In 2000, Taiwan had its the first-ever transfer of political power as the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Chen Shui-bian was inaugurated as President of Taiwan. The victory was a success story for one of Asia’s youngest democracies. However, the peaceful transition has presented many challenges to the new administration.

The administration faced many challenges when it first took office. First, lack of administrative experience hampered the administration’s initial performance. Few DPP leaders were seasoned government officials since they were mainly occupied with pursuing democratic reforms as an opposition movement during the Kuomintang’s 50-year authoritarian rule.  Furthermore, the new government faced a civil service that was accustomed to the KMT style of leadership, presenting difficulties in executing new policy. 

Another problem after the transfer of power was the opposition parties’ sabotage of government policies. After several constitutional amendments, Taiwan has become a semi-presidential system, a system that is not quite a purely a parliamentary or a presidential system. When President Chen Shui-bian came into office, the DPP held only about one-third of the seats in the parliament. Although the DPP made major gains and became the largest party in the parliament after the parliamentary election in 2001, opposition parties still controlled a majority and continued to sabotage President Chen’s agenda, thwarting policies pushed by the government. For example, in the last legislative session, the Executive Yuan introduced 106 priority bills, of which only 17 were passed by the Legislative Yuan. Meanwhile, none of the economic bills were passed.       

Despite the administration’s early adjustment problems and political struggles, President Chen has managed to carry out effective economic, social, and political reforms. In response to the global economic slowdown and high unemployment rate in Taiwan, the President convened the Economic Development Advisory Committee in August 2001 to revitalize the economy. Several financial reform measures were implemented to combat the non-performing loan problems that plagued many Taiwanese banks. The DPP government has also strived to create a fair environment for competition by removing unfair practices and eliminating corruption in contract bidding. Furthermore, we have relaxed investment restrictions, such as those governing Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors, to allow more foreign capital investment in Taiwan. Our efforts in economic reforms have paid off as Taiwan’s growth rate is steadily rising from a negative growth rate of 2.18% in 2001 to a positive 3.6% in 2003. In addition, this year the World Economic Forum based in Switzerland rated Taiwan as one of the most competitive economies in the world, and the first in Asia. 

With regard to social reforms, the government has reduced workweek hours, increased job training programs, and provided protection for occupational hazards. The government also passed the Equal Protection Employment Act to safeguard working women’s rights.

In October, President Chen received the Human Rights Award from the New York-based International League for Human Rights in recognition of his contribution to the pursuit of democracy, freedom, and human rights. Under President Chen’s leadership, the DPP is committed to abide by international human rights conventions such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. We have also established a presidential Human Rights Advisory Committee and a cabinet-level Inter-Ministerial Committee to collaborate with local and international NGOs to create a Taiwan Bill of Rights. President Chen has also established the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy to further promote human rights and democracy around the world. 

With regard to cross-strait relations, incremental progress has been made since the administration came into office. Aside from the mini-three links between offshore islands of Taiwan and China, chartered flights during the Lunar New Year holiday facilitated the transport of Taiwanese businessmen from China back to Taiwan.  Unfortunately, China has not ceased to threaten Taiwan with force, increasing the missiles deployed across the Taiwan Strait and refusing to dialogue with the Taiwan government.  China has also utilized economic and diplomatic leverage to isolate Taiwan internationally, blocking Taiwan from participating in international organizations and preventing leaders in Taiwan from traveling. 

On the domestic political front, the DPP continues to push its agenda for reform.  In 2000 the DPP took over a government that had for decades been intertwined in an abnormal state-party-business relationship.  Inappropriately occupying state and private property, the KMT party had managed to become the world’s richest political party, with assets including real estate, radio & TV, investment banking, overseas resorts, etc. The DPP has thus made it a mission to detangle such inappropriate interests, seeking to legislate on party financing and demanding that the KMT return the assets to the public.  The DPP has proposed a series of “sunshine laws” aimed at creating transparency and accountability and combating corruption.  Unfortunately, such legislation has until now been put on hold and sabotaged in the opposition-dominated parliament.  Yet despite the difficulties in passing the new sunshine laws, the DPP government has on the implementation level made progress in combating corruption, arresting and prosecuting individuals formerly involved in corruption scandals and severely cracking down on vote-buying.  The last parliamentary election was the cleanest election in Taiwan to date.  Such efforts will undoubtedly continue throughout the upcoming election and into the future. 

The 2004 Presidential election is contested by two camps, the DPP’s President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu are challenged by the KMT’s Lien Chan as presidential candidate and the PFP’s (People First Party) James Soong as running mate.  Lien Chan and James Soong both ran for President in the year 2000 on separate tickets and have united in what is commonly known in Taiwan as the “pan-blue camp” in their effort to re-gain political power.  Current polls show that both camps are very close.   

The upcoming election is a showdown between those who are unwilling to unleash their hold on the past and those who are deepening Taiwan’s democracy. We believe this election is crucial in that the return of the old guard may downgrade what we have accomplished. Taiwan has become a symbol of democracy to other countries in Asia and around the world. The DPP stands at the heart of this democratic progress as Taiwan’s most progressive and democratic party. As such, we welcome your witness of our democratic advancement and support for the people of Taiwan and the democracy they have built.