The Big Internal Propaganda Machinery Cannot Hide the Tsai Gov’t’s Bad Table Manners & Incompetence

The Big Internal Propaganda Machinery Cannot Hide the Tsai Gov’t’s Bad Table Manners & Incompetence

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

July 20, 2020

 Translation of an Excerpt

The Control Yuan made public the details of the receipts and expenditures of political contributions in the presidential electoral campaign. In the electoral campaign accounting books, both the ruling and opposition parties have repeatedly created new highs, among which expenditures for publicity have become the most important among the important items, tending toward stage performance, shaping the candidates’ entertaining aspects more than policy communication. President Tsai, who was running for re-election, already had a stage for national governance. Not only did she turn the national governance itinerary into an electoral campaign itinerary, she also had the "national electoral team" to spearhead and escort her; yet she still spent a lot of money to buy popularity. Ironically, following a series of crony appointments in high places, bad table manners, incompetence in national governance, the president's meticulously gilded image has begun to lose its shine.

Tsai Ing-wen's three presidential election campaigns didn't count the heavy cost for publicity management. This time, the propaganda funds accounted for more than 50% of the total expenditures, and developed to the fullest the techniques and capabilities of airwave battles. From the cyber warfare and personal media to social media platforms, they were all absorbed into the camp. After drawing the highest number of votes in history, she extended this set of combat skills to government departments, so we had a premier who adored performing and entertaining, and we had the largest number of “little editors” and exquisite pictures updated at any time for social media platforms, such as Facebook. The propaganda machinery is overwhelming, but it still can't cover the various incompetence and decorum gaffes of the Presidential Palace, the Cabinet and the party.

Receiving 8.17 million votes have whet the appetite of the Green camp. The big internal propaganda machinery is not only a fig leaf for the ruling party’s bad table manners and incompetence in national governance, but also deceives and misleads the people’s perception of the country’s internal and external situations. Five years ago, Tsai Ing-wen's election challenge was the economy and cross-Strait relations. Now the problem is getting worse, and the image of corruption that was once attached to the Chen Shui-bian family has even returned with relatives through kinship and marriage of the imperial family and patronage of party factions.

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