Taiwan president marks 2nd year
DEMOCRATS ENTER LOCAL POLLS WITH STRONG ECONOMY, LOW RATINGS
>> TAIPEI: Today marks the second anniversary of Tsai Ing-wen’s inauguration as the fourth democratically elected president of Taiwan.
On this day two years ago, she said the purpose of electing a new leader is to “resolve problems”.
And this is what she has committed herself to doing.
Ms Tsai has taken advantage of her initial high approval rating and legislative majority to tackle hot button issues, particularly on the domestic front.
At the top of her list of achievements is Taiwan’s economy.
Riding strong demand around the world, Taiwan saw its year-on-year growth in 2017 hit the highest point in three years, a respectable 2.86%. This year, it is projected to hold steady at 2.42%.
The island’s unemployment rate also dropped to a new low of 3.63% in January this year. As of last April, the local bourse hit 10,000 points for the 12th straight month.
Looking to the future, the Tsai administration has sought to shift the export market from a heavy dependence on China and Hong Kong by pushing a “New Southbound Policy” to develop closer ties with South and Southeast Asian countries.
In addition, Ms Tsai has proposed various initiatives to promote industries of the future in areas such as biomedical and clean energy technologies. Her goal is to achieve a nuclear-free homeland by 2025.
And looking even farther ahead, Ms Tsai has proposed initiatives to encourage population growth and immigration, skilled and white-collar workers in particular.
Ms Tsai’s efforts on the domestic front have been equally impressive, although the sensitivity of many areas addressed by her administration has caused an overall decline in personal popularity.
While recent polls show that the majority of Taiwanese are in favour of the government’s efforts to tackle long-standing domestic problems, some changes made to labour laws, public pensions and green energy, for example, have left many dissatisfied and angry.
“Simply put, Ms Tsai offends not only her party’s base supporters who think reform initiatives are not aggressive enough, but also opposition sympathisers who believe the reforms are politically motivated, and moderates who are sick and tired of the two parties,” said Tai Li-an, a prominent pollster who helps conduct polls for an online publication.
Not surprisingly, one of the larger, and ongoing, problems Ms Tsai has had to contend with is relations with China.
While Ms Tsai has done everything she promised to avoid rocking the cross-strait boat, her various goodwill gestures have gone unheeded by Beijing, which has continued to exert pressure on Taiwan both diplomatically and militarily.
While some urged Ms Tsai to change her cross-strait policy, few believe she will do so.
“It’s unrealistic to expect her to accept any principle that implies Taiwan is part of ‘One China,’ however defined,” said Denny Roy, senior fellow of the East-West Center in Hawaii.
In the meantime, Beijing continues to play the villain, “taking its campaign of squeezing Taiwan to absurd lengths in foreign countries,” Mr Roy added.
Looking ahead, Ms Tsai will continue to face pressure from China. Yet hardline tactics also risk pushing Taiwan further away from the mainland.
“Taiwan has had good reason to lean toward the United States,” said Tung Li-wen, a Taiwanese Thinktank consultant. “I don’t know what Beijing expects Taiwan to do when it closes doors, while the United States opens them”.
The outcome of this coming November’s nationwide local elections will be pivotal for Ms Tsai. If her Democratic Progressive Party has a good showing, Beijing may reconsider its Taiwan policy, while the same would be true if Ms Tsai is re-elected in 2020, Mr Tung said.
As for Ms Tsai’s declining popularity, analysts suggested it shows that she is not playing favourites as has long been the case in Taiwan politics where ruling parties reward their majority supporters. Ms Tsai would seem to be driven by the philosophy that everybody must give something for the greater good of society as a whole.
Regardless of the outcome of the upcoming elections, most believe that progress at home must continue.
Reaching internal consensus on crossstrait policy is a good way to start, Mr Roy said, with both sides respecting each other’s positions and recognising that there are two competing nationalisms at play.
With respect to addressing injustices during the authoritarian rule of Nationalist Party (KMT), Mr Roy said he would like to see less focus on retribution for past wrongs and more on cooperating to prepare for a shared future.
It is also important to foster informed public discussion and debate of important national issues, with the media leading the way, he said.