Facing Lin Chih-chien's "Double-Gate" Storm, Tsai Ing-wen Opts for Support and Cut-off at the Same Time
United Daily News Editorial, July 31, 2022
The controversies of DPP Taoyuan mayoral candidate Lin Chih-chien's "thesis gate" and "baseball stadium gate" raged on. Two recent actions of President Tsai Ing-wen have attracted attention: one was to summon Lin and others to the official residence for evaluation and discussion; the other was to immediately cut Lin off on her public itinerary. Tsai Ing-wen can no longer ignore the damage of Lin's double-kill "Double-Gate"; Paradoxically, the consensus at the meeting was still in favor of Lin, and no one advocated "replacing Lin." Tsai Ing-wen reiterated the importance of unity within the party. But if Tsai Ing-wen continues to tie the DPP to Lin Chih-chien, it means that Lin will kidnap Taiwan's democratic values, academic ethics, and integrity politics.
Tsai Ing-wen summoned Lin urgently to manage crisis. But after listening to Lin's report on the thesis incident, Tsai Ing-wen only asked Lin to "continue to explain to the public as based on evidence," instead of asking Lin to take the evidence to attend the National Taiwan University Examination Committee to explain fully in person; Someone in the party suggested that Lin should return his degree, observe and decide next move. In other words, although it is not difficult to determine whether the thesis is plagiarized or not, the basis for the DPP's judgment is not academic ethics and political integrity, instead, it takes chances, poises to see where the wind goes. Therefore, Tsai Ing-wen still wants to "save one person with the whole party" and is unwilling to stop the bleeding immediately. rather bet all-in to fight for a chance to turn around.
Tsai Ing-wen wanted the whole party to unite to "save private Chih-chien," but she cut Lin off with her actions. On the 29th, Tsai Ing-wen canceled the original plan to go to Longtan Longyuan Temple with Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-chan and Lin Chih-chien to pray for blessings. On the same day, Tsai Ing-wen participated in the Taoyuan Convention and Exhibition Center Beaming ceremony that Lin was absent. Tsai Ing-wen also canceled the schedule for the Chinese Professional Baseball Star Match at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium on the 31st. Compared to the enthusiasm of sharing the same stage at the opening game at Hsinchu City Baseball Stadium, now even baseball must keep a distance for a while. Tsai Ing-wen does not want to fuel the fire to the "baseball stadium gate," a mentality of not getting hands dirty with sewage is also evident.
Tsai Ing-wen is in a dilemma. The cause was sown when she confiscated democracy within the party and made arbitrary decisions on the nomination. The factions within the party are as noisy as ever, but Tsai Ing-wen has the final say; the factions are fighting for power and resources, but Tsai Ing-wen is the authoritative final distributor. Therefore, Tsai Ing-wen dotes on her "favorite boy," even when the out of the blue merger and upgrade of Great Hsinchu City caused a national uproar, she adhered to the plan. Even though mayor Cheng Wen-chan said that Lin "was not on the political map of Taoyuan.” Lin must be carried. Even anyone can see that there are serious problems with Lin's two theses, they must pretend to be asleep and talk in their sleep: “Chih-chien has worked hard!”
As Lin Chih-chien's "Double-Gate" (plagiarism and baseball stadium issues) exploded, his public image ruined, integrity impaired, and ability to govern punctured, there is a subtle difference in Tsai Ing-wen's handling of it: keep a distance from the "baseball stadium gate," and watch the wind direction for the "thesis gate." Because "the stadium gate" hurts the players, and the hearts of young fans of both the blue (the opposition) and the green ( the ruling party); as for the corruption of stadium renovations, perhaps Tsai Ing-wen believes that as long as she pretends to be asleep, the prosecutor can pretend to be blind. The "thesis gate" will not dampen the enthusiasm of the people who do not care about integrity but care about the DPP party; In particular, there is still room for political maneuver in the thesis disputes. At least it can be turned into a situation of "unbelievers remain unbelievers." Moreover. Tsai Ing-wen's own thesis experience should convince her that chicanery will win in the end.!
However, the accompanied effect of Lin Chih-chien's "Double-Gate" may cost the DPP half of the country. Without “replacing Lin," it may result in the so-called "one corpse with five lives," as expressed by DPP legislator Kao Chia-yu referring to Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Keelung, and Hsinchu; With "replacing Lin," it may result in "one corpse with three lives," referring to Lin Chih-chien, Hsinchu mayoral candidate Shen Hui-hong and Taoyuan mayor Cheng Wen-chan. Even five or three lives do not matter much, Tsai Ing-wen is not willing to be a lame duck president. At the above-mentioned official residence meeting, whether to save one person or the whole party, they were indecisive, with no idea what to do. It is not that the DPP has no other way, but it is that the party “only follows Tsai's orders." It is not that there is no alternative candidate for the DPP. The problem is who is Tsai's favorite boy?
The official residence meeting was to manage a crisis, but it failed to get out of the "double-gate" crisis. The key is that Tsai Ing-wen favors flattery, listens to only certain people's opinions, acts alone, and does not care about democracy within the party. But the people care about democratic values and social justice; The DPP put politics over academics and does not care about plagiarism, but the people care about moral integrity and academic ethics; The Tsai government returns to plutocracy and does not care about the distribution of spoils between government and business, but the people care about efficient government and clean politics!