The Serious Disease of Thirst for Power: the DPP’s Advanced Deployment in the Fight for Authority & Positions

The Serious Disease of Thirst for Power: the DPP’s Advanced Deployment in the Fight for Authority & Positions

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

April 5, 2020

 Translation of an Excerpt

As the pandemic escalates, when the public scramble to buy supplies, the Tsai government is fighting for power. When manpower appears strained for pandemic control, the DPP is busy juggling for positions. When the people feel anxiety over the pandemic, the factions show thirst for power. The impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic has been unprecedented, and the naked power struggle within the Tsai government is indeed an eye-opener for the people. It is probably not optimistic to halt the pandemic before the inaugural on May 20, but the fight for power and positions before May 20 has long been deployed in advance.

The relationship between Interior Minister Hsu Kuo-yung and National Police administrator Chen Ja-chin has become strained, each invoking "external forces", leaving the other side no room face-saving, but the political storm ignited is in fact only the tip of the iceberg in the juggling of factions for power and positions on the eve of May 20. Recently, Su Tseng-chang used “eradicating patronage” as pretext to change four chairmen of state-run enterprises one after another, but he stepped on the red line of factional interests of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association and the New Tide faction, and was lambasted by Tuan Yi-kang, a key figure of the New Tide faction: “When you believe your power were so big as if you could do whatever you wanted; when you forgot that this position was also given by someone else ... then we will wait to bid you goodbye".

Did Su Tseng-chang forget that the coveted position of premiership was bestowed by Tsai Ing-wen, only he himself would know. Could Tuan Yi-kang wait until Su Tseng-chang's political farewell, only Tsai Ing-wen would know. However, the DPP has won control of the central government twice, and the Tsai government is still inducing the law of the jungle for power; the DPP has never been immune to factional chaos for which a wedge would be driven even without cleavage. As May 20^th is fast approaching, the thirst for power naturally deteriorates into a serious disease.

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