On Oct. 24, the Control Yuan impeached three former high-ranking navy officers over irregularities in the purchase of French Lafayette-class frigates. According to the Control Yuan, the standard procedures for military purchases must be followed and no matter how well-intended the motivation; any irregularity which violates these procedures is wrong.
But this lesson doesn't appear to have hit home with the Executive Yuan, for it seems inevitable that Premier Chang Chun-hsiung
The Executive Yuan listed three major considerations in its decision to stop construction of the plant: One, nuclear safety and nuclear waste processing; two, the feasibility of alternative plans; three, the legal issues involving a halt of the construction.
The first and the second considerations involve political and professional judgements of a public policy on which a consensus has proved difficult to reach since people have differing views. The third consideration, however, is clearly a yes-no issue which the government cannot avoid.
As a consequence, the government will face compensation proceedings and impeachment by the Control Yuan.
Not that the threat of impeachment seems to worry Executive Yuan officials. Toeing the party political line is their only serious concern. The consequence, however, of not implementing the Legislative Yuan's decision is very serious. It is a major slap in the face to the Legislative Yuan, which is currently reviewing the Executive Yuan's proposal for next year's national budget. Legislators may now legitimately ask why they should bother to review the budget at all, if the Executive Yuan sees no reason to abide by measures passed?
The Executive Yuan has listed 22 examples of legislative budget decisions that were not implemented in the past without the government facing censure either from the legislature or the Control Yuan. But the situation in this case is totally different. In the examples cited by the Executive Yuan, implementation was halted because various difficulties had made the policies impossible to be carried out. Lack of implementation was because of force majeure. The Fourth Nuclear Power Plant budget certainly can be implemented. It is stopped only by executive fiat.
The political repercussions of the Executive Yuan's decision will be serious. First, it sets a bad example through flouting the law. Second, the decision will not halt the dispute over the plant, only send it into temporary hibernation. If the DPP fails to win a legislative majority in next year's election, or if the people of Taiwan choose to "rotate" political parties in the next presidential election in three year's time, the nuclear plant issue could return with a vengeance. The government, by its irresponsible attitude toward this issue, has turned the cancellation of the project into a never-ending controversy.
If the government insists on cancelling the plant, the Executive Yuan must use legal means to achieve it if it wishes to solve the problem once and for all. A referendum would provide the government with the perfect means to resolve its difficulties in one fell swoop, also being the surest way to elicit the public consensus that KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) asked President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to seek yesterday.
The government rejected sound advice form Lien by announcing its decision immediately after yesterday's meeting. The swift decision has also seriously damaged the efforts to build trust between political parties and dramatically increased political uncertainties.
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