Those in favor of the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program are in a great rush, while its opponents are flip-flopping and unable to agree on a strategy. The result is an ongoing melee and regardless of whether they support or oppose the program, the majority of the public have no idea what they are actually fighting for. All they see is fights in the Legislative Yuan broadcast worldwide by CNN and the BBC.
Fighting is another way to cheat; physical conflict is just a way to dispose of the issue and keep boycotting; it is a way to keep playing the game until the end.
This is the state of political culture in Taiwan — this might seem absurd, but it is not as serious as the democratic crisis that foreign media worry about.
The infrastructure program has been controversial since the beginning — opposition parties blocked it whenever they could and non-governmental organizations expressed their disapproval.
The government failed to properly prepare and rushed the bill without clarifying the program’s content, defending its policy and offering sufficient explanation to the public.
The government’s loss of control over the issue, its ability to set the policy agenda and the continuous criticism were predictable. The government has resorted to the same tactics that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has used in the past — taking advantage of its legislative majority to force the bill through.
The Executive Yuan, the National Development Council and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications cannot escape blame.
People who are opposed to the program are unable to agree or decide on a strategy and they attack the government from all angles, which is part of what makes it so difficult to come up with a policy defense.
Opposition to expropriation comes from the left, while from the right, which believes in the supremacy of markets and mainly opposes the program on those grounds, demand that public construction should be self-liquidating and that the cost-benefit analysis should show that the benefits are greater than the cost.
The largest opposition party, the KMT, has no strategy to follow up on its opposition to the plan, so it has resorted to fighting and conflict to dispose of the matter. It is not doing it because it wants to show taxpayers that it is looking after their money, but because it wants show those who are opposed to pension reform that it is doing a good job.
For example, KMT legislators called on Premier Lin Chuan (林全) to attend a question-and-answer session at the legislature, but they did not ask any questions and did not let him take the podium.
They never intended to ask him any questions, they only wanted a background to the conflict, fighting and show of muscle.
Not daring to, not being able to and not wanting to debate the policy — this sort of opposition party is both depraved and irresponsible.
Hu Wen-hui is a media commentator.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) led a bipartisan delegation to Taiwan in late February. During their various meetings with Taiwan’s leaders, this delegation never missed an opportunity to emphasize the strength of their cross-party consensus on issues relating to Taiwan and China. Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi are leaders of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Their instruction upon taking the reins of the committee was to preserve China issues as a last bastion of bipartisanship in an otherwise deeply divided Washington. They have largely upheld their pledge. But in doing so, they have performed the
It is well known that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) ambition is to rejuvenate the Chinese nation by unification of Taiwan, either peacefully or by force. The peaceful option has virtually gone out of the window with the last presidential elections in Taiwan. Taiwanese, especially the youth, are resolved not to be part of China. With time, this resolve has grown politically stronger. It leaves China with reunification by force as the default option. Everyone tells me how and when mighty China would invade and overpower tiny Taiwan. However, I have rarely been told that Taiwan could be defended to
It should have been Maestro’s night. It is hard to envision a film more Oscar-friendly than Bradley Cooper’s exploration of the life and loves of famed conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein. It was a prestige biopic, a longtime route to acting trophies and more (see Darkest Hour, Lincoln, and Milk). The film was a music biopic, a subgenre with an even richer history of award-winning films such as Ray, Walk the Line and Bohemian Rhapsody. What is more, it was the passion project of cowriter, producer, director and actor Bradley Cooper. That is the kind of multitasking -for-his-art overachievement that Oscar
Chinese villages are being built in the disputed zone between Bhutan and China. Last month, Chinese settlers, holding photographs of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), moved into their new homes on land that was not Xi’s to give. These residents are part of the Chinese government’s resettlement program, relocating Tibetan families into the territory China claims. China shares land borders with 15 countries and sea borders with eight, and is involved in many disputes. Land disputes include the ones with Bhutan (Doklam plateau), India (Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin) and Nepal (near Dolakha and Solukhumbu districts). Maritime disputes in the South China