A Guest List that Could Not Be Made Public & Budget that Could Not Be Spent

 A Guest List that Could Not Be Made Public & Budget that Could Not Be Spent

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

October 13, 2017

 Translation of an Excerpt

In order to promote the Tsai government’s "New Southward Policy” the Prospect Foundation held a two-day "Mt. Jade Yushan) Forum" on October 11-12, inviting over 40 guests from 15 countries for participation. President Tsai also delivered a speech in person, making five pledges, including assisting countries in the region to develop vital industries for the people's welfare, providing strategic loans totaling US$3.5 billion, and developing human resources. What was mysterious was that up to the eve of the opening day, the sponsoring organization could not make public the list of attendees; it was imaginable that the organization was concerned that once the list was leaked, it could have met with suppression from Mainland China.

On the opening day, the list was finally announced; among the highest level attendees were two former "vice presidents" of the Philippines. In addition, there were a “former deputy premier" of South Korea and one "former defense minister" of Japan. Among incumbent foreign officials, there were a Deputy Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs of Indonesia and a Deputy Assistant Administrator of the US Small Business Administration. This kind of guest list may perhaps explain the efforts of the competent government agencies in promoting the New Southward Policy, but it could not reflect the necessity of keeping the guest list confidential to such a degree, and of course it is difficult to prove the weight of the “Mt. Jade Forum.”

Since Tsai Ing-wen came to office, she has devoted her efforts to the "New Southward Policy" and used it to counter the other side of the Strait. This phenomenon of one-sided enthusiasm for the New Southward Policy of this country from top to bottom could very likely lead to a loss of a correct grasp of the changes in cross-Strait relations on our part, even causing unnecessary wrangling and conflicts in Southeast Asia, something worrisome. Ironically, in contrast to the high profile “publicity” for the New Southward Policy by the government, its "implementation," however, has been lagging far behind, which is obvious by looking at the extremely low implementation rate of the budget for the New Southward Policy. From the Presidential Office on down, the implementation rate is lower than 10%, including the Interior Ministry, the Public Construction Commission, and the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The government has earmarked large sums of funds for the budget, hoping to throw money to build up lavish results on the road to the New Southward Policy; in the end, the various Cabinet ministries don’t even know where to throw the money. Also because of this, various gimmicks to use up the budget have surfaced. For this flabby efficiency to implement the budget, the government, however, has not undertaken a review; it will, instead, expand the budget allocations next year, hiking the funds for the New Southward Policy to US$7.2 billion. Is it really not ashamed to squander public funds to boast of its achievements in such a way?

Tsai Ying-wen should pragmatically and modestly continue to promote the New Southward Policy, but should not use the New Southward Policy as Taiwan’s alternative path towards the world, circumventing Mainland China, nor need she brazely claim that the New Southward Policy would march side by side with One Belt, One Road, etc.

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