Would Tsai Ying-wen Still Want to Speed Through When Public Opinion Is Showing a Yellow Light?

  Would Tsai Ying-wen Still Want to Speed Through When Public Opinion Is Showing a Yellow Light?

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)

June 28, 2017

 Translation of an Except

According to survey results made public by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation, a pro-Green organization, 50% of the public do not support President Tsai Ying-wen’s way of leading the country, far higher than the 33% supporting her. The two most noteworthy indicators are as follows: one, 58% of the public are not satisfied with the performance of President Tsai’s handling of cross-Strait relations, only 35% are satisfied; the second is, 50% of the public do not support the forward-looking infrastructure plan which she has been pushing with vigor, among which, as high as 64% believe that the rail plan costing NT$420 billion should be placed in abeyance.

Up to now, people think that President Tsai Ying-wen’s political character is intractable. On the surface, she seems to be rational, knowing self-restraint, but from the angle of practical political dealing, President Tsai often exhibits a unique obstinacy in important affairs of state. She involves herself in decision-making of varying magnitudes; when encountering resistance in the real world or knowing full-well she is reaching a dead-end, she is not willing to make a detour or try to tactically ease the situation, but insists on speeding through with wonton abandon.

Examining the two yellow lights, one on cross-Strait policy and one on the forward-looking plan in the survey, it in fact is a quite intriguing contrast. The public are not satisfied with President Tsai's cross-Strait policy; in reality, it has been accumulating gradually. In the beginning, only fewer Mainland tourists came, impacting tourism and tourist coach industries; many people felt that was still bearable. However, when the set-backs expanded to more important areas of diplomacy, the economy, and international cooperation, public unease right then quickly turned into dissatisfaction. As to public divergence on the forward-looking construction plan, it was because of the distrust in coarse decision-making in the government's vital public policies. However, Tsai Ying-wen did not allow the Legislature to have any room for revisions, but rather issued instruction to the DPP that "it must pass." Under this kind of egoistic supremacy, coupled with speeding-through approaches, what is left for public opinion and professionalism?

Tsai Ying-wen may say that she is "not working for public opinion," but if the powers that be don’t know how to watch the traffic lights of public opinion, it is in reality a very dangerous thing. When public opinion shows two yellow lights, and the powers that be, however, still want to speed through the crossroads, how could one avoid accidents?

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