Fri, Nov 23, 2001 page12

• Time to focus on common issues

  • By Wu Tung-yeh 吳東野
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  Recently, two KMT legislative candidates in Taipei City, Chen Horng-chi (陳鴻基) and Chen Hsueh-fen (陳雪芬), proposed that the KMT and DPP should work together to save Taiwan, making an already unruly political situation all the more chaotic.

  Let's leave the pair's true motives aside for the time being, ignoring both the likely impact on the election climate and speculation about the war that it will cause within the KMT.

  Let's simply consider the appropriate norms for party cooperation and the procedures that should be adhered to. In these terms, this call for post-electoral cooperation to save Taiwan is not without an element of political scheming.

  DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) took the opportunity to say, "We already have a list of names for cooperation," revealing that the DPP has abandoned the correct road of party cooperation preferring to confuse the electorate with political scheming.

  In well functioning democratic politics, it is quite difficult for political parties to avoid cooperation. The experience of advanced Western democracies proves that there is room for cooperation between parties with widely divergent ideologies -- even though inter-party debate is often intense.

  The Rainbow Coalition government in Finland, led by the Social Democratic Party, included the Left Alliance, formerly the Communist Party, and the Green Party. This combination not only had the effect of stabilizing the political situation, but also serves as a prime example of alliance and cooperation between parties that have traditionally regarded each other as enemies.

  In Taiwan, the gap between the ideologies of the pan-KMT and pan-DPP camps is wide. The foundation for mutual trust is quite weak and, at each election, the relationship between the two sides gets torn to shreds. Since no government has made any effort to reverse the polarized state of political relations, I fear that a miracle will be needed if the two sides are to discuss post-electoral cooperation.

  In other words, since the government doesn't consider the true meaning of party cooperation from a moral point of view, concentrating only on underhanded schemes for undermining other parties in order to consolidate its own power, it will be difficult to create long-term political stability.

  Further, even if the government does manage to forge a working legislative majority, it will still have an unstable Cabinet. Politicians changing their minds due to selfish interest, may at any mo-ment create political turmoil.

  Party cooperation in Western countries mainly follows one of two models. The first model involves long term alliances and cooperation, with the ultimate goal of creating coalition governments. The second model is to find temporary compromise on a case-by-case basis. These two models both have the effect of stabilizing the political situation, but both are based on inter-party talks.

  Generally speaking, even if the only purpose of inter-party cooperation in Western countries is to pass a specific piece of legislation or to implement a specific policy, they will first hold inter-party talks where compromises are forged. Additionally, these compromises are sometimes codified with the signing of formal agreements, the purpose being to guarantee the parties' good intentions and promises to cooperate.

  Apart from the distribution of government posts, inter-party cooperation normally includes support from the prime minister or government leader, promises not to topple the government during the term, and the establishment of basic principles for policy implementation.

  KMT-DPP cooperation is not the sole possible form of inter-party cooperation, but, from the point of view of the strength of political parties and the direction of Taiwan's political development, the KMT and the DPP certainly are two forces that would be capable of stabilizing the political situation.

  The problem is, however, that if the government doesn't base its considerations on how to stabilize the political situation with principled policy making, then blue-green party cooperation will probably remain a pipe dream.

  A meeting between President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) might have been an opportunity to establish a cooperative model for Taiwan, but for the fact that the meeting fell through due to political scheming. Viewed in the light of inter-party cooperation in the Western democracies, this strange Taiwanese phenomenon is unique and makes a mockery of democratic politics.

  It could be said that political cooperation is about forming majority governments and stabilizing the political situation, but it must follow appropriate rules and processes and it must attempt to pull together the ideas and policy outlines of the cooperating partners. Given the domestic and international concerns that face Taiwan, the government should consider how to end the rift between parties and build a mechanism for negotiations to promote inter-party cooperation.

  Targeting possible defectors from other parties will make it difficult to avoid the intensification of the common, bitter enmity between the groups nor will it be helpful in stabilizing the political situation.

  The opposition and ruling parties have more than once voiced concerns that, due to partisan wrangling, Taiwan night not be able to recover from the current recession. The government should use this common ground as a starting point to do what it has long promised -- dispel the chaos and restore order.

  Wu Tung-yeh is a research fellow at the Institute for International Relations, National Chengchi University.

  Translated by Perry Svensson
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