People Suffer So That Gov’t May Eat Better?

 People Suffer So That Gov’t May Eat Better?

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

June 21, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

President Tsai Ing-wen’s support ratings continue to slide to the bottom, and Taiwan public perception of the Mainland, however, has taken a surprising turn. “Good feelings” surprisingly exceeded “unfavorability.” Such changes explain that the DPP’s cross-Strait policies have not won people’s hearts, a fact that could not be refuted with sophistry. Nevertheless, the Tsai government doesn’t seem to have sensed that it should make timely policy adjustments, while still going its own way, firmly believing that the tenser US-China relations are, the more beneficial it is to Taiwan. David Lee, Secretary-General of the National Security Council, asked countrymen to refuse travel on flights operated by airlines that suddenly changed Taiwan’s designation. Such strange advocacy shows that the government is at its wits’ end.

President Tsai’s cross-Strait policies, to put it bluntly, are to erect her pride on the sufferings of the people; then use the ten-gallon hat of “national dignity” to rationalize her own bigotry. Nevertheless, the cross-Strait eerie atmospherics that ensued incessantly make all trades and all industries pay a price. What is astonishing is not President Tsai’s resolute and unwavering will; what is startling is that a chief of state could remain so unperturbed and indifferent when facing people’s difficulties and sufferings brought by her own policies. In fact, the DPP’s accustomed tactic is to use "national dignity" as a slogan to rally the people against China; in the past, the games of "changing the national title," "authoring a new constitution," and "joining the United Nations" were all attempted in this vein, and again and again, taken Taiwan towards spinning in place and rupturing the social fabric. Now, Tsai Ing-wen’s slogan has been reduced to “maintaining the status quo,” while endlessly destroying the goodwill and the fruits of peace that the two sides of the Strait had painstakingly accumulated in the eight years under the preceding administration; this in no way can be called wise. People have also noticed that she has gradually lost the capability of winding up the endgame, while refusing to admit mistakes.

The using of the pretext “national dignity” or “social justice” to promote policy reforms has ended up in the consequence of “making the public suffer to achieve its ends”; instances abound in the Tsai’s government’s policy decisions. Take the annuity reforms as an example. A government deliberately dismantled a "middle class," lowering their living standards one rung; doesn't it require prior, cautious thinking through the social and economic chain reactions involved?

The Tsai government proclaimed that following the passage of annuity reforms for retired military, civil servants and public school teachers, it could save the national coffers the outlays of NT$1.4 trillion, exhibiting elation and satisfaction at the same time. However, having saved NT$1.4 trillion, what good deeds would the government do to benefit the country and the welfare of the people? The answer is a flat "No." What external circles have noticed is that the DPP government, after cutting the burden of annuities for retired military, civil servants and public school teachers, will with even more audacity squander: foreigners from countries involved in the New Southward Policy and from northeast Asia who come to Taiwan for sightseeing all enjoy subsidies under queer headings; the four-year, NT$400 billion-plus Forward-looking Infrastructure program relentlessly prods local governments to look for items to spend funds on; for surplus agriculture product leading to the collapse of prices or fallow farmland, the government could all issue subsidies. For off-shore wind turbine generation of power, the government would not only spend tens of billions of NT dollars, but also sign 20-year, high priced contracts. It is estimated that in the future, NT$1.3 trillion in electricity payments will flow into the pockets of foreign firms.

The annuity reforms for retired military, civil servants and public school teachers could save the national coffers NT$1.4 trillion and the NT$1.3 trillion Taiwan will pay to foreign wind turbine power generation operators in the next 20 year are an accidental coincidence. This figure incidentally explains that the annuities saved by the left hand will be spent by the right hand; and the sufferings borne by the people are unconsciously boasted as the government's “achievement in governance.”

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