The ruling party is ruled
In a democracy, the worst situation for a new administration is to use many Cabinet members left over from the previous administration for the sake of power sharing or due to a personnel shortage. This situation leads to nothing but chaotic administration.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been in power for six months.
The approval rating of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is about 35 percent and that of Premier Lin Chuan (林全) even lower.
Taiwanese used to complain that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) “should not take away the whole dish after dipping the soy sauce.” As if the KMT did not control Taiwan for long enough, Tsai pledged that the “DPP will not take away the whole bowl.”
Poor Taiwanese have many generals who do not know for whom they fight and some government branches that do not know whom they serve. It is time to change all this.
There are too many “old, blue men” in the Cabinet who have shown fatigue, resistance and opposition. Although the DPP might be the ruling party, the executive and judicial branches of the government are still maneuvered to a large extent by the KMT.
The “young, green persons” who have energy and talent to serve Taiwan must be taken on board.
The KMT is really an “opposition party.” It applies the brakes to government reforms and keeps shouting the old slogan “1992 consensus and one China principle.”
Many Taiwanese still remember that the KMT used to shout “counterattack the mainland and save our compatriots” in vain.
The day before going to the APEC leaders’ summit as Tsai’s envoy, James Soong (宋楚瑜) abruptly exclaimed: “One China and against Taiwanese independence” as if he had ignored his assigned official status. Soong also boasted he had hit a “home run” at the APEC summit.
An effective ruling party should not be ruled or affected by other parties.
Charles Hong
Columbus, Ohio
A diplomatic conundrum
After the nation withdrew from the UN in 1971, many countries chose to break their diplomatic relations with Taipei and build relations with Beijing owing to Chinese pressure. This not only limited Taiwan’s international space, it also became an obstacle to the nation’s diplomacy thereafter.
Nowadays, the political and legal status of the nation is still controversial, because of the loss of its seat at the UN and a lack of the diplomatic recognition. Due to the interference of China, there are only 22 nations who have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and those are due to diplomatic financial assistance.
In fact, many of my classmates, including myself, are not too optimistic about Taiwan’s diplomacy. Although our nation has tried hard to be involved in international organizations and participate in international issues, it is still a big challenge to build diplomacy with other nations due to China’s interference.
Besides, in my opinion, the government pays too much attention to the conflicts of the two main parties, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party, and that indirectly affects Taiwan’s diplomacy owing to their different diplomatic positions toward China.
China is now an emerging nation in the world and it has become much more influential, not only in politicals, but also gradually indirectly controlling global markets. Thus, Taiwan’s international status does not look optimistic.
After our first female president took office this year, it remains to be seen what action she will take to improve our international relations. In addition, it is also hard to say what diplomatic challenges Taiwan will face after US president-elect Donald Trump won the US election and former Cuban leader Fidel Castro passed away.
I hope our new president can do more to promote Taiwan to the world and really do something important.
Angel Chen
Taichung
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