The Wrath of Tsai Ing-wen

The Wrath of Tsai Ing-wen
China Times editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
September 18, 2014

Summary: Tsai Ing-wen is angry. The DPP has made no effort to divest itself of its anti-business image. She hopes to reverse the DPP's "anti-business" image in order to prepare for a return to power in 2016. But whether the subject is cross-Strait mutual trust or fiscal policy, Tsai Ing-wen is far from a "quasi-ruling party leader." How can voters possibly trust a changeable "quasi-ruling party" only capable of building castles in the air? They would just as soon not.

Full Text Below:

Tsai Ing-wen is angry. The DPP has made no effort to divest itself of its anti-business image. The DPP recently convened the first meeting of the new Legislative Yuan session. It issued a "Report on the Coordination of Major Issues." Tsai Ing-wen issued a sternly worded military directive. She ordered the DPP legislative caucus to establish a "10 person team to consider fiscally oriented legislative issues." She wanted to accelerate the introduction of fiscal legislation that would "enrich the nation and benefit the people." She hopes to reverse the DPP's "anti-business" image in order to prepare for a return to power in 2016.

The "Report on the Coordination of Major Issues" is an important meeting that the DPP holds once every week. Think tank staff, caucus cadres, and concerned Central Committee heads attend. The list of participants is expanded when necessary. County and municipal party leaders are invited to participate. During the conference Tsai Ing-wen declared that since we have taken the time to meet, "This should not be merely a pro forma ritual."

The "Wrath of Tsai Ing-wen" underscored DPP neglect of fiscal issues. It shocked people out of their complacency. The conference report was supposed to address high priority legislation and offensive and defensive arrangements in the new session of the Legislative Yuan. But Tsai Ing-wen arrived on scene, only to find that DPP high priority legislation did not include any major fiscal legislation, This was of course no oversight. It merely confirmed that DPP party caucus struggles habitually ignore fiscal legislation that would "enrich the nation and benefit the people."

The "Wrath of Tsai Ing-wen" sent an important message. The DPP still intends to subject the FEPZ proposal to "rigorous review." It still intends to "propose an amended version" and give it conditional support. It merely stressed the need to develop economic strategies or strategic industries. As everyone knows, many other citizens' groups before and after the Sunflower Student Movement are preparing to obstruct passage of the FEPZ. Tsai Ing-wen is leading the DPP. In order to reverse its anti-business image, she will not be waging a scorched earth campaign against the FEPZ. How will the DPP relate to these civic groups? How will the relationship affect these new political groups? Will it lead to the emergence of a new political party? These questions merit close attention.

According to media reports, Tsai Ing-wen said the DPP must present a different image to the outside world. It must not be seen merely as a civic group concerned about the underprivileged. It must be seen as a "quasi-ruling party." But given its performance, the DPP does not qualify as a "quasi-ruling party." It does not even qualify as a competent "opposition party." Take the FEPZ for example. The KMT announced the details of the bill early this year. Yet the DPP dragged its feet until August before proposing an alternative. Its alternative is "Oppose everything having anything to do with [Mainland] China." As the product of a conservative and protectionist mentality, how can it possibly win public support?

Actually, Tsai Ying-wen herself is one of the sources of the DPP's problems. Late last month, the DPP held its first "Citizen's Economic Conference." Tsai Ing-wen blasted the government. She said "Taiwan's economic vitality and industrial competitiveness are increasingly on the wane." She said "government policies are out of touch with economic reality." She said "Taiwan's economic growth model and economic decision-making model cannot keep up with the times." That is why the DPP must address several major issues, including its "choice of core values and economic development goals," its "choice of economic growth mode," and the "balanced development of globalization and cross-strait relations." Alas, after holding forth all day, Tsai Ing-wen failed to say just how the DPP would implement a new economic growth model, one that was "innovation-oriented, export and domestic demand-oriented, that links employment, wages, wage equity, and the public welfare." Even the pro-green media criticized Tsai Ing-wen, saying that she was merely building castles in the air, and lacked any real policy prescriptions. Today, after the "Wrath of Tsai Ing-wen," the responsibility to consider policy appears to have fallen onto the DPP's collective shoulders. We truly doubt that a "water spinach" party chairman and a gaggle of legislators contemptuous of fiscal issues, can ever offer up a "new model of economic development."

Tsai Ing-wen also revealed shocking ignorance about issues other than economics. Recently the right-wing, pro-Japanese World United Formosans for Independence (WUFI) convened a seminar entitled "U.S. Return to Asia and Asia-Pacific Regional Security." Tsai Ing-wen was invited to speak. The media focused her proposal that Taiwan establish a new mode of interaction with the Chinese mainland. In fact, Tsai Ing-wen did not say anything she hadn't said many times before. She presented nothing new. The Mainland publicly criticized her assertion that "Once the DPP returns to power, the Mainland will automatically adjust its policies." She failed to offer any concrete suggestions as to how Taiwan could interact with the Chinese mainland in a new way. She still could not shake off the "water spinach" (hollow stalks with nothing at the center) label.

Another issue was even more controversial. In order to underscore the DPP's advocacy of "democracy, freedom, justice, and connecting with the world," and highlight Taiwan's geo-strategic position, Tsai Ing-wen quoted Douglas MacArthur's Cold War era remark about "unsinkable aircraft carriers." As we all know, the "unsinkable aircraft carrier" remark was a product of the Cold War. The United States and Japan see Taiwan as the first island chain by which they can "contain" Mainland China. The so-called "first island chain" is part of a US-Japan effort to prevent the Mainland from accessing blue water and adopting a blue water naval strategy.

