Regardless of the slogan-chanting and banner-waving of the various political camps, it is obvious to most people in Taiwan that corruption is an activity that crosses party lines.
On Monday, the US weekly Defense News published an expose detailing widespread graft by Taiwanese politicians from both opposition and ruling parties.
The article quoted US and Taiwanese sources as saying that Taiwanese politicians -- especially legislators, who control government purse strings -- were sacrificing their country's interests for personal gain.
The article, titled "US warns Taiwan: Clean up defense procurement," showed that Taiwan's system of military procurement is rife with opportunities for unscrupulous individuals to engage in corruption.
The article detailed the government's stipulation that foreign firms hire local agents -- unnecessary middlemen -- if they want to do business.
It is absurd to mandate a practice that offers opportunities for malfeasance -- unless, of course, that is the point. It is all too possible that the reason taxpayers cover the unnecessary expenses incurred by local defense agents is because government officials directly benefit from this arrangement.
To anyone familiar with the long and sordid history of the Lafayette-class frigate procurement deal, no amount of gratuitous corruption is surprising. The evidence that has emerged in that case is scanty. But what is known points to something very disturbing: The nation's highest officials were complicit in a conspiracy involving the embezzlement of billions of dollars, payoffs to Chinese diplomats and senior officials, bribes for European bureaucrats and businesspeople, theft, espionage and multiple murders -- all the makings of a dimestore novel.
Although the deal took place more than a decade ago, investigators are still trying to unravel that tangled web of intrigue and bloodshed. Whether they will make any progress -- or rather, whether they will be permitted to make any progress -- is anyone's guess. The smart money is on justice being delivered by God, rather than a Taiwanese court.
Since it is obvious to everyone involved that the system is flawed, why is nothing done about it?
As is usual with Taiwan's governmental problems, the answer is that the people who have the power to change things are the people benefiting from the system's opaqueness.
But questions of good governance pale in comparison to the more troubling aspects of this problem: The impact on US-Taiwan relations, and the degradation of the nation's defensive capability.
Taiwanese should question the need for large outlays in the spending of tax dollars -- but they should also ask what the necessary amount is that should be spent on their country's security.
Is that amount being spent? Or a better question: Is the amount that is spent used efficiently? Is Taiwan getting a good return on its investment in defense?
Obviously it isn't. What is worse is that no one is trying to change this, even as the military grows increasingly ill-prepared.
Imagine how a pilot will feel when he or she runs out of missiles in a dogfight over the Taiwan Strait, or an infantryman's emotions when he wonders why he has no body armor as Chinese paratroopers land around him.
They will take scant consolation from the fact that the funds for these items went to pay for a Rolls Royce, parked at an arms dealer's opulent villa in Shanghai.
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