A legacy of lost hopes in Taiwan
'He blew it,' one analyst says of President Chen Shui-bian, a sentiment echoed across the island and beyond as the vote to replace him nears.
HSICHUANG, TAIWAN — A few yards from the four-room house where President Chen Shui-bian grew up, a life-size cutout leans against a wall. Tourists used to arrive in droves and have their photo taken with the "president," earning neighbors a steady income. These days the visitors are largely gone, the prop weather-worn and seemingly forgotten.
"We haven't had any real business in years," said Chen, a 60-year-old retiree and distant relative with silver teeth and a pink shirt, who declined to give her first name. "Interest is gone, and people aren't coming around much anymore."
As President Chen prepares to step down after the March 22 election, he leaves a legacy of broken dreams and missed opportunities, an eight-year rule marked by particularly tense relations with China, strained links with Washington, a limping economy and a battered bureaucracy.
"Taiwan has paid a very high price for what happened in the past eight years," said Tang Fei, Chen's first prime minister, who left the administration after five months over differences in energy policy. "Everyone has advantages and disadvantages, but I have a difficult time finding positive things to say about him."
Frank Hsieh, Chen's colleague in the ruling and generally pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, next month faces off against the more pro-Beijing Nationalist candidate Ma Ying-jeou in the race for president.
Analysts say Chen's weak record and continued maneuvering have hurt Hsieh's prospects.
Chen, 57, was the first opposition candidate to win election after decades of rule by the Nationalists, viewed by many as corrupt and authoritarian. As such, he faced a polarized public, uncooperative legislature and biased bureaucracy.
Yet even supporters criticize his impetuous style, capped in later years by his entanglement in corruption scandals. "I think society misjudges him," said Antonio Chiang, a former presidential aide. "But he surrounded himself with people who worshiped him and cheered him on, even when he approached the cliff."
In 2000, even Chen didn't expect to win, insiders say, his narrow victory made possible only by a divided opposition.
Four years later, his prospects equally grim, Chen was reelected with the aid of sympathy votes after an eleventh-hour assassination attempt. The timing was so fortuitous that opponents accused him of staging the attack.
- President Is Elected Head of Ruling Party Apr 21, 2002
- President Resigns as Party Leader Mar 24, 2000
- 3,000 Protest Taiwan's Presidential Election May 16, 2004
