Taiwan's new govt popularity plummets
Updated
Taiwan's unemployment rate has risen to almost four-percent as the number of first-time job-seekers rose, the figures were released as President Ma Ying-jeou prepares for his first overseas trip next month since taking office.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Professor Chi-Cheng Lo, Chair of Political Science at Soochow University in Taiwan
LO: Well, he was sworn in on May 20th and now it's about only two months after this inauguration. And apparently the economy has been one of the key issues that explained his plummeting of popularity in Taiwan. And during his campaign, his major campaign slogan was things will turn better immediately, after his inauguration, but after two months, people were very disappointed by the performance so far.
LAM: Do you think the Taiwanese people perhaps might have a fairly unrealistic view of their president? It's only been two months?
LO: Well, but the thing is, candidate Ma during the campaign was very confident that he can make things going easily and quickly, but apparently with that kind of high expectation in front of people, there is no surprise that people were so disappointed right away.
LAM: And indeed, I understand that the promised economic bonanza from these new Chinese visitors, because of the direct flights from mainland China, that has not actually eventuated?
LO: But the problem is that the promise that he made was not very realistic. For instance, he said during the campaign that he will allow about 3,000 visitors per day to come to Taiwan, to travel, but for the past two or three weeks, you can only find out about less than 1,000 people everyday. So his promise were also very unrealistic.
LAM: Well the former president, Chen Shui-bian of the DPP, he failed to fix Taiwan's problems. What about his fortunes now? I understand that he has problems of his own in the courts of Taiwan?
LO: He's now facing several charges, including these defamation charges, and also some of the state fund issue that involves some of the misuse or corruption of those funds. So he has to be very busy with his own charges against him.
LAM: Tell us more about this so-called state affairs fund? Is that more to do with the bureaucratic system than outright corruption?
LO: Eh, yes and no. On one hand, according to the standard operational procedure, the state affairs fund was at the use of the president without discretion. In other words, supposedly he can use all those things at his own will, but there are also some accusations that he put the money in his own pocket, so there are corruption charges against him right now.
LAM: Returning to Ma Ying-jeou's presidency. When he was inaugurated, the people held up high hopes of raproachment with China. What do you make of reports that Taiwan and China are indeed testing the waters regarding new reunification talks?
LO: Well, President Ma has said that during his term, there will be no talks on reunification, so I don't expect to see any breakthrough round the political reconciliation between the two sides right away. But there are rooms for reconciliation on some other functionary issues, including charter flights across the Taiwan Strait and also the setting up branch office of the semi-official institutions between the two sides. But when it comes to the issue of reunification, I think it's too early to say.
LAM: And also you think China is not in a hurry to open up any kind of diplomatic space for Taiwan on the world stage?
LO: Eh, that's what I think. Before the Olympic Games, I think China will be behaving quite well in the hope that there could be positive atmosphere in that period of time. But after the Olympic Games, we are not sure whether Beijing will be willing to give more space for Taiwan.
