After an article in the latest edition of the Economist magazine called President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) a bumbler, politicians across party lines yesterday said that Ma should thoroughly reflect on his leadership and governance practices.
In the piece entitled “Ma the bumbler,” the global publication said that in addition to the dismal international economy, “Mr. Ma’s leadership is also to blame” for some of Taiwan’s problems.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yang Li-huan (楊麗環) urged Ma, who is also the party’s chairman, to “give thorough reflection on what went wrong” instead of “being quick to come to his own defense as he always does” when people offer him suggestions.
The four-term KMT lawmaker said she considered Ma’s leadership “quite problematic.”
Ma’s office has been staffed with sycophants and he has always turned a deaf ear to what people outside his inner circle have told him, even the honest advice, Yang said.
The way Ma rules the country has hampered its progress and economic development, she said.
“He never listens to us and thinks that we complain because we were not offered government positions or because we simply disparage him. Now the criticism has come from abroad. I really hope that he can take things seriously,” she said.
KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖) said the Ma administration should learn to discuss policy issues before making major decisions.
Ma has “headed in the right direction” with his reform plans, as evidenced by the price adjustments for electricity and fuel, the imposition of a tax on capital gains on shares and the limited coverage of year-end pension bonuses for government retirees, but the policies were “hastily enacted without due consideration of their impact and without input from lawmakers,” he said.
“The road to reform would not have been so hard if he had sufficiently recognized the importance of communication in the process of policy-making,” Chen said.
KMT Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said he held the same view as Chen did.
Taking the dual increase of fuel and electricity prices as an example, lawmakers would have suggested that prices be raised in stages or be implemented after Taiwan Power Co and CPC Corp, Taiwan improve their performance, he said.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) declined to comment on the article as he said that the Presidential Office had offered a response on Friday.
When asked for comments by the press, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday first appeared reticent to answer as he said he did not really know why the magazine ran the article.
However, soon after he said that the Economist is renowned for its credibility internationally and that “there must be some objective facts that lead it to come to the view [stated in the article.]”
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS