The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has entered the presidential primary stage. Unlike the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the DPP is the ruling party and is responsible for administering the central government and must fulfill its contract with voters until May 19 next year.
At the moment, significant responsibility falls on Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), who should demand that the entire administrative team stop acting like bystanders.
Starting from today, they should change their mindset and treat the coming year as their last year in power. The administration should make every effort to do what it wants to and should do, and concentrate on policy implementation.
If it does not seize this opportunity, things will not be the same next time around.
So where should the party begin? Perhaps with its attitude.
In the past, it had a high-spirited and vigorous attitude and could handle pressing affairs slowly and calmly. Given the limited time available now, it would have to work hard day and night to review its policies, and complete all urgent tasks within a year.
Why is that? Since the beginning of its primary process, the party has faced the battle between President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and former premier William Lai (賴清德).
Some top officials privately complain that they do not know what they are fighting over and it seems as if they have become victims of the logic of power.
They do not seem to understand that in this democratic era, top officials in modern countries should devote themselves to the nation. They are paid by taxpayers, and are not anyone’s personal counselors who have nothing to do with the outcome of the primary.
It is the premier’s responsibility to change this atmosphere, and Su should take an iron-fist approach by telling his Cabinet members to do their best for the public until May 20 next year.
Officials are not men or women of leisure and they should keep busy doing things that matter. If they remain idle, they are a waste of money and should be sent packing.
Saying that would help Su score a few points with voters.
As the main force of stability, Su’s Cabinet has a lot to do in the coming year. One task is to ease the public anger that has been accumulating over the past three years.
How could Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) lose the Kaohsiung mayoral election in last year’s local elections?
One could easily come up with a long list of policies that ran against the public’s wishes. Surely this is something the experienced Su knows well.
Another task relates to Taiwan’s future, including issues that must be handled promptly and without political interference, regardless of whether the DPP remains in power.
These issues include pushing for legislation such as the establishment of a monitoring mechanism for cross-strait political negotiations, constant reform and streamlining of policies to offer greater convenience to the public and improving national competitiveness.
One of many examples is the creation of a single window for foreign investment in Taiwan.
It is only by realizing that time is running out and working harder that the government will be able to reshape expectations. If it does not, what does it matter who wins the DPP’s primary?
Besides, judging from the rapid political shifts nowadays, voters will have to be prepared for one-term presidencies becoming the norm. Anyone hoping to serve two four-year terms will have their work cut out for them.
Tzou Jiing-wen is editor-in-chief of the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper).
Translated by Eddy Chang
Weeks into the craze, nobody quite knows what to make of the OpenClaw mania sweeping China, marked by viral photos of retirees lining up for installation events and users gathering in red claw hats. The queues and cosplay inspired by the “raising a lobster” trend make for irresistible China clickbait. However, the West is fixating on the least important part of the story. As a consumer craze, OpenClaw — the AI agent designed to do tasks on a user’s behalf — would likely burn out. Without some developer background, it is too glitchy and technically awkward for true mainstream adoption,
On Monday, the day before Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) departed on her visit to China, the party released a promotional video titled “Only with peace can we ‘lie flat’” to highlight its desire to have peace across the Taiwan Strait. However, its use of the expression “lie flat” (tang ping, 躺平) drew sarcastic comments, with critics saying it sounded as if the party was “bowing down” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Amid the controversy over the opposition parties blocking proposed defense budgets, Cheng departed for China after receiving an invitation from the CCP, with a meeting with
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) is leading a delegation to China through Sunday. She is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing tomorrow. That date coincides with the anniversary of the signing of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), which marked a cornerstone of Taiwan-US relations. Staging their meeting on this date makes it clear that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intends to challenge the US and demonstrate its “authority” over Taiwan. Since the US severed official diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979, it has relied on the TRA as a legal basis for all
A delegation of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials led by Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) is to travel to China tomorrow for a six-day visit to Jiangsu, Shanghai and Beijing, which might end with a meeting between Cheng and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). The trip was announced by Xinhua news agency on Monday last week, which cited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Director Song Tao (宋濤) as saying that Cheng has repeatedly expressed willingness to visit China, and that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee and Xi have extended an invitation. Although some people have been speculating about a potential Xi-Cheng
RSS