The embarrassing truth about how President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has concerned himself with electioneering rather than running the nation is becoming clearer by the day. Despite this, his approval rating keeps falling. Not only Taiwanese, but also foreign academics are starting to doubt his chances of re-election.
Shelley Rigger, associate professor of political science at Davidson College in North Carolina, recently said Ma’s prospects for re-election look bleak because of his abysmal approval rating and public dissatisfaction with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
One does not need to be a political scientist to predict that Ma’s frequent policy mistakes, his personnel problems and his longstanding low approval ratings will make re-election difficult. Rigger’s opinions were nothing out of the ordinary. However, she did say that one of the reasons the government has lost the trust of the public is because of its lack of transparency in policy-making.
The Democratic Progressive Party, for example, claims that senior KMT members are willing to sacrifice Taiwan’s autonomy to reach an agreement with Beijing.
Rigger also said a weaker government would be beneficial to safeguarding Taiwan’s interests because cross-strait talks are unequal and domestic opposition can help counteract this inequality. If we expand this statement, what Rigger is suggesting is that the government has lost public approval because of its cross-strait policies and could well end up falling from power as a result.
After Ma came to power, he did not change his mindset from that of a candidate runing in an election. He has sought to pave the way for his re-election, which explains why he has run around the country for almost two years stumping for candidates, shaking hands and posing for pictures. Ma seems to be at every event, big or small. However, when Taiwan needs decisions to be made or when leadership is needed in times of crisis, Ma is nowhere to be found.
All politicians care about gaining power and worry about losing it. However, when a newly elected president does not focus on his duties and only thinks about getting re-elected, what we have is a political hack.
The verdict given by public opinion is fair and the more politicians care about power and ignore national affairs for the sake of elections, the quicker the public will abandon them, and it will become increasingly difficult for these politicians to secure re-election.
Ma is trapped by his anxiety over losing political power and this renders him powerless and incapable of improving the situation.
The only way in which Ma can redeem himself is paradoxical: The more he wants to win re-election, the more he should forget all thoughts of re-election and rather show determination and daring in implementing policy. This is the only way he can do anything for Taiwan, win back public confidence and retain any hope of re-election.
For a person like Ma — who has only ever relied on personal charisma, the image of a superstar and the support he receives from a certain segment of society to ascend the political ladder — winning the public over through policy implementation will be very difficult, if not impossible.
The result? Ma will continue to put on an empty show and ignore national policy.
Tragically, Ma’s incompetence and policy mistakes are dangerous because they are misleading everyone. At its worst, this could lead to Taiwan’s annexation by China and turn Taiwanese into Chinese subjects. In all fairness, even if incompetent leaders are unable to do a decent job, if they are smart enough, they can rely on a strong administrative team to improve governance. Throughout history, there have been instances of peaceful and prosperous periods under governments following the ancient Daoist principle of non-action, or wuwei.
However, if a leader is not only incompetent but also employs a group of mediocre people to promote policies that betray the nation, public dissent is sure to ensue. If the leader does not wake up and persists in his erroneous ways, his political career will be over and he will have destroyed his country in the process.
The Ma administration is a prime example of such a government. The economic and democratic miracle Taiwan created over several decades of hard work could be destroyed in just four years under Ma’s pro-China presidency.
Even worse, mainstream public opinion is clearly opposed to Ma’s China-leaning policies. The opening up to China and Ma’s looser policies are all of questionable value in reviving Taiwan’s economy and they will deeply hurt the public’s interests. The economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) Ma insists on pushing through shows a total disregard for the welfare and safety of Taiwanese.
Abolishing the death penalty was former justice minister Wang Ching-feng’s (王清峰) personal opinion, but because this ideal does not conform with legal regulations and mainstream public opinion, Wang had to step down.
By the same token, eventual unification as one of Ma’s personal goals also does not fit in with mainstream public opinion or even with the power and responsibilities given to Ma via the Constitution.
Although we cannot demand that Ma step down right now, it would only be natural that we do not support him in the next presidential election. Rigger’s prediction about Ma not having much of a chance at being re-elected is really just putting words to what was already cleat to all.
TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
This should be the year in which the democracies, especially those in East Asia, lose their fear of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China principle” plus its nuclear “Cognitive Warfare” coercion strategies, all designed to achieve hegemony without fighting. For 2025, stoking regional and global fear was a major goal for the CCP and its People’s Liberation Army (PLA), following on Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) Little Red Book admonition, “We must be ruthless to our enemies; we must overpower and annihilate them.” But on Dec. 17, 2025, the Trump Administration demonstrated direct defiance of CCP terror with its record US$11.1 billion arms
In 2009, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) made a welcome move to offer in-house contracts to all outsourced employees. It was a step forward for labor relations and the enterprise facing long-standing issues around outsourcing. TSMC founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) once said: “Anything that goes against basic values and principles must be reformed regardless of the cost — on this, there can be no compromise.” The quote is a testament to a core belief of the company’s culture: Injustices must be faced head-on and set right. If TSMC can be clear on its convictions, then should the Ministry of Education
China’s recent aggressive military posture around Taiwan simply reflects the truth that China is a millennium behind, as Kobe City Councilor Norihiro Uehata has commented. While democratic countries work for peace, prosperity and progress, authoritarian countries such as Russia and China only care about territorial expansion, superpower status and world dominance, while their people suffer. Two millennia ago, the ancient Chinese philosopher Mencius (孟子) would have advised Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that “people are the most important, state is lesser, and the ruler is the least important.” In fact, the reverse order is causing the great depression in China right now,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) provided several reasons for military drills it conducted in five zones around Taiwan on Monday and yesterday. The first was as a warning to “Taiwanese independence forces” to cease and desist. This is a consistent line from the Chinese authorities. The second was that the drills were aimed at “deterrence” of outside military intervention. Monday’s announcement of the drills was the first time that Beijing has publicly used the second reason for conducting such drills. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership is clearly rattled by “external forces” apparently consolidating around an intention to intervene. The targets of
RSS