A new Cabinet measure demands that ministries or government departments that receive complaints or are criticized by the public or the media must respond within two hours to avoid the spread of rumors detrimental to the government’s image.
This measure is an extension of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) style of sending “correction” letters to the media and the institutionalization of Premier Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) support for “grassroots politics.”
The question is whether this will be enough to stem the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) rapid decline.
In the past, the KMT and government departments have been derided as “dinosaurs” that do not react well to external changes, or react so slowly that their responses arrive too late.
A political party or government that is insensitive to public opinion cannot identify with the public. This is a major shortcoming of the current government, and it is praiseworthy that Ma and Wu have shown some willingness to correct the situation.
The first testing ground for the new measure came about when CPC Corp, Taiwan and Formosa Petrochemical Corp cut their fuel prices after the media accused them of overcharging the public to make up for fees levied by the Environmental Protection Administration. There was a strong public backlash and the Cabinet demanded that prices on fuel products be cut so that the money could be returned to consumers.
This swift response is positive, but when Formosa Petrochemical dropped prices by NT$0.2 after CPC had dropped its prices by NT$0.1, the Consumers’ Foundation and members of the public began questioning the sincerity of CPC’s intent to return the money to consumers. The Ministry of Economic Affairs eventually ordered CPC to drop prices by another NT$0.4 in an attempt to calm the situation.
This is a typical government reaction: Don’t rock the boat. If the media hadn’t put the spotlight on the issue, the companies would have continued to overcharge consumers. Then, as the issue kept expanding and complaints intensified, the government responded slowly, and only in response to pressure. There has been no thorough review to attempt to come up with a solution that puts things right.
Judging from the scope of the second price cut, CPC originally had no intention of dealing with the overcharging that had been going on for years. It was only after pressure from the ministry and investigations by Control Yuan members that the second, more significant price cut was announced.
As a former CPC chairman, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) should be very familiar with the company’s practice of overcharging, and he cannot shirk responsibility for the company’s procrastination in dealing with the issue.
It is a good thing that the government has reacted so swiftly, but reacting blindly and on reflex will not improve the government’s image. Instead, it gives the public the impression that the government is insincere and concealing facts.
The government should immediately launch a comprehensive investigation and announce the results to the public. It could also return the money to consumers in one big price cut — a swift reaction that would greatly alter the public’s impressions.
Although the government wants to change its dinosaur image, it has failed once again. It may have reacted swiftly, but hasn’t shown any sign of giving the matter much thought. A mistaken response will only aggravate things. Not only will this not help the KMT in the upcoming legislative by-elections, it will make it more difficult for the party to perform well in the year-end special municipality elections.
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations