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More credit deserved
for Chen years, panelists say
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) deserves more credit for its economic
performance during the eight years it was in power, and the common perception
that it is less capable of managing economic affairs is wrong, panelists told a
seminar yesterday.
The panel discussion was the first of four weekly installments bringing together
academics and former government officials to thoroughly review the
administration’s performance in 17 policy areas from 2000 to 2008.
Citing various statistics to draw a comparison between the DPP and the Chinese
Nationalist Party (KMT), former Council of Economic Planning and Development
minister Chen Po-chih (陳博志) said that although the DPP had outperformed the
current administration, it had a hard time convincing people of its ability to
manage economic issues better than the KMT.
Almost all economic data, including data on GDP, the unemployment rate, export
volumes and income growth, indicated that the DPP administration had fared
better than President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) KMT administration, Chen said.
“The KMT has created a false perception among voters. Moreover, the KMT has also
portrayed the DPP’s policies as ‘closed off,’ in particular with regards to
China,” Chen said.
While the KMT has labeled the DPP as “anti-free trade” and advocated a
free-trade approach, Chen said the DPP supported free trade with a certain
degree of regulation because an unrestricted free-trade system would not
necessarily serve the nation’s best interests.
Former minister of economic affairs Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥) said the DPP’s economic
policy had two defining characteristics — a hedging policy of promoting global
investment rather than “putting all its eggs in the one basket,” meaning China,
and a quick response to industry needs via coordinated interagency
collaboration.
However, the DPP could not have done everything right while in power as former
vice premier Lin Hsin-i (林信義), who made a keynote speech before the panel
discussion, said the party would be well-advised to conduct a fundamental and
comprehensive study of local industries to be better able to cater to
businesspeople’s needs if the party returns to power.
Lin, a business executive-turned-politician, said the DPP should also improve
its communication skills to better explain its policies to voters.
Hsieh Chin-ho (謝金河), executive director of the Chinese-language monthly Wealth
Magazine, agreed with Lin, saying that the party should clearly articulate its
positions, in particular on cross-strait economic relations.
Hsieh said the DPP should also improve its agenda-setting in the areas of tax
and banking reform as well as recognize the changing dynamics in the age of the
Internet.
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