While the timing and details of the Cabinet reshuffle came as a surprise, the axing of premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) is not inexplicable. The composition of the new Cabinet, with some ministers replaced and others staying on, shows that the reshuffle is aimed at maintaining the government’s pro-China policies and improving the prospects of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in local elections in December.
The features of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) third-rate government that gave rise to public resentment remain unchanged. Given Ma’s refusal to admit to any fault on his part, all we can do is pray that Heaven will protect Taiwan until the next presidential election in 2012.
Typhoon Morakot and the ensuing floods led to the premier’s resignation, but other factors contributed to growing unease with the government.
Ma’s administration has belittled Taiwan’s sovereignty, drained the nation’s assets and politicized the judiciary, backtracking on democratic gains won over the years. But it is the government’s persistent arrogance and lack of common sense in the face of death and destruction during and after the typhoon that has revealed its reckless and uncaring attitude. Public opinion has turned sharply against the government, putting it on the defensive. It was therefore right that Liu stepped down.
The National Security Council (NSC) was widely criticized for turning down offers of aid from abroad following the typhoon, but it refuses to acknowledge its mistake or recognize the national security implications of the disaster. By turning down aid when it was offered, the NSC damaged Washington’s confidence in Taipei just as trust between Taiwan and Japan is at its lowest point since the countries broke off diplomatic relations in 1972. All this is a consequence of giving cross-strait relations priority over other ties based on the idea that Taiwan is part of China.
NSC Secretary-General Su Chi (蘇起) remains in his post, as does Mainland Affairs Council (陸委會) Minister Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛), indicating that the government intends to maintain its pro-China stance and work toward an economic cooperation framework agreement with China, which will further harm Taiwan’s interests and diminish its sovereignty.
New Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and Vice Premier Eric Chu (朱立倫) were tasked with forming a Cabinet, but there has been no change in the leadership of some ministries directly responsible for handling the typhoon, including the Public Construction Commission, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and the Council of Agriculture. Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德), who has been running up public debt, also remains in his post.
The reshuffle is not aimed at dealing with problems thrown up by Morakot, and economic policies driving the economy deeper into the red will continue. All Ma has done is put two political stars with local administrative experience at the head of the Cabinet to present a fresh facade and salvage the KMT’s dented prospects for December’s elections.
The new Cabinet will thus continue leaning toward China, gutting the nation’s finances and using the police and courts to hunt down political opponents. Public resentment following the typhoon has led to a desire for change, but Ma’s appointments show that he is not interested.
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