A Tsai Ing-wen Surrender to Deep Greens Would Spell Disaster for Taiwan

A Tsai Ing-wen Surrender to Deep Greens Would Spell Disaster for Taiwan 
China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC) 
A Translation 
September 19, 2016

Executive Summary: Deep greens provide Tsai Ing-wen's core support. Her policy path and personnel appointments must bow to these considerations. But surely one must draw the line somewhere. Can she hold the line on Lin Chuan?  This may show just how far President Tsai Ing-wen is willing to accommodate deep green forces. Peng is another matter. Allow us to be blunt. If Tsai Ing-wen bows before deep green forces and pro-green talking heads; if she replaces Peng, her government will experience an across the board crisis of confidence.

Full Text Below:

After many days of harsh attacks by green camp legislators, Central News Agency Chairman Chen Kuo-hsiang wrote a strongly worded letter to President Tsai, vowing to "fight to the bitter end". Nevertheless, the attacks against him continued to escalate. Before this wave of pressure began, the Chairman of the Grand Hotel resigned. Others appointments, including those for Radio Taiwan International, were also under attack. These officials supposedly enjoy tenure. They should not be affected by ruling party changes. But if they refuse to cooperate and step down, they will be besieged, smeared, and discredited. The rush for positions in the new government is on. Even the most rudimentary table manners have gone out the window. The spectacle is truly amazing

The latest wave of rumor-mongering and mud-slinging by Legislative Yuan fringe elements, intended to force certain people to resign, is even more vicious than what happened during the Chen era. In 2000, the DPP became the ruling party for the very first time. To ensure political stability, most civil service officials were temporarily retained, with the exception of political appointees. The gradual replacement of all personnel took one to two years. New political appointments were not made immediately. Continuity was not interrupted. People were indeed scrambling for official positions. But at least they had better table manners.

In particular, wave upon wave of deep green elders have been pressuring Tsai to replace Lin Chuan. To say that their deeper intentions are "abundantly clear" is a gross understatement. The Tsai government's First 100 Days report card is poor. But can all the blame be laid at Lin Chuan's feet? Cross-Strait relations are frozen. Our diplomatic options have been narrowed. Labor confrontation has intensified. Military personnel, civil servants, public school teachers, and tourism industry operators have all taken to the streets. Did all these groups take to the streets to protest the Lin Chuan cabinet? Spare us. Does Lin Chuan alone really have the wherewithal to do all this? Anyone with a modicum of common sense knows better. In today's cabinet personnel appointments, how many people can he really decide? Put bluntly, Lin Chuan's real function is to stop bullets aimed at Tsai Ing-wen.

Of course, Lin Chuan's expertise in finance and economics should be respected and his recommendations adhered to. Upon becoming Premier, his financial personnel appointments were made strictly on the basis of professional considerations, not political coloration. Therefore personnel appointments in the eight major government shareholder companies did not include green camp people.

But the “greening” of government shareholder companies was too slow for deep green forces. The ratio of greens was not high enough for them. Mega Holdings. Hua Nan Holdings, Taiwan Holdings, and other important financial holding companies all sought professionals. That insistence angered many lying in wait to snatch lucrative personnel appointments. The result is the strange phenomenon of both the green camp and the blue camp eager to force Lin Chuan to resign.

Even more absurdly, Mega Holdings' Mega Bank  violated the US Money Laundering Control Act. It was assessed heavy penalties by the US amounting to 180 million USD. This led to “Friend of Tsai” Mega Bank chairman's resignation in late March. The position remained unfilled for over four months. Many candidates vied for the position. After careful consideration by the Executive Yuan, Hua Nan Holdings CEO Hsu Kuang-hsi was appointed. He would concurrently serve as chairman of the board. But Hsu Kuang-hsi happened to be general manager during the incident in 2012. As a result he immediately became a target for green camp factions fighting over the post. The siege intensified, and spread all the way to Central Bank President Peng Huai-nan, merely because Hsu Kuang-hsi is a distant relative. This forced Hsu Kuang-shi to resign. Lin Chuan was also beaten black and blue over the matter.

Attacking Hsu Kuang-hsi was merely the pretext for an attack on Peng Huai-nan.

This son of a laborer boasts no dazzling academic credentials. He has no illustrious family background. This central bank president is a rarity among his peers the world over. He is charged with managing 9 trillion NT in assets. His personal account contains less than 700 million NT. He served under the Chen government and the Ma government, gaining trust and respect. Tsai even wanted him as her vice presidential running mate. Recently Global Finance magazine awarded him the only 13A rated central bank president in the world. Yet deep greens have locked on to this key position. They intend to use the Mega Holding political storm, to battle Peng Huai-nan and demand that he step down.

What can one say when the scramble for positions has descended to this level?

Deep greens provide Tsai Ing-wen's core support. Her policy path and personnel appointments must bow to these considerations. But surely one must draw the line somewhere. Can she hold the line on Lin Chuan?  This may show just how far President Tsai Ing-wen is willing to accommodate deep green forces. Peng is another matter. Allow us to be blunt. If Tsai Ing-wen bows before deep green forces and pro-green talking heads; if she replaces Peng, her government will experience an across the board crisis of confidence.

