Tue, Oct 30, 2001 page8

• Editorial: NSC issue being overblown

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  In his new book, to be released tomorrow, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) accuses the National Security Council (NSC) of having failed to hand over its files to the new DPP government last year. According to Chen, the NSC "did not even have a complete set of the minutes for its meetings."

  Yin Chung-wen (殷宗文), the NSC's low-profile former secretary-general, quickly rebuffed Chen's claims, saying that the NSC had a complete list of all files and that all of them were transferred to the new government. Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄), who presided over the changeover, said during a Legislative Yuan session that "the NSC had no records whatsoever on the impact of the `state-to-state' dictum." To which Yin replied, "One knows whether there's any file or not if one follows the system and gets the files according to the rules."

  Now the fracas seems to be snowballing, as opposition parties try to use this opportunity to drive a wedge between Chen and former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).

  How is such a wide gap possible between what the two sides understand to be a proper transfer of power? There are three possibilities. One, many important meetings and briefings may have been conducted informally in the Presidential Office, without passing through any other government agency. Some of those files may have been taken away as part of Lee's private property. Two, it could be that such files never existed. Much of the policymaking may have been done in secret, through face-to-face communication or hand-written notes. In this case, no minutes of any meeting would have been left behind. Three, it could also be that the files do exist, but problems in the way the records were made and filed kept people from finding them.

  In the first scenario, the blame would go to the previous government, which should keep records of anything that has to do with national policy, no matter how secret, sensitive or informal they are. Such records are not private property and should not be taken from the Presidential Office.

  In the second and third scenarios, the Presidential Office is at fault, apparently not knowing how to make, compile, file and store dossiers. There might be a need to boost the awareness of public officials on the need to keep important records, as well as the need for a good filing system.

  In fact, part of the problem could be a lack of proper regulation. The NSC, initially an extra-legal entity, was recognized in the Constitution in 1994, but has never been regulated under law. As for the issue that Chen is particularly concerned about, ie, the "special state-to-state" model, a study was still being conducted under then NSC consultant Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) when Lee articulated the policy during an interview with the Voice of Germany radio station on July 9, 1999. The study has yet to be completed. Naturally, Chen wouldn't have seen files on the -- as yet -- unsettled policy.

  The fact that Chen has written a book complaining of a lack of files 500 days after the transition is a sign of poor communications within the government. Yin is now a senior advisor to the president and works in the Presidential Office. Chen could have asked Yin about missing files at any time.

  In Taiwan's first transition of political power, the lack of the dossier handover was not a major problem because many top government officials were not replaced at the time of the takeover, while others were simply replaced with officials from other government agencies. But this is no excuse for not setting up a proper system for the transition of power.

  Now that the National Archives Law has been enacted, the government should work to set up regulations for implementation so that proper procedures for the disposition of important government documents is clearly spelled out and de-politicized.

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