President Chen Shui-bian (
Listening to the people's voice and enhancing their welfare is the most fundamental path of governance. But the government has not paid attention to the people's voice in some recent policy-making decisions. Chen reiterated that point during the hike, a point that the administration would do well to heed.
Ever since last year's mayoral elections, the KMT and the PFP have been preparing for next year's presidential election. While paying lip service to the nation and her people, the two parties are nevertheless willing to sacrifice justice for the sake of power and self-interest. Ignoring shrinking domestic industries and rising unemployment, both have called for the lifting of more of the restrictions on investments in China. Obviously, the welfare of the people is not their real concern.
The people expect the government to take a firm position on the nation's status and on cross-strait reforms. But some of the government's measures have a negative impact on industry and employment. If the authorities want to listen to the people and enhance the people's welfare, then they should be alert to such issues.
For example, Chen said recently that direct cross-strait transport links do not involve just national security issues. They also raise questions about the acceleration of capital outflow, rising unemployment and whether industries will continue to "keep their roots" in Taiwan.
Chen said that once direct links are opened, the nation might become like Hong Kong, where large numbers of the territory's residents spend their weekends in China, thereby seriously affecting local industry and tourism. He stressed that people should not merely hype the advantages of direct links, but should mention the disadvantages as well. This indicates that Chen is clearly in the know.
Some government agency heads, however, have been making one-sided appraisals that only highlight the good points about direct links. Such decision-making contravenes mainstream public opinion.
Vice President Annette Lu (
Some officials, however, are still not alarmed. They plan to allow further business migration and capital outflow on a massive scale. They even want to give away 8-inch wafer foundries to China, which would speed the development of that country's high-tech industry and its economy. Inevitably, China will become more capable of developing missiles and other advanced weapons to be used against Taiwan.
Chen should remember that public opinion surveys have repeatedly shown opposition to the government's decision to further ease restrictions against China, open direct links, or allow the move of 8-inch wafer foundries. We call on the government not to be as short-sighted as some businesspeople, nor sacrifice the interests of this nation and her people. Chen should demonstrate his resolve by replacing those financial and economic officials who have proven to be unfit for their positions.
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