Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members see the chairperson election as the first step in revitalizing the party. However, judging by the policies proposed by the three candidates, the situation is really worrisome.
Of the three, Legislator Chai Trong-rong's (
Next, since one of the causes of the DPP's election defeat was the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp scandal involving high-level officials, all three candidates have made rooting out corruption a priority. In fact, former Changhua County commissioner Wong Chin-chu's (
It is odd that all three candidates have placed so much emphasis on corruption, as there was not much wrong with the character and record of the candidates who performed so badly in the recent local government elections. On the other hand, many of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) candidates were accused of having taken out excessive loans, having defaulted on loan repayments or simply being corrupt. As a whole, the DPP is still in relatively good shape. The real problem lies with the party's leaders.
However, these leaders are now aware that even the walls have ears and the judicial system is eyeing them without sympathy. Thus, they will have to conduct themselves with circumspection in the next few years.
For the past six years, Chen has favored a leadership style that emphasized closed-door decision-making and repeated policy changes. He has been short-sighted and willful and lacks an overall strategy. No wonder the administration has been frequently embarrassed.
Today, his authority has declined significantly, but his methods remain the same. As a result, more embarrassments are to be expected. But neither Chai nor Wong have focused on this weakness, as their campaigns have emphasized either ideological coloring or personal integrity. Although former Presidential Office secretary-general Yu Shyi-kun has addressed the issue, he cannot do so from a position of strength because of his close relationship with Chen.
Of the three, Wong probably has the greatest integrity, but she is running for the post on the strength of support from former chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄), a "moral absolutist." This is also a cause for concern, because an absolutist is often arbitrary and merciless. Basically, Chen is also an absolutist. But he is an absolutist of power, not morality. In the past six years, the nation's political situation often languished in a state of unresolved confrontation as a result. Essentially, political decisions are choices made on the basis of values and interests, and there should be room for rational discussion. But if we see such choices as the battle between absolute good and absolute evil, the room for democracy is drastically reduced. The rash constitutional amendment that halved the legislature serves as an example.
Political ethics should be "ethics of responsibility," as proposed by Max Weber, on the basis of knowledge and certain consequences. This is different from the pursuit of power or Weber's "ethics of intention" in which only motive, and not responsibility, is considered. In other words, any political doctrine based on ethics of intention and absolutism of power are against the spirit of the ethics of responsibility.
Also, support for Wong's policy of separating the DPP and the administration is clearly a counterbalance to Chen's manipulation of the party. Indeed, Chen has wielded excessive power over the party. But if they are separated, the party will become "soft," in the manner of political parties in the US system. In that case, while the president may not be able to manipulate party members as effectively, the party would also be less able to participate in or attack the president's decisions, for this would be a violation of the principle that power and responsibility should be equally balanced. This is an issue on which Wong needs to giver further clarification.
As for Yu, who is most vocal about relations between the DPP and the administration, he suggests that rational relationships be built, calling for joint consultation and collective decisions, so as to define the party's status and its ideals. He also suggests that the party strengthen its policy committee and propose policies while setting a political agenda. At first glance, this approach answers my call for Chen to reform. However, this is completely contradictory to the logic of Chen's exercise of power and is a deviation from Yu's previous position. Therefore, Yu has the duty to answer the following questions for party members:
First, will Chen support his policy? If not, conflicts will inevitably occur between the new chairperson and the president. How will Yu handle this problem? Also, in light of his close relationship with the president, is the policy merely a ruse Yu has adopted in order to win the election?
The DPP is very emotional at present due to the setbacks the party suffered in the local elections, and the call for leaders to take responsibility has grown louder. Chen himself must certainly shoulder the most responsibility for the defeat. However, it would be a disaster if the party is overrun by anti-Chen sentiment and loses its ability to encourage rational discussion. Therefore, I suggest that the three candidates for chairperson engage each other in debate.
To sum up, if Yu sticks to his campaign promise, there is likely to be serious conflict between the president and the new chairman, regardless of who fills the latter position.
Lin Cho-shui is a Democratic Progressive Party legislator.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
Two sets of economic data released last week by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) have drawn mixed reactions from the public: One on the nation’s economic performance in the first quarter of the year and the other on Taiwan’s household wealth distribution in 2021. GDP growth for the first quarter was faster than expected, at 6.51 percent year-on-year, an acceleration from the previous quarter’s 4.93 percent and higher than the agency’s February estimate of 5.92 percent. It was also the highest growth since the second quarter of 2021, when the economy expanded 8.07 percent, DGBAS data showed. The growth
In the intricate ballet of geopolitics, names signify more than mere identification: They embody history, culture and sovereignty. The recent decision by China to refer to Arunachal Pradesh as “Tsang Nan” or South Tibet, and to rename Tibet as “Xizang,” is a strategic move that extends beyond cartography into the realm of diplomatic signaling. This op-ed explores the implications of these actions and India’s potential response. Names are potent symbols in international relations, encapsulating the essence of a nation’s stance on territorial disputes. China’s choice to rename regions within Indian territory is not merely a linguistic exercise, but a symbolic assertion
More than seven months into the armed conflict in Gaza, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the risk of genocide following a case brought by South Africa regarding Israel’s breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The international community, including Amnesty International, called for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to prevent further loss of civilian lives and to ensure access to life-saving aid. Several protests have been organized around the world, including at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and many other universities in the US.
In the 2022 book Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China, academics Hal Brands and Michael Beckley warned, against conventional wisdom, that it was not a rising China that the US and its allies had to fear, but a declining China. This is because “peaking powers” — nations at the peak of their relative power and staring over the precipice of decline — are particularly dangerous, as they might believe they only have a narrow window of opportunity to grab what they can before decline sets in, they said. The tailwinds that propelled China’s spectacular economic rise over the past