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Taiwan’s UK office to
explain Ma policies
WORDS OF WISDOM In response to the ‘Economist’
describing Ma Ying-jeou as a ‘bumbler,’ Sean Chen said the weekly never liked to
portray countries too positively
Staff writer, with CNA
Taiwan’s representative office in the UK will explain President Ma Ying-jeou’s
(馬英九) policies to London-based weekly the Economist, which recently published an
article that called Ma an “ineffectual bumbler,” an official said yesterday.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Steve Hsia (夏季昌) said the office would use
“appropriate ways” to explain Ma’s policies.
He said countries worldwide are plagued by sluggish economies, and while
acknowledging that the government has room for improvement, he said a broader
approach should be taken in judging Ma’s performance as president.
Under Ma’s administration, “we have made considerable headway in other areas,”
such as the establishment of a stable relationship between Taiwan and China, and
Taiwan’s improved ties with the US and the EU, Hsia said.
In its latest edition, the Economist ran an article that said satisfaction with
Ma, who was re-elected in January, has plummeted to 13 percent in a poll
conducted by the TVBS poll center.
“The country appears to agree on one thing: Mr Ma is an ineffectual bumbler,”
the article said, citing salaries that have stagnated for a decade and what it
called Ma’s failure to paint a more hopeful future for Taiwan’s export-reliant
economy.
Presidential Office spokesman Fan Chiang Tai-chi (范姜泰基) said Taiwan is facing
challenges amid a stagnant global economy and pledged that the Ma administration
will continue to make efforts to steer Taiwan through its current difficulties.
The nation’s recent improvement in terms of economic indicators showed that
government efforts to boost the domestic economy are beginning to bear fruit,
Fan Chiang said.
Meanwhile, Premier Sean Chen also commented on the article and ensuing barrage
of criticism.
At a 50th anniversary event for China Grain Products Research and Development
Institute yesterday, Chen said he was a long-time reader of the Economist and
that it never showed a positive bias when speaking of nations and their
governments.
He said the article shows the magazine probably does not understand the
situation in Taiwan and that the Executive Yuan must clarify matters.
For example, the Economist mentioned the growing number of families living below
the poverty line, but only saw statistics and may not really know what the
government had done to take care of vulnerable groups, he said.
The government boosted provision for vulnerable groups by amending the Social
Assistance Act (社會救助法) last year, he said, adding that because the poverty line
has been raised by loosening its definition, of course the number of people
living in poverty appears to have increased.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said the report
had damaged the image of the president and Taiwan.
He said the public, including the DPP, wanted to help Ma and the country, hoping
that the president would agree to a national affairs conference to tackle
problems.
Additional reporting by Lee I-chia and Rich Chang
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