Opposition derides Chen

Opposition politicians and business analysts weighed in on the first two years of Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) presidency yesterday, with some saying that the country is worse off for his leadership.

"Many incidents have proven that the DPP administration's unstable policies have created a lot of pains for Taiwan's citizens in the past two years," said KMT Spokesman Wu Ching-ji (吳清基).

While the past week has also seen praise of the Chen administration, KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) dismissed the opinion polls.

"Taiwan citizens' generosity is the reason that Chen's popularity can be rated over 50 percent," Lien said yesterday.

"I don't expect anything at all to come out of this government," he added.

Chen has drawn criticism for what the opposition calls ambiguous policies and lack of initiatives. His public approval rating has plummeted to 48 percent from 80 percent when he took office in May 2000 and he has been hounded for failing to improve cross-strait ties or the

economy.

"The Chen administration has no idea how to run a train, they only blame people for not helping them," said Wu.

The recession forced Chen to bow to business interests and ease restrictions on investing in China.

In recent weeks, Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) and United World Chinese Commercial Bank (世華銀行) became the first Taiwan banks to open offices in China.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manu-facturing Co, the world's biggest maker of contract chips, said last month it's scouting sites for its first Chinese factory, after the government lifted a ban on chip investments in China.

"You can say that letting the semiconductor chipmakers invest in China is one of Chen's few achievements," said Vincent Chen, who helps manage NT$1.2 billion (US$35 million) in Taiwan equities at Union Securities Investment Trust Co.

"He still needs to resolve the direct links issue, however, and he's under pressure to do that," he said.

"We can't ignore China's enormous market," the president conceded this month in a speech as he opened a new plant for Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. "But we should not regard China as the only promising market."

Meanwhile, the PFP also lashed out at the president, criticizing the recent release of President A-bian: Up Close and Personal, a book of photographs that chronicles Chen's first two years in office, as arrogant.

"How can Chen still work on his personal photo treasury, while the country's citizens are suffering water shortages," said PFP caucus leader Diane Lee (李慶安).

TSU Chairman Huang Chu-wen (黃主文), however, refuted the opposition's criticism of Chen's performance.

"Chen has performed very well. Politics is getting stable and the economy is picking up," he said.