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Playing Cute, Throwing Money Around and Blocking Projects—Are These the Elixir of the Tsai Gov’t?

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 Playing Cute, Throwing Money Around and Blocking Projects—Are These the Elixir of the Tsai Gov’t?

 

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

January 22, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

The top project of the Su Cabinet after its inauguration was asking Cabinet members to provide "accessible and convenient governance to the people" in order to facilitate communication, because the public’s patience lasts only ten seconds. Premier Su leads by using Facebook, the Labor Minister is also active in speaking through the Internet, the Minister of Science and Technology even holds a unicorn doll to play cute for live broadcasts, and even President Tsai has also opened the Internet in Ximending [a popular gathering place of young people]. At once, officials follow one another to emulate Internet celebrities and view-counts have thus become an important indicator of governance performance records.

After the DPP suffered a disastrous electoral defeat by the "Han Kuo-yu vogue," following some soul-searching, it has started emphasizing the Internet effect; this is understandable. Nevertheless, did the DPP lose the elections simply because it is not "cute enough"? Was it truly far behind others in Internet operations? Probably not. Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je, who has been adept at employing the Internet, pointed out: "Net everyone can become an Internet celebrity."

When the DPP reviewed the electoral defeat, Lai Ching-te mentioned that the grassroots masses had no “feeling” for economic growth, hence, President Tsai once advocated distributing cash gifts worth NT$50 billion, allowing low-income households to share the growth dividends. During his last Cabinet meeting, Lai Ching-te also talked about an expanded domestic demand project, wanting to use a policy of employing various types of subsidies to throw money around in order to make the people have real “feeling.” However, the funds for many policies have already been strained; government debts are also alarming. For these reasons, throwing money around instead of reducing debt cannot possibly escape public criticisms and a backlash from media opinions; as a result the Tsai government could not but scrap the whole idea.

It is impossible to play cute and no way to throw money around. What the DPP government cares about most is "blocking projects." Last year, "blocking Kuan Chung-ming" lasted a year, leaving National Taiwan University without a president; besides blocking personnel, it could also block projects. The Su Cabinet is blocking the foothill railroad line construction project in Tainan because of then city mayor Lin Chia-lung’s inadequate planning; however, the former mayor Lin has now become "Transportation Minister Lin." He not only failed to self-reflect on the inadequacies of his project, but speaking in officialese with a haughty tone, he instructed the new City Hall to introduce a new project. Such brusque tactics are indeed a rarity in officialdom.

What the Tsai government wants to block is not limited to the construction of the foothill railroad line in Tainan. The Blue-controlled counties and cities intend to push for the Mainland markets, while the Tsai government emphatically stresses that cross-Strait affairs are under the purview of the central government, and even dispatches Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chen Ming-tong to communicate with the localities for fear that "localities besieging the central government" will become a reality. The problem is, when public opinion ardently hopes to strive for the economy, could the DPP government succeed in blocking?

Lai Ching-te, in his farewell speech as Premier, advocated erecting a "political party culture that prioritizes national interests." It was well said, but if the DPP does some soul-searching, could itself attain the goal? Moreover, looking at the Tsai government's response to the new vox populi as expressed in the 2018 elections, it not only employs "a Cabinet of defeated generals" to show its authority to the vox populi, but also plays cute with the full use of populist means, throwing money around, blocking projects hoping to prolong its political life; nevertheless, as to the popular dissatisfaction against its wrong policies, it is totally unmoved. How could such a political party obsessed with "the art of ruling" make amends to the image of its tarnished brand?

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