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Editorial: Nothing secret about these lies

KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) has refused to serve as vice chairman of the planned Cross-Party Economic Advisory Council. People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) is expected to follow suit and turn down a similar invitation. Both have said not serving as vice chairmen does not mean they will stay out of the council. However, a boycott by the KMT has already cast a political shroud on a consultative body aimed at salvaging the country's economy.

After the first preparatory meeting for the council, Morris Chang (張忠謀), chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (台積電) complained that there were too many politicians on the council's list. He asked for more business representatives and academics. On Sunday, Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) also expressed the hope that there would be "a little less political strife and a little more consensus on economics." But obviously this was mere wishful thinking.

That the council reeks of politics is an indisputable reality. Everyone in Taiwan knows that the country's economic woes are rooted in global factors as well as problems in the transformation of the domestic industrial structure. But political instability and a consequent decline in public confidence has also played a malign role.

The advisory council is an attempt by the ruling party to cure economic ills with a dose of political medicine -- to create an atmosphere of political harmony by winning the opposition parties' endorsement, to redefine cross-strait economic and trade policies and to draw up a plan for reinvigorating the economy and restoring public confidence. It is impossible and unnecessary to delink the council from politics. The Executive Yuan held a National Economic Development Conference in January, to which many business leaders and scholars were invited. But because of the lack of political participation of the opposition parties the conclusions reached at the conference were little more than empty gestures. The new council cannot afford to repeat this mistake.

All of the political parties say they are worried about the country's economic condition. But this sense of crisis obviously pales in the face of partisan interests. Despite slogans about cooperating to salvage the economy, the parties can't help fighting each other and trying to undercut their rivals in anticipation of the year-end elections.

Lien said he would not serve as vice chairman of the council because President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had expressed support for an investigation into the KMT's ill-gotten assets. But this was merely an excuse. The opposition has never intended to help tidy up the economy anyway. Why should they? The worse off the economy, the better chances they will have in the elections. Almost any excuse would have been sufficient for Lien to avoid endorsing the council and to try to stall an economic recovery.

While both Lien and Soong have made the appropriate noises about still working with the council, Taipei's political circles are already awash in rumors that the duo plan to drop out of the council halfway and let it collapse. The people of Taiwan should keep their eyes wide open and observe which parties are really serious about the public interest and which are merely playing partisan games.

We can only hope that, after voters having seen the antics of the opposition for the entirely self-serving games they really are, the December elections will result in the marginalization of both Lien and Soong, such that their future participation in such meetings will not matter.
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