Former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) has set a new political record: He has managed to attract the combined opprobrium of both the pan-blue and pan-green camps with his decision to attend China’s military parade in Beijing on Thursday last week.
The blue camp views Lien as a traitor to the Republic of China (ROC) for pandering to the Chinese Communist Party’s united front — and in doing so has comprehensively overturned the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) and the ROC’s long-held beliefs. Meanwhile, the green camp is concerned that Beijing plans to annex Taiwan, and sees Lien as a traitor to Taiwan for cozying up to the country that they see as Taiwan’s only enemy.
Taxpayers fork out more than NT$370,000 (US$11,269) per month to support Lien. In fact, Lien’s taxpayer-funded pension initially totaled more than NT$400,000 per month, but the figure was reduced following reforms of the pension system.
When Lien stepped down as vice president, he had the option of choosing from two different pension packages, the first being funds provided under the Statute Governing Preferential Treatment for Retired Presidents and Vice Presidents (卸任總統副總統禮遇條例), which would have entitled Lien to NT$180,000 per month in addition to NT$4 million in the first year to pay for secretaries, drivers, an office and various activities, that would drop over four years and then remain at NT$2.5 million per year. It also includes four to eight security guards, that might be reinforced when required. These terms have the same validity period as the duration of the vice presidents’ term, in Lien’s case four years.
The second option was to draw a pension under the now abolished Statute Governing Retirement Pensions for Administrative Officers (政務人員退職酬勞金給與條例). This would have provided a monthly pension of NT$400,000.
Logic dictates that Lien should have chosen one of these two options. However, the KMT legislative caucus drew up an amendment to the Statute Governing Preferential Treatment for Retired Presidents and Vice Presidents — the so-called “Lien Chan clause.”
The clause stated that “where a vice president has, prior to June 13, 2001, applied for retirement under the Statute Governing Retirement Pensions for Administrative Officers, he or she will still be entitled to a pension according to the original rules.” This means that Lien was able to enjoy a vice president’s retirement package of NT$180,000 per month, but that he actually received NT$400,000 per month — until it was reduced to NT$370,000 — as a retired premier. After four years, Lien could no longer draw upon the vice president’s retirement package, but he continued to enjoy this premier’s pension.
There are still many “Little Liens” within Taiwan’s political system. It is acceptable that officials receive different remuneration packages according to the positions of responsibility they hold while in office, but after retirement, they all make the same contribution to the nation and so there should not be too much discrepancy between different officials’ state pensions.
However, when it comes to pension reform, the public bays for blood over the fat pension arrangements afforded to lower-level public servants and yet seem to take little notice of the gold-plated pensions enjoyed by all those “Little Liens.”
If there is to be reform, the public must push politicians to enact an all-encompassing “ceiling clause” so that there is an upper limit to the pensions of all civil servants. The public should not only bully lower-level civil servant retirees, but also focus on the “Little Liens.”
Chen Mao-hsiung is an adjunct professor at National Sun Yat-sen University and chairman of the Society for the Promotion of Taiwanese Security.
Translated by Edward Jones
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
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
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