Frank Hsieh's Appointment as PremierPaves the Way for Reconciliation

After the legislative elections last December failed to meet the ruling pan-green camp's hope for a landslide, it was widely expected that there would be a cabinet reshuffle and that the premier would be replaced. Kaohsiung City mayor Frank Hsieh was a clear favorite for the post. On January 25, President Chen Shui-bian called a press conference to announce that he had picked the hugely popular Hsieh as premier.

A local hero makes good

Like Yu Shyi-kun, who earned a name for himself as Ilan County commissioner (where he promoted the "Ilan experience," including cleaning up the Tungshan River and other key projects), Frank Hsieh was catapulted to a top government post thanks to his achievements in local government. Hsieh's appointment also dovetails nicely with the DDP's plans in recent years to train senior local politicians to take on central government posts.

Frank Hsieh was born in 1946, and like many of Taiwan's top politicians he is a graduate of National Taiwan University's law department. After the DPP lost the 1996 presidential election, during which he was running-mate to the pro-independence candidate Peng Ming-min, Hsieh returned to Kaohsiung as the city's mayor. The linchpin of Hsieh's administration was "citizen empowerment." Thanks to this policy the people of southern Taiwan came to feel proud of Kaohsiung. Both as a major port city and an illustrious ancestral hometown, Kaohsiung became a better environment to live in. Under Hsieh's leadership, Kaohsiung's citizens deepened their identification with their city, which lost its some of its rough edges and became palpably gentler. Given his popularity, Hsieh's appointment to the premiership came as no surprise.

Whether Hsieh's appointment to the premiership will affect the DPP's prospects for the 2008 presidential election is another hotly debated political issue in Taiwan. Frank Hsieh has almost three decades of experience as a legislator, running a city, and doing party work for the DPP. As he has both competed against and collaborated with Chen Shui-bian in the past, people are naturally talking about how well the two will work together in the coming years. Hsieh's appointment to the premiership is also bound to reignite the debate over the respective division of powers in the presidential and cabinet systems of government. It is also interesting that with Su Tseng-chang as DPP chairman, this government reshuffle puts lawyers who assisted the victims of the Kaohsiung Incident in control of the ruling party, the Office of the President, and the Executive Yuan. The Kaohsiung Incident generation seems to have taken over the entire Taiwanese government.

Finessing a stable cabinet

Finding the right vice-premier was not easy. Initially, Hsieh chose the KMT's Chiang Pin-kun, a former vice-speaker of the Legislative Yuan, because he has a strong background in finance and economics and would be able facilitate cooperation with the opposition, which is what the Taiwanese public expects from the premier.

But the Hsieh-Chiang partnership so many people hoped to see failed to materialize. Because the KMT insisted on party-to-party negotiations instead of a private invitation, Chiang Pin-kun tactfully declined Frank Hsieh's offer to join his team. Hsieh immediately appointed the renowned economist and president of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research Wu Rong-i as vice-premier. Premier Hsieh commented that Wu "has a keen grasp of Taiwan's economy, an international perspective, and a demonstrated capacity to harmonize and coordinate." Wu Rong-i's appointment wraps up the cabinet reshuffle.

Sensitive to the need to leave himself room for maneuver, preserve the possibility of working with the opposition, and prepare for the county commissioner and city mayoral elections at the end of the year, Frank Hsieh says that this cabinet reshuffle is simply a minor readjustment. Former vice-premier Yeh Chu-lan has been appointed a presidential advisor; Morley Shih replaces Chen Ding-nan as minister of justice; and Hou Sheng-mou, vice-minister of the Department of Health, replaces Chen Chien-jen as the minister.

Waiting for a breakthrough

From the start, the new cabinet's style has been one of open-minded reconciliation. As mayor of Kaohsiung, Frank Hsieh distinguished himself for his expansive working style, which won him friends all around. Now that he is premier, he speaks with pride of the "communication cabinet" and "stable cabinet." It is widely thought that the current antagonism between the governing party and the opposition has caused a degree of stagnation. Cross-strait relations also remain tense and confrontational. The hope that Premier Frank Hsieh will bring about stability and reconciliation with the mainland is the main reason he won President Chen Shui-bian's favor. But Hsieh still has to clear many hurdles to reconcile conflicting ideas, achieve a consensus, and harmonize the aspirations of the people of Taiwan.

Although Frank Hsieh enjoys popular confidence, as premier he will have to fight many hard battles. To begin with, when the new legislative session opens on February 25, the ruling party will remain in a weak position and the opposition in a strong one. Given that in the short term, the opposition alliance is likely to retain a majority of seats in the Legislative Yuan, will the pan-green camp be able to shift the focus of debate and win the support of other party factions and legislative committees? The central government's proposed budget for this year suffered huge cuts, and it remains to be seen whether the government will be able to do its job. As the Chinese saying goes, "even the cleverest housewife can't cook a meal without rice." Premier Hsieh will need every ounce of wisdom he possesses to meet the challenge.

The first thing Frank Hsieh did as premier was to put forward five major bills designed to bolster the National Health Insurance (NHI) system's finances (with amendments to the National Health Insurance Act and the Tobacco Hazards Control Act), finance a revised arms procurement package, restructure the Executive Yuan, revise the rules of operation of the Legislative Yuan, and revise the special statute for the 2008 Taiwan Expo. These five priority bills will be the touchstones of cooperation between the government and the opposition.

While state coffers continue to shrink, in March the government will face the problem of how to raise funds to finance the NHI program. Time is pressing and the rights and interests of the people of Taiwan are at stake. The NHI reform bill proposes to broaden sources of income by raising "health taxes" on tobacco products, raising air pollution fees, and requiring those responsible for public disasters, food poisoning, and major traffic accidents to pay the medical expenses of the victims. It is hoped that these measures will save the NHI system.

After the fiercely contested legislative election campaign last December, the KMT, People First Party (PFP), and the New Party, which comprise the pan-blue camp, failed to form the closer alliance many people had expected. On the contrary, PFP chairman James Soong first met with President Chen Shui-bian. Whether the green camp and the PFP will be able to cooperate to bring the blue camp down a notch or two will have a far-reaching impact on Taiwanese politics. KMT chairman Lien Chan has hinted that after August, legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng and Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou will vie for the chairmanship of the KMT. It will be worth watching whether this internal party race will change the balance of power within the pan-blue camp.

Following last year's presidential and legislative elections, the sharp standoff between the ruling and opposition camps is beginning to ease. Frank Hsieh's appointment as premier has raised expectations among the people of Taiwan. The international, cross-strait, and domestic political landscapes are likely to remain volatile in the future. Premier Hsieh bears a heavy responsibility and deserves the support and assistance of the people of Taiwan.