A leader who looks the other way when deep greens snatch political resources is of course, despicable. But a leader who allows deep green forces to direct the government, spells disaster for Taiwan.

蔡英文若向深綠低頭，台灣災難！
2016/9/19 中國時報

在連日遭綠營立委猛批後，中央通訊社董事長陳國祥日前發出公開信給蔡英文總統，措詞強硬表示「奮戰到底」！而他後續所承受的攻擊還在擴大當中。在此之前的逼退行動中，圓山飯店董事長已辭職，其他如中央廣播電台等相關人事也陷入炮火之中，這些職務本享有任期保障，不應受政黨輪替影響，但他們只要不配合讓位，就會陷入抹黑、放話、圍剿的重圍中，搶位子搶成這般急切，連最起碼的吃相都不顧了，還真是令人嘆為觀止！

講實在話，最近這一波波透過立委外圍放話、羞辱等手段，達到逼退特定人士去職的手法，較之當年的扁朝時代還要粗暴。2000年第一次政黨輪替，為維持政局穩定，除了主要政務官替換外，多數事務官乃至公營行庫人事都暫時不動，全部人事的逐步換血至少花了1、2年以上，許多政務推動也就不致於出現立即歸零或嚴重脫節的現象，那時節不是沒有出現搶位子現象，但最起碼吃相沒有這次這麼難看。

特別是最近深綠大老一波波對小英施壓，明示要撤換林全的喊話，其背後的深層用心，用「昭然若揭」來形容恐怕還是客氣了！今天小英政府百日新政的成績單不佳，帳能夠全算在林全頭上嗎？從兩岸瞬間急凍，外交空間日窄，勞資對立加劇，軍公教、觀光業者陸續上街頭，乃至後面無數還要上街抗議的團體，全都是衝著林全內閣而來的嗎？別逗了！林全一人哪來這麼大能耐？稍具政治常識的人都清楚，當今內閣人事，他能真正決定幾個人？又能真正叫得動幾個人？講得再直白一點，今天林全最大的功用，或許就只是替蔡英文擋子彈吧！

當然，林全在他專長的財經領域，應該還是有所主導與堅持的。他接任閣揆之後對金融人事，依舊相當堅持以專業為首要考量，不以顏色用人，因而八大公股行庫的人事布局並未出現綠營色彩人士。

但也因為公股法人代表綠化速度太慢，且綠化比例不高，像是兆豐金、華南金、台灣金等重要金控公司高層，林全都希望能找專業人士，也就是這樣的堅持，讓無數躲在背後準備搶食肥缺的人氣憤難平，也就出現綠營比藍營還要急著想推林全下台的奇特現象！

更誇張的是，兆豐金控旗下兆豐銀行因違反美國《防制洗錢法》，遭美國重罰1.8億美元，導致兆豐金、兆豐銀董事長蔡友才在3月底請辭，這個懸缺逾4個月的金控董座人選，角逐者甚多。政院經多方考慮後，本來拍板由華南金董座徐光曦出任，同時兼掌兆豐銀董事長。但由於徐光曦在2012年案發時恰好就是總經理，竟立即成了綠營相關派系爭食者的切入點，不僅擴大圍剿撻伐，甚至一路延燒到央行總裁彭淮南，只是因為徐光曦為央行總裁彭淮南的遠親，逼得徐光曦請辭不說，林全同樣也為此被打得滿頭包。

如果打徐光曦算是「項莊舞劍，志在沛公」，那麼所謂「沛公」指的就是彭淮南了！

這位出身工友之子，沒有亮眼的學歷、顯赫的家世，是全球少數出身基層的央行總裁，掌管9兆資產，個人存款不到700萬，歷經扁政府與馬政府，都獲得高度信任與尊崇，小英還曾想請他擔任副手！日前才在《全球金融雜誌》（Global Finance）最新公布的全球央行總裁評比中，獲得全球唯一13A級央行總裁，如今深綠陣營竟鎖定央行總裁這個大位，意圖藉著兆豐銀政治風暴，展開「倒彭大作戰」，費盡全力要把彭淮南給拉下台！

搶位子搶到這般田地，夫復何言！

可以理解，深綠是蔡英文的政治基本盤，她的施政方向與人事布局必須要買這些人的帳，但終究不能沒有任何底線！林全究竟挺不挺得住，或許是觀察蔡英文總統與深綠之間最終如何博弈與妥協的指標。但彭淮南可是另一回事，容在這裡不客氣地說，如果蔡英文最終竟不惜向深綠勢力及親綠名嘴低頭，為這個理由撤換了彭淮南，那麼她的治理危機勢將全面爆發！

一個放任深綠勢力搶食政治資源的領導者，固然讓人不齒，但若弄到讓深綠勢力主導，那就真的是台灣的災難了！