In Meeting with Business Executives, Did President Tsai Miss the Point？
The Storm Media Editorial, March 1, 2023
The business community recently paid a visit to President Tsai Ing-wen. The president stated that she would support businesses as they transition to smart automation and low-carbon operations and serve as the best advocate backing enterprise. President Tsai’s generous promise of support to industry should make business leaders feel extremely grateful. However, those who truly understand the policy suggestions provided by the business community to the government in recent years will probably cast doubt: President Tsai, are you missing the point?
Almost every year, the president meets several times with commercial and industry associations. For the business community, this is an opportunity to make suggestions to the top level of the government, reflect their problems, and even request assistance. And for the president, it is to express her concern for the economy and the business community. However, in the long run, it can easily become a ceremonial occasion where the two sides may even talk past each other. The current situation is somewhat similar to this.
Business leaders repeatedly reflect the existing old issues, ranging from international economic and trade predicaments, cross-strait relations, energy policies, to net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. Except for net-zero emissions, almost all of these issues have been raised time and again since President Tsai took office. Slowly seven years have passed, every issue remains the same. In response to the business community's grave concern about power shortages and the need to consider the option of nuclear power, President Tsai stated adamantly that under the control of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), there will be no power shortages. This fully demonstrates President Tsai's confidence in the MOEA, but frankly speaking, it begs the question: From where does the president's confidence come?
This is the same MOEA that caused Taiwan’s repeated power outages and critically low backup power capacity rates; managed to commit to the highest guaranteed purchase price of green power in the world but still see the slowest development progress; confessed to the society the goal of 20 percent green power in 2025 is unattainable, and stealthily lowered the power voltage in response to power shortage, thus greatly increasing the number of power outages in smaller areas. This exact MOEA incurred a loss of US$18.2 billion in the power generation business in merely two years.
With such an incompetent MOEA, when the business community raises the power supply problems to the president, she should dare to ask people to believe wholeheartedly that under the control of the MOEA, there will be no power shortage. Isn't the president, instead of being the best backer, "making things difficult for the business community"?
On the issue of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions, President Tsai’s seemingly ceremonial statement of support actually has shown that she deliberately ignores the point of concern. When business community raises issues such as net-zero emissions, it is not a request for government support, instead, it means to beat around the bush to criticize the government's unreliable energy policies, as lurking beneath the flip side of the issue of carbon reduction is indeed a grave concern about energy supply.
Global carbon reduction and the pursuit of net-zero carbon emissions are meant to respond to the issue of global warming. The largest source of carbon emissions is thermal power generation. This is why the removal of coal-fired power, the reduction in reduced consumption of fossil fuels, such as oil, coal, and natural gas, and theincreased proportion of clean and sustainable energy production in production has become the focus of carbon reduction policies in various countries. Developed countries even jointly exert pressure to make China promise not to export “coal-fired power plants." Several European countries have set a timetable to do away with all coal-fired power plants. Therefore, the problem of net-zero emissions is actually an issue of energy supply.
The business community is concerned about the issue of carbon emissions, mainly because Europe and the United States will gradually begin to impose carbon tariffs as early as October 2023. Although the initial stage is mainly for industries with high emissions, it is expected that carbon emissions of enterprises and products will be assessed in succession. For example, if a company uses green energy for its production, carbon emissions will of course be low. If it uses coal-fired power, carbon emissions will be much higher. However, a company's energy consumption and associated carbon emission are obviously not under the control of the company, but by the state-owned Taiwan Power Company, and in turn by the government.
In terms of the current energy policy, after the abolishment of nuclear power, the proportion of green power usage can only reach slightly more than 10 percent, which means that more than 80 percent of the electricity comes from thermal power generation. Whether it is consumption of coal or natural gas, the emissions are much higher and air pollution more severe than that of nuclear power. With such a power supply structure, it may be difficult for Taiwan to avoid carbon tariffs.
Therefore, when the business community talked about the issue of net-zero carbon emissions, from a certain point of view, it was an indirect request to the government to use nuclear power again, but it only ended up with President Tsai boasting of "the government's determination to promote net-zero emissions" and promising to support the industry. She is obviously shirking her duty (e.g. once asked the issue of carbon reduction commitment, she said that would be the responsibility of the next administration) and completely ignores the serious problems of the government. Taiwan’s carbon reduction performance in the past few years has been ranked at the bottom in the international appraisal. Obviously, the officials are guilty of a dereliction of duty in this regard, which has led to the president’s self-complacency.
As for other issues, both sides were simply not on the same page. Taiwan’s international economic and trade predicaments, about which the business community is worried, actually involves Taiwan’s marginalization that has worsened with the inception of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) (of which Taiwan is not a part) last year. It will also make Taiwan's exports and industrial structure more concentrated in technology and electronics, which are free from RCEP constraint, thereby leaving both Taiwan’s industrial balance and income distribution to further deteriorate.
But the president and officials are obviously very indifferent to this situation, let alone the worsening cross-strait relations. It is worth thinking about how much real impact and significance this kind of meeting and communications between the business community and the president have on relevant policies, Taiwan’s economy, and the people's livelihood.