Tsai Ing-wen lauded the Japanese government's collective self-defense as "positive." She sang an old Cold War tune, and attempted to bind Taiwan to the US-Japan security system. Politically speaking, this was bothwrong and dangerous. If this is how Tsai Ing-wen thinks, how can she possibly establish mutual trust with the Mainland? How can she possibly "seek to establish a new mode of interaction and communication with the other side, in order to ensure a peaceful and stable cross-Strait relationship?"

Whether the subject is cross-Strait mutual trust or fiscal policy, Tsai Ing-wen is far from a "quasi-ruling party leader." How can voters possibly trust a changeable "quasi-ruling party" only capable of building castles in the air? They would just as soon not.

社論－蔡英文發怒了
2014年09月18日 04:11
本報訊

蔡英文這次發怒，是為了民進黨沒有努力擺脫反商形象。日前民進黨召開立法院新會期首場「重大議題協調會報」，蔡英文措詞嚴厲地下達軍令，要求民進黨立法院黨團成立「財經立法議題研議十人小組」，加速推出「福國利民」的財經法案，希望扭轉外界對於民進黨「反商」的刻板印象，替2016年重返執政作好準備。

「重大議題協調會報」是民進黨每周召開一次的重要會議，由智庫幕僚、黨團幹部、中央黨部相關主管與會，必要時還會擴大召開，邀黨籍縣市首長參與。蔡英文在這次會議上表明，既然花時間開會，「就不該只是聊表形式」。

「蔡英文之怒」，凸顯了民進黨對財經議題的忽略，實在讓人怵目驚心。原來，這場會報目標在討論立法院新會期的優先法案和相關攻防部署，沒想到蔡英文到場之後，才發現民進黨規畫的優先法案中未見重大財經法案，這當然不是疏漏，只是顯示了民進黨團志在鬥爭，無意福國利民的慣性。

另一方面，「蔡英文之怒」也透露一個重要訊息，那就是民進黨對於自由經濟示範區議題，仍將採取「嚴格審查」、「提出具體修法版本」的有條件支持路線，只不過強調要發展策略經濟或者策略性產業。我們知道，太陽花學運前後成立的諸多所謂公民團體，正摩拳擦掌準備杯葛自由經濟示範區，蔡英文主政下的民進黨，為了導正反商形象，對示範區議題勢必不會進行焦土抗戰，民進黨跟公民團體的關係會如何互動、如何發展，是否會牽動新政團、新政黨的出現，都值得密切觀察。

根據媒體報導，蔡英文在會報中說，民進黨給外界的印象不能只有公民參與、弱勢關懷，還要是個「準執政黨」，然而從這樣的表現看來，民進黨不但扮演不了「準執政黨」，連稱職的「反對黨」都未必做得好。仍以自由經濟示範區為例，國民黨方面是從年初即公布相關法案政策的內容，民進黨卻直到8月才提出對策，而且內容仍是「逢中必反」、保護主義等保守心態下的產物，如此的版本又如何能說服大眾呢？

事實上，蔡英文自己正是民進黨問題的根源之一。上個月底，民進黨舉辦首場公民經濟會議，蔡英文嚴詞批判「台灣的經濟活力和產業競爭力是在日益衰退中」，指責「政府政策和經濟的現實也是脫節的」，她強調說「台灣經濟成長的模式和經濟決策的模式都跟不上時代的潮流」，所以民進黨要同時處理幾大議題，包括「經濟發展核心價值和目標的抉擇」、「經濟成長模式的抉擇」和「全球化與兩岸關係平衡發展。」然而，蔡英文漂亮話說了半天，卻說不清楚民進黨要如何型塑「以創新為導向，兼顧出口及內需，連結就業、薪資、所得分配跟人民生活福祉的新經濟成長模式」。連親綠媒體都批評蔡英文只有飄在雲端的口號，沒有實質的政策。如今，在「蔡英文之怒」後，提出論述和政策的責任似乎落到民進黨團肩上。我們實在懷疑，一位空心菜黨主席，一群漠視財經議題的立委，又能提出怎樣的民進黨版「經濟發展新模式」？

在經濟問題之外，蔡英文見識淺薄也令人驚訝。日前，親日本右翼的台灣安保協會舉辦「美國重返亞洲及亞太區域安全」研討會，蔡英文應邀致詞。蔡英文當天的言論，媒體聚焦在要與中國大陸建立全新互動模式的主張。蔡英文類似的談話，其實已經說了多次，這次並無新意，尤其在大陸公開批判她所謂「民進黨重新執政後，大陸就會自動調整」的說法後，她仍然提不出如何與中國大陸建立互動模式的具體作為，仍未能擺脫「空心」之譏。

更可議的是，蔡英文為了強調民進黨「以民主、自由、公義價值連結世界」的主張，引用了麥克阿瑟在冷戰時期的名言「台灣是不沉的航空母艦」，希望凸顯台灣的地緣戰略位置。大家都清楚，「不沉航空母艦說」是冷戰時期的產物，背景是美日將台灣視為圍堵中國大陸之第一島鏈，所謂「第一島鏈」正是美日防堵中共走向深水、走向遠洋的戰略謀畫。

蔡英文一方面讚許日本政府將集體自衛權解禁是「積極」的，一方面重提冷戰時的老調，企圖把台灣綁進美日的安保體制，在政治上絕對是錯誤而危險的。這種思維下的蔡英文，當然不可能真正和大陸建立互信，也不可能做到「努力和對岸建立全新的互動及溝通的模式，以實踐和平穩定發展的兩岸互動的關係。」

從財經議題到兩岸互信，蔡英文離「準執政黨領袖」的格局還很遠，又怎可能帶領蛻變為選民信賴的「準執政黨」？這種飄在雲端的口號，寧可少些！