The curtain has been raised on the battle for the presidency. All the candidates are reaching deep into their bags of trick to get ahead in this race. An independent candidate, namely James Soong, has made media headlines by using slogans such as "non-partisan politics (
Is politics nothing but a well-packaged yet sophisticated fraud? Is it, alternatively, a game characterized by lies and deceit? Actually, it is not hard to see through the exaggerations of the Taiwan media. Let us use the concepts of "non-partisan politics" and "the Yeltsin effect" as examples to prove this point.
First of all, let us take a look at the once widely talked about "Yeltsin effect."
At the time of the first election for the Taiwan Provincial Governor, some politicians predicted that the so-called "Yeltsin effect" would also appear on Taiwan's political stage. Actually, this deduction is based on a less than full understanding of the issues.
Firstly, the situation in Taiwan is quite different from that in the Soviet Union before its disintegration. The greatest difference is that when Yeltsin came to power, the country was run by a totalitarian communist regime. In contrast, Taiwan has traveled far down the road of democratization.
Secondly, when Yeltsin was elected as the first popularly elected president of Russia, he immediately declared that Russian law took precedent over the law of the Soviet Union and that Russia enjoyed absolute sovereignty and self-determination both in terms of foreign and domestic policies. In contrast, the governor of Taiwan Province did not enjoy such conditions.
Thirdly, the "Yeltsin effect" caused the rapid disintegration of the Soviet Union, while Taiwan Province has became politically impotent after its governor bowed out from office. Moreover, Yeltsin had no bountiful financial backing to buy political support and resources, and in this respect is hardly a match to the former governor.
In addition, Taiwan is currently undergoing a relative smooth development of party politics and is highly regarded within the international community, while the Russian regime generated by the "Yeltsin effect" has fallen from grace and been going down an increasingly narrow path.
Let us next examine the consequences of "non-partisan politics." In 1990, Yeltsin announced his withdrawal from the Communist party. Later on, he declared himself to be a "non-partisan" figure. Backed by the overwhelming "anti-communist" sentiment, he did not form a new party. In fact, he was successfully re-elected for a second term, with a reputation for bravery in challenging Communist power. However, this Russian leader who rose to power on a non-partisan platform has not established a very convincing track record.
First, Yeltsin boasted that he would improve the Russian economy within 500 days of his election. However, the Russian economy is still in a deplorable predicament after nine years under his rule.
Second, with the endless struggles between the president and congress, legal reforms have been ineffective. Political corruption is also on the rise.
Third, four different individuals have taken the prime minister's seat within the last half year because the president, the holder of supreme power, is free to remove his associates at will. Based on the above, it is truly tragic for Russia to have this "non-partisan" head of the state who led the country down a ruinous path and failed to implement party politics.
Taiwanese should have the ability to distinguish right from wrong and truth from lies. Russia provides us with a lesson worth learning. Let us not allow the re-enactment of the "Yeltsin effect" in Taiwan.
Hung Mau-hsiung is a Research Fellow at the Institute of International Relations at the National Cheng-chi University.
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