What do you think the toughest job in the world is?
No, it is neither firefighter nor police officer.
Yes, it is dangerous to be either in theory, but as long as safety guidelines are carefully followed, you will do just fine. And on top of that, your enemies in most cases are also the public's enemies. In other words, not only will your colleagues back you up, but the people will also be supporting you.
No, it is also not professional basketball or baseball player. Yes, these require athletic skills and talent, but as long as you play in every game wholeheartedly, you will be noticed and celebrated.
Moreover, your opponents are just trying to win the game instead of attempting to ruin you. Thus, after the fat lady sings, you can all go to a bar and make toasts to a great friendship or rivalry.
This is getting close, but no, it is not president of the US. There must be at least 1 million Americans qualified to do the job. All you need is to get elected and have a basic ability to read speeches in a clear voice. After all, a team composed of the most intelligent people in the US will provide all policy analyses and tell you the best decisions to make.
All right, the answer is the president.
The president of Taiwan, I mean.
To be more precise, it is the president of the Republic of China. The president of Taiwan is the most hated man in China, the most populous country on this planet. Can you imagine being hated by 1.3 billion people? That is a record that may never be broken. Does the president have 23 million Taiwanese people supporting him? The answer is a big no. Thus, he cannot even get a score of 1.3 billion to 23 million on the scoreboard.
His job is not dangerous, since he is well protected by professional security guards 24 hours a day, seven days a week. However, his enemy is not a public enemy, regardless of its missile threat to the nation. Some people in Taiwan have not hesitated to accuse him of being a troublemaker, the same term his enemy frequently uses.
He doesn't need athletic skills or talent to play the game, but he doesn't have home-court advantage either. He gets booed even when playing at home, because some people in Taiwan seem to appreciate the opposing team better. They celebrated Beijing's successful bid for the 2008 Olympic Games and praised China's first manned space launch, as if it had anything to do with us. The situation is that this is hardly a game being played fairly.
And yes, he reads speeches written by others too. And there is certainly a team around him composed of smart people. However, there are a number of tremendous constraints on the president. First, "if the People's Republic of China represents China, then Taiwan is not a part of China." Second, "close and strong economic ties between both sides of the Taiwan Strait have existed for a long time and will not disappear in the foreseeable future."
Given these constraints, I wonder if there are any options besides what we hear every day.
So, president of Taiwan, I am quite happy doing what I am doing now.
Darson Chiu is an assistant research fellow at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research.
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