The Economic Development Advisory Conference (EDAC) finishes tomorrow and its five panels have reached a consensus on a substantial number of recommendations. So far, the "performance" orchestrated by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and incorporates all the political parties, has kept well in key. A closer examination reveals Chen's various strategic considerations.
On the whole, according to observers and the president's close aides, Chen's top priority is to save the economy and to convey the government's determination and pro-activeness. A second aim is to create an atmosphere of political stability and prove that his administration is sophisticated and mature. A third goal, and a political spin-off, is to force the opposition to share responsibility for economic reform and blunt the opposition's criticism during the election campaign.
"The president controls the stage [the EDAC], which is not a government body, to bypass the opposition parties' boycotts, such as their obstruction of the Executive Yuan's policies during the past year," said editor-in-chief of Contemporary magazine, Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒).
"And the EDAC can also be regarded as a realization of the spirit of the presidential system, which Chen advocates strongly and wishes to achieve," Chin added.
Indeed, the president's close aides are not coy about the background against which Chen proposed the EDAC in May. He was anxious about the Executive Yuan's failure to come up with effective measures to revive the economy and he hoped to form a channel for dialogue between the opposition and ruling parties through economic issues.
In particular, after the decision to scrap the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant was reversed in February, Chen appeared to have achieved little success in the diplomatic arena. "As a result, economic and domestic issues relating to Taiwan's development became vital for the DPP if it was to retain any hope of victory in the year-end elections," one close aide to the president told the Taipei Times.
The aide said Chen was very concerned about creating an atmosphere of political stability in many decision-making meetings prior to his trip to Latin America in late May.
"The president wants to demonstrate to the public that A-bian's administration can deal with politics maturely and create a stable environment, which gives people something to hope for," the aide said.
Chen and his aides are well aware of how the KMT always played the "stability card" (安定牌) during its decades of rule and now that the DPP is in power it must use this card to its own advantage.
"This is the main strategy for staying in power. If people do not believe in the leader's ability, any other tactic during the election will be of little use," the aide said.
In short, the EDAC was staged by the Presidential Office to allow the opposition parties and the Executive Yuan to sit down and talk, the aide said. Chen commands the "highest point" and arbitrates the "negotiations" between the two sides.
Chen has carefully monitored developments at the EDAC for fear that the only political stage on which to perform before the year-end election may collapse.
During preparations for the conference in July, for example, some ministries drew their bottom lines, for which they tried to seek Chen's approval prior to the conference. For that reason, Chen had to declare publicly that: "The executive branch does not have veto power over the EDAC's consensus."
RSS