After All, Is It a Nat’l Security Council Meeting or a Nat’l Security Council Afternoon Tea?

 After All, Is It a Nat’l Security Council Meeting or a Nat’l Security Council Afternoon Tea?

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

April 17, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

President Tsai convoked a high-level national security meeting on Saturday, April 14^th, focusing on recent regional and Middle East security situations. The meeting later released four directives of the President and made public the name list of participants in the hope that compatriots would, through the divulgation of information, avoid cavalierly believing, or excessively speculate, incorrect information. It is commendable that the national security staff team was active in carrying out their functions; however, in the process of decision-making and the divulgation of information, there are many points that merit comments, as they could turn the national security meeting into a source of chaos that might affect the morale of society.

In this meeting, the Premier was surprisingly absent; Vice President Chen Chien-jen and the Chief of General Staff are not on the name list either. Furthermore, in her directives, the President especially referred to related impacts on society and the economy, and the national security team surprisingly did not ask for the presence of fiscal or economic ministers. Besides the contradictions underscored by the fact that the participants did not conform to the directives of the meeting, we want to remind our readers that in the current developments in the cross-Strait situation and the changes in Middle East warfare, if it indeed was serious enough to convoke an emergency high-echelon national security meeting , and at the same time, the President insisted on embarking on a trip to visit a diplomatic partner as scheduled, wouldn’t it confuse the public as to why such an illogical thing happened? Exploring the reasons, we find they are related to the public relations thinking of the national security team. However, national security is such a serious issue, and it is, more so, the primary responsibility of the nation's leader. Employing public relations as the goal to operate national security issues would backfire.

We must emphasize here that national security affairs are filled with various types of confidentiality and sensitivity; many things must be done but could not be said; those spoken out must be accomplished. For the people, national security is all the more a complex issue that cannot be explained in a few words. In order to shape the image of the chief of state, nurture accomplishments in governance, as well as prestige, national security issues are not an appropriate arena. The national security team must never deem national security meetings as "national security afternoon teas."

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