Legislators have for several days been fighting in the legislature over the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program.
In a bid to emphasize their opposition to the plan, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators have resorted to disrupting the procedures using a variety of props including sirens, horns, the Bible and the Diamond Sutra.
Matters took on ridiculous proportions on Thursday last week as some legislators poured water and flour over their colleagues in the plenary assembly. These are not the kind of activities that might take place in other democracies, such as “filibustering” in the US; it is a Taiwanese phenomenon that includes opposition lawmakers getting into physical altercations and occupying the speaker’s podium in order to paralyze the legislative agenda.
The focal point of the legislative dispute is not the draft Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program Special Act, which consists of just 11 articles, but the program itself.
The Cabinet plans to spend NT$882 billion (US$29.26 billion) over eight years on developing renewable energy sources, railway transportation and digital and water infrastructure and minimizing developmental gaps between urban and rural areas.
The government is planning to use this program to boost public investment, build the infrastructure that Taiwan needs over the coming 30 years, promote local development, correct regional imbalances and add momentum to economic growth.
Major government-led construction projects and investment programs such as these are frequently seen in other nations, and even US President Donald Trump has announced a similar plan. Public investment is one link in an active fiscal policy and as monetary policies such as quantitative easing and low interest rates are having less and less of an impact on the economy, many nations are moving in this direction.
The 10 Major Infrastructure Projects initiated by then-president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) are the best-known example of such a program in Taiwan, but they were followed by the 1991 to 1997 Six-year National Construction Plan and several other major public construction programs — although effectiveness varied between programs.
The north-to-south highways, high-speed railway and Taipei Metro systems appear to have had their intended effects, but even Chiang could be criticized for promoting large, inappropriate, grandiose and badly planned programs. Among other factors, the Six-year National Construction Plan is often seen as responsible for Taiwan’s fiscal deficit.
Governments are generally less effective at running businesses and the same applies to infrastructure construction. The government is there to serve the public and it does not have the necessary investment or business expertise.
As the government spends taxpayers’ money, it is subject to many legal restrictions and as a result, public construction projects are often expensive to maintain and underused.
On Sunday, China opened a two-day forum on its “One Belt, One Road” initiative that was attended by heads of state and leaders from 28 nations. To the Chinese government, the forum represented a great diplomatic success.
However, a commentary in the Financial Times said European businesses worried that inequality in trade and investment, and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) use of the power of the Chinese government and state businesses in promoting the project could turn this big transnational infrastructure program into a trap that would waste resources and make it difficult for the nations involved to pull out should they want to do so.
From another perspective, infrastructure construction is necessary.
Chiang once said that if it is not build today, there will be regrets tomorrow, and he was right.
Taiwan has fallen behind Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong, when it comes to infrastructure construction and Internet readiness. In addition, the imbalances between northern and southern Taiwan and between rural and urban areas have increased in recent years.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) said that railway construction has for many years been concentrated in central and northern Taiwan.
At least NT$1.2 trillion has been spent to develop a vast network in the north, while Kaohsiung has had to struggle for 20 years to build two subway lines, which she said was unfair.
However, the first step toward fair and just development must be boosting construction in central and southern Taiwan and reducing the regional imbalance between the north and the south.
The legislature has already organized six public hearings and it is now more than two weeks since the bill was submitted for a joint legislative review. However, the mayors of the special municipalities have appeared at the legislature only to be beaten and injured.
The KMT has demanded that the submitted draft bill be withdrawn and resorted to political grandstanding and a series of tricks to create a mess and delay the issue in an attempt to permanently halt its progress.
The Legislative Yuan watches over the public purse and monitors the executive branch and it should of course scrutinize and study the Forward-looking Infrastructure Program.
However, an opinion poll released by the Democratic Progressive Party on May 5 showed that the program had a 68.8 percent approval rating, while 74.6 percent of respondents said they disapproved of the attempts to block review of the bill.
The public is utterly tired of the farcical scenes that have occurred in the legislature, and it is time that it all came to an end.
Translated by Perry Svensson
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
The past few months have seen tremendous strides in India’s journey to develop a vibrant semiconductor and electronics ecosystem. The nation’s established prowess in information technology (IT) has earned it much-needed revenue and prestige across the globe. Now, through the convergence of engineering talent, supportive government policies, an expanding market and technologically adaptive entrepreneurship, India is striving to become part of global electronics and semiconductor supply chains. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision of “Make in India” and “Design in India” has been the guiding force behind the government’s incentive schemes that span skilling, design, fabrication, assembly, testing and packaging, and
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry