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Tsai blames policies for economic woes

“As a previous ruling party, [the DPP] sympathizes with a government facing severe challenges caused by exterior factors, as Taiwan is not isolated from the international situation, but some internal factors needed to be addressed.”

— Tsai Ing-wen, DPP chairwoman

The nation’s recent economic situation was not triggered entirely by global factors but also in part by policy decisions of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.

“Besides global factors such as the surge in oil and raw material prices in the international market, the KMT government must face up to a couple of internal factors,” Tsai said in a statement yesterday.

Tsai criticized the government for failing to put itself in the public’s shoes, considering the opening of cross-strait exchanges as a cure-all and being inconsistent in handling some issues, leading to a public loss of confidence in the government’s competence.

“As a previous ruling party, [the DPP] sympathizes with a government facing severe challenges caused by exterior factors, as Taiwan is not isolated from the international situation, but some internal factors needed to be addressed,” Tsai said.

She said the government’s economic policies reflected increasing costs and disregarded the consequences to the public.

“It gave advance notice of the oil price hike, leading to hoarding and unrest; it failed to contain commodity prices, resulting in inflation pressure; its economic proposal to expand domestic demand benefits only businesses; and farmers have suffered because it gave free rein to rising fertilizer prices,” Tsai said.

Tsai said the KMT government also made a mistake in regarding the opening of cross-strait exchanges as a panacea to all economic ills.

“That is a dangerous way of thinking. It’s not because that the DPP opposes loosening regulations on cross-strait exchanges, but the KMT has been overly optimistic about the economic benefits Chinese tourists and weekend charter flights might bring,” she said.

She said people who have inflated expectations would end up being disappointed and the nation would pay a higher price for potential “security loopholes” in national defense, public order and epidemic prevention and quarantine that might be caused by the policies. The government faces a predicament in which departments fail to coordinate among themselves to tackle problems, she said.

“The Mainland Affairs Council and the Strait Exchange Foundation have been at odds with each other over cross-strait issues,” Tsai said.

“And on economic issues, the government on one hand tried to expand domestic demand and took money from the four government-run funds on the stock market, yet on the other hand, the central bank raised its key interest rates to tighten currency.”

The lack of coordination between governmental agencies showed a lack of leadership, she said, adding that “all of this makes it hard to believe that the government is capable of handling the current situation.”
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