Name-change controversy: Analysis: Chen's actions stir election talk

President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) recent actions have caused a stir, prompting speculation that they are aimed at boosting the odds of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidates to win the presidential race next year.

Since Feb. 1, when Chen wrote "I will rise up" when signing an autograph for one of his supporters at Fenchi Lake (奮起湖) in Chiayi County, he has made a series of major appointments in the Presidential Office and military commands. "Fenchi" means "rise up with ardor."

On Feb. 1, Chen approved a major reshuffling of military personnel. Four days later, he approved a similar personnel change at the Presidential Office, including former National Security Council (NSC) secretary-general Chiou I-jen (邱義仁), who swapped jobs with Presidential Office secretary-general Mark Chen (陳唐山).

As Chiou has played a significant role in mapping out strategies for the DPP's elections in the past, his new appointment can be viewed as a demonstration of President Chen's intention to dictate the DPP's nomination process for the year-end legislative election.

President Chen further announced on Friday that Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), a former legislator and former acting Kaohsiung mayor, will be deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office.

The move is President Chen's first effort to position candidates interested in running in the legislative poll. Chen Chi-mai had originally planned to run, while three other DPP members have expressed interest in vying for the same seat in a single constituency.

On Thursday, President Chen said that state-owned Chunghwa Post Co (中華郵政) would change its name to Taiwan Post Co (臺灣郵政).

He also said that he supported replacing "Chunghwa," which means "China," on the nation's postage stamps with "Taiwan." The stamps currently bear the country's official name, Republic of China.

One day later, the Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC,中國石油) and China Shipbuilding Corp (CSBC, 中國造船) announced that they approved their name changes in board meetings, with CPC becoming CPC Corporation, Taiwan (台灣中油) and CSBC becoming CSBC Corporation, Taiwan (台灣國際造船).

Political commentator Paul Lin (林保華) said that the president's moves represent a last-ditch attempt to leave a legacy before his term expires.

Although Lin said he believed that the president's series of actions are related to next year's presidential race, he also said that it would be unfair to say that they were exclusively related to it.

Lin said that while he favored the name changes and thought that the DPP administration should have done so earlier, the changes would have only helped the DPP to win more support from centrist voters if the administration had adopted a less drastic approach to achieve its goal.

"The DPP may not win all the backing of voters in the middle of the political spectrum, but they can use a more flexible means and keep a low profile to get things done," he said.

Chiou might want to adopt the same approach if he is to map out campaign strategies for the party.

By doing so, the DPP can prevent any unnecessary backlash from swing voters, Lin said.

Chen Ming-tong (陳明通), a professor at National Taiwan University's Graduate Institute of National Development, agreed that the administration should have moved to change the names of the state-owned businesses earlier, but did not see the move as an election stratagem because the DPP has long made the changes part of its policy.

The president has pledged to work toward three goals during the remainder of his term: changing the national title and the names of government agencies and state-owned businesses, writing a new constitution and joining the UN under the name "Taiwan."

Regarding the reshuffle at the Presidential Office, Lin said he frowned on the appointment of Chen Chi-mai but lauded that of Mark Chen.

Lin said that the appointment of Chen Chi-mai only served as a reminder to the public of the corruption scandals that have surrounded the administration of President Chen.

Chen Chi-mai is the son of former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Chen Che-nan (陳哲男), who was sentenced to 12 years in prison in December for accepting bribes.

Mark Chen, who raised political eyebrows by making blunt remarks about Singapore during his stint as foreign minister, is better suited to serve on the National Security Council, Lin said, because the council does not interact much with the press.