The Taiwan provincial government is one of those relics of the the Republic of China which Taiwan doesn’t seem to be able to quite get rid of (a bit like their claim to be the rightful ruler of Mongolia). Its powers were slashed in the 1990s by Lee Teng-hui (much to the disgust of his good friend then-provincial-governor James Soong), and today it has almost no power. So it is no surprise to hear a couple of legislators calling for it to be formally abolished.
What is surprising is that it isn’t pan-Green politicians (who normally jump at any chance to weaken the ties to the concept of China) calling for this – but two of their pro-China KMT colleagues:
Two lawmakers of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) called Monday for the termination of the Taiwan Provincial Government (TPG) and the Taiwan Provincial Consultative Council in order to save taxpayers’ money.
Given that the provincial government is a useless reminder of Taiwan’s links to China which is also a waste of money, you might wonder why the DPP hasn’t abolished it already. The KMT legislators certainly have their suspicions …
Lin questioned the way the members of the TPG and the council are appointed by the Executive Yuan, saying they are invariably former city and county chiefs or legislators. “For the sake of the taxpayers’ money, the two organizations obviously have to be terminated,” he said.
The DPP wouldn’t be putting “Jobs for the boys” ahead of its principles would it?
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I dig the new look, man. Tres chic.
Another way to look at the situation: this move is part of a continued effort to effectively strip the DPP of any of its remaining authority it has outside of the Executive Yuan. The pan-blue camp has been mighty successful at neutering the Control Yuan, why not start chipping away at the DPP’s control of a recognize source of patronage to local leaders? Also, the move makes the KMT appear economically pragmatic (“save taxpayer dollars”) and less attached to the old “retake the mainland” mentality that the provincial government brings to people’s minds.
Remember that DPP in fact tried to disband the Provincial Government during A-Bian’s first term, and was prevented from doing so by the pan-Blue caucus. They have lately shown great talent in recycling failed DPP initiatives and repackaging them as their own.
Fair points, both.
I find the KMT efforts to move power from the president to the legislature rather amusing – I’ll be pissing myself with laughter if we get a KMT president and DPP legislature in a couple of years …
Getting rid of the provincial government does make sense though – and I am surprised that the DPP hasn’t been pushing harder for it.