The Three Things that Moon Jae-in Taught Tsai Ing-wen

  The Three Things that Moon Jae-in Taught Tsai Ing-wen

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)

May 31, 2017

 Translation of an Except

Korea's new president, Moon Jae-in, has been in office for less than three weeks, but surprisingly, nearly 90% of the Korean public are optimistic about the prospects of his governance for the next five years. This has set a record high since Korea began direct presidential elections. Moon Jae-in’s high support rating came from his grasp and quick action in pushing public policy since assuming office, putting campaign planks into action, and his determination to resolve political confrontation on the Korean Peninsula in the name of policy continuity.

Since assuming office, he immediately moved his administration’s offices from the lofty Blue House to Gwanghwamun, the hotspot for popular protests, in order to listen to public opinion at all times, and communicate with the people, proclaiming with actual actions that he would always stand with the people. He named Kim Sang-jo, dubbed the "chaebol sniper," as Chairman of the Fair Trade Commission, an anti-monopoly agency, stressing his determination to reform the chaebols. While the newly-appointed Prime Minister, Lee Nak-yeon, right after assuming office, proclaimed that he would not completely overhaul the policies of the previous administration, instead he would completely inherit the parts that were good. For this reason, he declared that he would continue to promote the "Creative Economy Reform Plan" pushed for under the Park Geun-hye government, and encourage young people to start up businesses with innovative concepts.

Looking at Taiwan from South Korea, after a year of DPP administration, we do not see the government’s humility; rather the government revealed that its words and deeds were not the same before and after taking power. Pushing economic policies while holding politics supreme, and the wholesale negation of the previous government’s policies may be the main reasons that the support rating of Tsai Ing-wen’s government has fallen to 30%.

Perhaps, using Moon Jae-in, who has just to come to power in the text, to contrast the Tsai Ying-wen government, which has been in power for a year, could fall short on symmetry and fairness; the sustainability of the support rating for Moon Jae-in’s governance will also be tested with the passage of time. However, as the Chinese idiom goes, the falling of one leaf heralds the coming of autumn. The support rating of Moon Jae-in contrasts the current political predicaments of the Tsai government. Listening to public opinion with humility, avoiding political rivalry, and governance without differentiating Blue and Green should be the three things Moon Jae-in taught Tsai Ying-wen.

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