[quote]
goldsea.com/Asiagate/606/01taiwan.html
Taiwan’s president announced Thursday that he was limiting his authority, handing over some powers to the country’s premier in the wake of a series of scandals, officials said. [/quote]
Does this actually mean anything or is it one of those symbolic gestures meant to appease the public.
You forgot to add that he will be keeping his word. 
No this man is talking to appease the public, and save face for the DPP, and his family. But even Ray Charles can see it’s a sham.
The only word I would like to hear is “RESIGNATION”. Saving face for the DPP, or giving power to the KMT… up to him.
Now hold on a second. What CSB basically said was, besides constitutionally granted executive authority, he would refrain from exercising authority over the cabinet and the DPP that the premier and the party chairman should have had to begin with! It means he has been exercising extra-constitutional authority prior to this.
What I find amusing is Chen Shui-bian’s comment that his heart felt heavy, and he had gone through some “deep introspection”.
How many times has he gone through deep introspection over the past year or so…? Isn’t that what happened after the elections last fall, when he disappeared for 6 weeks before appearing in public again? Let’s hope this period of introspection works out better than the last one.
Can we really say that Chen was exercising “extraconstitutional power?” The remark goes to the heart of the fundamental problems with the ROC Constitution and its weak presidency. This is going to happen again and again, because the legislature has too much power and the executive too little, and what it has is not well-defined. Nor is the judiciary independent enough. The ROC government was simply never meant to be operated as an actual government; it was just the exoskeleton of a one-party state run by authoritarian rule.
What Taiwan needs to do is get rid of either the position of President or Premier, streamline the executive, and redefine its powers and privileges so that clear lines of authority are established. At the moment Chen is in the unenviable position of having all of the responsibiltiy and none of the power.
Vorkosigan
Those are good points.
Of course, for the “pan purple” camp, having a no power all responsability DPP president is like topping in a ice cream. This way they can do whatever they want.
And for those who are dissatisfied with CSB for not being able to push reforms, let us remind that most of them have to go to the Legislative Yuan, where the opposition holds power, and basically, blocks everything they see is against the “status quo” (not the one with China, but the one in Taiwan). And anything that goes against it, goes against them (as they where the ones who installed it).
[quote=“Vorkosigan”]Can we really say that Chen was exercising “extraconstitutional power?” The remark goes to the heart of the fundamental problems with the ROC Constitution and its weak presidency. This is going to happen again and again, because the legislature has too much power and the executive too little, and what it has is not well-defined. Nor is the judiciary independent enough. The ROC government was simply never meant to be operated as an actual government; it was just the exoskeleton of a one-party state run by authoritarian rule.
[/quote]
While I certainly agree that there are fundamental problems with the ROC constitution, I don’t think that the legislature has too much power. It is true that the central story of Taiwanese democracy has been the increasing power of the legislature. But in practice, the executive branch is far more powerful. The weakest branch is the judiciary, which is still timid and conservative.
[quote]
What Taiwan needs to do is get rid of either the position of President or Premier, streamline the executive, and redefine its powers and privileges so that clear lines of authority are established. At the moment Chen is in the unenviable position of having all of the responsibiltiy and none of the power.
Vorkosigan[/quote]
Hear! Hear! But actually the president is the guy with all the power and none of the responsibility. The premier, on the other hand, has no power but lots of responsibility. That’s why we get a new premier almost every year.
Feiren, isn’t up to the the LY to make all the big bills? Aren’t there so many bills waiting there to be passed that makes any reform impossible?
[quote=“Feiren”]
While I certainly agree that there are fundamental problems with the ROC constitution, I don’t think that the legislature has too much power. It is true that the central story of Taiwanese democracy has been the increasing power of the legislature. But in practice, the executive branch is far more powerful.[/quote]
That’s historically been true, but I think that is not because the Presidency itself is powerful, but because the President was also the Chairman of the ruling party, from which he drew his real power and authority, and which had clear power to move the governmental apparatus. That is what I mean by the government being the exoskeleton of the authoritarian state. Chen tried that his first couple of years in office, but it didn’t work because the DPP isn’t an authoritarian party and doesn’t have one-party rule.
Yep.
Yeah, that position is the kiss of death…
Vorkosigan
I’m not ready to accept that there’s a structural problem between the executive and legislative branches. Or at least, not one severe enough to explain the impasse in Taiwan.
It seems to me the Taiwanese system is working exactly as it was designed, so far. The executive branch consists of an administration elected in 2004 that leans strongly in one direction. The legislative branch was elected in the follow year, and consists of an opposition majority. Obviously, law-making should only be possible when the two sides are able to compromise.
I’m struggling to think of any rebalanced structure that could reserve the fact that the Blues/Greens are fundamentally opposed on key issues.
Basically the infrastructure has been only used effectively by 1 party rule. So one problem is the society has not been educated well enough on compromising. It goes back to my argument that democracy was introduced too quickly or not in a controlled manner on Taiwan.
With Reagan breathing down the neck of CJG to “free” Taiwan society or else, what were people expecting…A utopian government to magically spring up this side of the Strait.
Well, I wasn’t really offering it as a global explanation. But I think it would be nice to get beyond blaming Chen for everything from rising global temperatures to falling sperm counts. There are some features of the ROC constitution that cause problems as well.
[quote]It seems to me the Taiwanese system is working exactly as it was designed, so far. The executive branch consists of an administration elected in 2004 that leans strongly in one direction. The legislative branch was elected in the follow year, and consists of an opposition majority. Obviously, law-making should only be possible when the two sides are able to compromise.
I’m struggling to think of any rebalanced structure that could reserve the fact that the Blues/Greens are fundamentally opposed on key issues.[/quote]
True enough.
Vorkosigan
How do you introduce democracy in a “controlled manner?”
I agree. The KMT fought the introduction of democracy in Taiwan and had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. So the result is what we see today – a populace educated in the habits of authoritarian thinking, clan- and faction-based politics, institutionalized corruption, and no idea of civic culture. I never expected the Chen Administration to be very clean. But I do expect a long, slow, forward evolution, and I think we’re seeing it. Reform is still needed in many areas, and the Chen Administration can’t do it without the legislatures help.
Vorkosigan
Has any other country president in history ever done this, given up power in mid term?
There are many, many presidents that have given up power more fully than CSB… either by resigning fully, or at least calling early elections when their own position had become impossible.
I’m still not sure what CSB has actually done, other than fire a few advisors.
[quote=“cctang”]There are many, many presidents that have given up power more fully than CSB… either by resigning fully, or at least calling early elections when their own position had become impossible.
I’m still not sure what CSB has actually done, other than fire a few advisors.[/quote]
Can you show examples? Where? Who?
That’d be such an incredibly long list, especially if we include those who call early elections.
I’ll just give you one obvious name for a resigned president: US President Richard M. Nixon.
If anyone has doubts about the non civic country they are in, just go out for a walk - everyone does what is on their mind, not caring a damn thing about others - starting in traffic to housing to whatever you want. It seams the populace here is only caring about themselves, and if they have to leave some dead bodies behind they will.
About what CSB did, well, I approve and would expect Ma to stop saying bullshit about the government when he should be taking care of the city of Taipei. For anyone who cannot read what CSB ment, he said clearly that he will stop doing things that are not prohibited to him (campaigning for elections or whatever). He will be a non-aligned president from now on (and that should be from the start what he should have been) as in so many countries in the world.
What he said, clearly, is that now (as it was allready) who has power is the Premier, so any complaints should go to him. CSB is clearly a case of a person without power and with all the responsability (maybe because he is an easy target).