Frank Hsieh has resigned from his job as President of the Executive Yuan:

Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian said on Tuesday he had accepted the resignation of Premier Frank Hsieh in a long-expected cabinet reshuffle after the ruling party’s crushing defeat in December local government elections.

Under Taiwan’s political system, the democratically elected president appoints the premier who forms the cabinet and runs day-to-day government. Chen is head of the military and sets policy towards China, which considers Taiwan a renegade province.

This was widely expected. Hsieh offered his resignation after the December local elections fiasco – and while it wasn’t accepted then, it was pretty common knowledge that Chen was planning a major reshuffle. Clearly he was just waiting until after the election for the DPP Chairman had finished to announce it.

Hot favourite to replace Hsieh is ex-DPP Chair Su Tseng-chang – which would prove that resigning in disgrace is a good career move in Taiwanese politics, as well as showing that nice guys can get to (nearly) the top. However, as Hsieh would testify, being made premier might not be as good an idea as you might think.

What is the point of the premier?

There was almost no reaction from the stockmarket to this announcement – because the premier wields very little actual power. The premier (who is appointed by the president) presides over the cabinet (which is appointed by the president), reports on polices (which are set by the president) to the Legislature, and countersigns laws (which are signed by the president). In other words, the premier does the work of the president. It’s worth noting that in other presidential systems (e.g. the US) and parliamentary systems (e.g. the UK), the leader of the country is also head of the cabinet. That these positions are separate in Taiwan is yet another sign of Taiwan’s defective constitution.

Whoever replaces Hsieh will be the 5th premier to serve under President Chen (President Lee also got through 5 different premiers in his time). The fact that the list of premiers under Chen includes a KMT member, and DPP members who were both allies and potential challengers to Chen’s rule – but that there have been no major policy shifts between premiers shows where the real power lies.

Update (Thursday 19th): As expected Su Tseng-chang has been nominated to replace Hsieh. Either Su was being brutally honest, or the CNA misquoted him when the announcement was made:

Su thanked the president for giving a chance to serve the country and vowed that he will let him and country folks down.