since their election campaign last year -- from Lu's famous complaint comparing herself to a "disgruntled concubine left in the harem," to her remarks that Chen had asked her to play good-cop, bad-cop against China, to the report in The Journalist magazine that she was the one who had spread rumors of Chen having an extra-marital affair. The list goes on. Chen said "Her problem is not a question of gender, but of personality."
Two more recent flashpoints have been the suggestions from the Economic Development Advisory Conference that the "no haste, be patient" policy be relaxed and the 2001 Global Peace Assembly initiated by Lu.
In the former, the content of an Executive Yuan meeting was twisted out of shape by the Chinese-language media, leading Lu to believe that the Cabinet's plan for relaxing restrictions on investments in China is far more extensive than suggested by the economic conference. Thus Lu's exhortation to "that person in power" that he "consult his conscience." Yesterday, Chen was clearly unhappy that Lu had gone on an offensive on the basis of what she had read in the newspapers -- thus his ad-lib that "It's very bad that someone got mad simply after reading the newspapers and without fully understanding the situation."
As far as the peace forum goes, inviting Nobel peace laureates was a well-intentioned act. However, without notifying Chen or the Executive Yuan, Lu asked for assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a budget of NT$20 million to underwrite the event. But the ministry was only able to extend less than NT$3 million, while the Presidential Office refused to let the event be held there, saying it wasn't an official event.
These two incidents are just refrains of the same old story: Lu oversteps her remit and annoys the president and the Cabinet; molehills become mountains and everyone gets embarrassed. Even a little bit of effort in the way of better communications and coordination would go a long way, but the fear now is that the bad feelings between Chen and Lu are growing too deep to be bridged.
The people of Taiwan would feel better if the Chen-Lu disagreements were the result of a good-cop, bad-cop game designed to expand Taiwan's political playing field. But it is hard to see any sign of a dexterous political strategy behind Lu's repeated mishaps. Her clashes with Chen only add more uncertainty to the political landscape.
In this key moment when the president is working hard to handle the economy and cross-strait relations, it is inappropriate to have a discordant voice popping up from the executive branch. Chen should have an immediate face-to-face meeting with Lu, or a series of meetings if that is what it takes to bring a unified voice to the Presidential Office. One way to exercise some damage control is to ask Lu not to comment publicly about her disagreements with Chen. He could also seek to integrate Lu's views on issues into policy, where possible, so that there could be some areas where she could share the limelight and be seen to publicly agree with him. This would be a win-win solution. Ignoring the disagreements and the growing gulf between the two will only make a bad situation worse.
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