Last week, there were news reports that some members of the Control Yuan want to interview Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who also heads the Central Epidemic Command Center. It is like a historical drama in which an army general who is battling an enemy is betrayed by scheming courtiers.
Those Control Yuan members, who have been living safe and sound thanks to the government’s successful defense against COVID-19, are not just ungrateful, but eager to burn the bridge before the river has even been crossed.
Chen judged the situation correctly as soon as Taiwan learned of the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, and he initiated the measures needed to keep the virus out of Taiwan. While the rest of the world was thrown into confusion by the onset of COVID-19, everyone in Taiwan was able to live their lives largely as normal for a year and four months.
Taiwan’s success in fighting the pandemic has won it praise, admiration and emulation from around the world. The Centers for Disease Control has earned the gratitude of right-minded Taiwanese, while the continued growth of the nation’s economy has also been a focus of international attention.
SARS-CoV-2 is a novel virus that has spread like wildfire. New viral variants are spreading and making the pandemic even more difficult to control. Medical personnel are depended upon to treat patients while putting themselves at risk of being infected.
Over the past month or so, an outbreak of indigenous cases has put everyone on edge. Taiwanese should fight the outbreak together, but these Control Yuan members have chosen this time to request an interview with the person in charge of fighting COVID-19.
Members of parliament in democratic countries have the power of oversight, so there is no need to have a separate Control Yuan. The Control Yuan’s powers and responsibilities are not equivalent to those of the three main branches of government — the Legislative Yuan, the Executive Yuan and the Judicial Yuan — and its existence is a waste of public funds. Taiwan is the only country that has a Control Yuan, and people have long been calling for its abolition.
This request to interview a minister at just the wrong time further illustrates how Control Yuan members abuse their power, and it can only undermine the morale of civil servants who are doing something useful.
When the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) took over the government from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), it was expected that the DPP, with control of the executive and legislative branches of government, would make some reforms, but not much has happened. Maybe because President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) puts stability first, the government has not initiated a constitutional amendment to abolish the Control Yuan, and this inaction has laid the ground for problems of this nature.
After fighting against the pandemic for more than a year, people in Taiwan know full well how hard it is to keep COVID-19 at bay. Externally, the nation faces a neighbor that does not want to see it doing well and looks for any chance to create a breach in its disease-control defenses.
Internally, there is also the pressure of fielding questions from the legislature and opposition parties. If Control Yuan members do not recognize the difficulty Taiwan faces, but instead swing a wrecking ball, how can frontline fighters maintain their morale?
Chiang Jih-yingh is a director of the Taiwanese Romanization Association and a member of the Southern Taiwan Society.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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