Tsai must show results
It has been six months since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and her administration took over the government. The honeymoon is over, and we all want to see some concrete achievements, but the Tsai administration can be summed up in the words “too conservative, not enough initiative.”
In principle, the Tsai government meets the expectations of Taiwanese. Politically speaking, it has stuck to its promise to maintain the “status quo.”
Externally, the government has sustained enormous pressure from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and domestically, it has had to deal with the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) support of the PRC and the CCP.
Still, the government has not broken its pledge to 23 million Taiwanese as it has persisted in rejecting the fictitious “1992 consensus.”
The US has elected a new president in Donald Trump, and no one really knows yet what his policies will be. He might not be a traditional Republican, but the party has traditionally leaned to the right and opposed China.
Most Taiwanese over the age of 40 still remember how enamored Taiwan was of the Republican Party during the Cold War and the fight against China and Russia.
There is no reason for Tsai and her government to kowtow to China.
China’s biggest fans in the whole world are in the pan-blue camp in Taiwan, and it is also the pan-blue camp that harbors the strongest hope that China will grow strong.
It is as if they would find redemption in a strong China.
The Tsai administration’s domestic reform efforts have been too weak. The government is worrying too much over the response of vested interests and is trying too hard to please them.
The experience of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) during his eight years in office is enough to let us all know that there are some people that it is just not worth waiting for.
Although they do not say so, the reason that some people are filled with a bottomless hate for Chen is not the corruption, but his promotion of Taiwanese independence.
The corruption charges against Chen were just a reason that allowed these people to vent their hatred, and that reason was readily presented by former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) — “Mr 8 percent Ma.”
Taiwanese are now eagerly awaiting judicial reform, an effort to promote environmental protection, the pursuit of ill-gotten party assets and leaving Taiwan’s current economic problems behind.
These are the areas where the Tsai administration must start moving forward in great leaps in a forceful effort to come up with solutions.
It is time that the things that need doing get done, and we are all hoping that the Tsai administration will show the backbone needed to get it done.
Yang Peng-sheng
Taipei
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