Disregarding derision from several quarters, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has pushed out Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) to force his way into the KMT chairmanship.
Ma’s decision attracted criticism throughout the pan-green camp and also caused a considerable backlash in the pan-blue camp over concerns that he might centralize power — but he could not care less.
Despite the fact that former presidents Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) all concurrently held the chairmanship of their parties at some time, the phenomenon runs counter to the spirit of democratic constitutionalism.
In accordance with the division of powers in a democratic constitutional government, the president of a democracy should not concurrently serve as a party chairman who has actual power.
Although the US president is an acting party chairman, the affiliations of US political parties are loosely formed and do not feature fixed members or strict party discipline, nor can they put restraints on congressional members whose role it is to supervise the president.
This is not the case here. Most Taiwanese parties are quite rigidly structured; a party chairman, for example, can nominate legislators — and legislators-at-large in particular. If the president doubles as party chair, the separation of powers under a presidential system devolves, as does the legitimacy created by separate elections for the presidency and the legislature.
In a semi-presidential system, the president holds real power but serves as a non-partisan protector of the constitutional order and an arbitrator amid partisan and political conflict. Thus, the president should not assume the role of party chairman. This is the reason why, as soon as a president of France is sworn in, he must vacate his party posts.
In a democracy, the Cabinet and the legislature do not necessarily have to be separate, so if Ma feels that the executive and legislative branches are not fully cooperating with him, then he should change the system of government by amending the Constitution and introducing a parliamentary system rather than sticking with the semi-presidential system and doubling as party chairman.
He could then lead legislators directly in his capacity as party chairman and as parliamentary leader without concerns over the separation of powers.
Rather than saying Ma’s unimpressive political performance is a result of the uncooperativeness of various ministries, it would be more correct to say that this is more a problem of policy. If he does not solve the problem at the source, destroying the spirit of democratic constitutionalism by doubling as party chairman will not be much help.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) should, of course, harshly criticize Ma, but it should also remember that it amended its party charter to allow Chen to double as party chairman. Before calling for a constitutional interpretation by the Council of Grand Justices, the DPP should admit to its mistakes.
Lin Cho-shui is a former Democratic Progressive Party legislator.
TRANSLATED BY TED YANG
When US budget carrier Southwest Airlines last week announced a new partnership with China Airlines, Southwest’s social media were filled with comments from travelers excited by the new opportunity to visit China. Of course, China Airlines is not based in China, but in Taiwan, and the new partnership connects Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport with 30 cities across the US. At a time when China is increasing efforts on all fronts to falsely label Taiwan as “China” in all arenas, Taiwan does itself no favors by having its flagship carrier named China Airlines. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is eager to jump at
The muting of the line “I’m from Taiwan” (我台灣來欸), sung in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), during a performance at the closing ceremony of the World Masters Games in New Taipei City on May 31 has sparked a public outcry. The lyric from the well-known song All Eyes on Me (世界都看見) — originally written and performed by Taiwanese hip-hop group Nine One One (玖壹壹) — was muted twice, while the subtitles on the screen showed an alternate line, “we come here together” (阮作伙來欸), which was not sung. The song, performed at the ceremony by a cheerleading group, was the theme
Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised eyebrows recently when he declared the era of American unipolarity over. He described America’s unrivaled dominance of the international system as an anomaly that was created by the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. Now, he observed, the United States was returning to a more multipolar world where there are great powers in different parts of the planet. He pointed to China and Russia, as well as “rogue states like Iran and North Korea” as examples of countries the United States must contend with. This all begs the question:
Liberals have wasted no time in pointing to Karol Nawrocki’s lack of qualifications for his new job as president of Poland. He has never previously held political office. He won by the narrowest of margins, with 50.9 percent of the vote. However, Nawrocki possesses the one qualification that many national populists value above all other: a taste for physical strength laced with violence. Nawrocki is a former boxer who still likes to go a few rounds. He is also such an enthusiastic soccer supporter that he reportedly got the logos of his two favorite teams — Chelsea and Lechia Gdansk —
RSS