Just two days after Tsai Ing-wen was elected the 14th President of the Republic of China (R.O.C.), the first issue the DPP put on the table was a proposal to move the Presidential Office to the south—an old idea first raised by former Vice President Annette Lu twelve years ago that eventually went nowhere.
Reviving this stale topic so immediately proves that the DPP remains the same party it was during the Chen Shui-bian era.
This move reveals to the public that for the DPP, the most important issues are not the economy, livelihood, healthcare, or the environment. Instead, it is about how to spend the people’s hard-earned money to build a new Presidential Office in Kaohsiung or Tainan.
Not only are Lai Ching-te and Chen Chu fighting to keep President Tsai on their own turf, but even Taichung’s Lin Chia-lung has jumped in, claiming he wants the Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan. Even Changhua wants the Legislative Yuan. These local leaders are slicing up the political landscape like a cake; it is an unseemly sight.
If Taipei loses the Presidential Office and Songshan Airport, its skyline will no longer be restricted. Land development will become even more aggressive, and the wealth gap will widen. Not only will Taipei’s real estate prices skyrocket as developers celebrate, but property prices in Taichung, Tainan, or Kaohsiung will also become increasingly unaffordable.
For the DPP, a Taipei without the Presidential Office offers a significant tactical advantage: in the future, if the party makes a mistake, protest crowds can be effectively isolated away from Tainan. Aside from Taipei, have there been any truly large-scale protests? Protests against the Tainan underground railway project, for instance, were easily suppressed and ignored. Moving the capital would allow the DPP to act with even more impunity.
But would adding the Presidential Office, Executive Yuan, or Legislative Yuan actually increase the prosperity of southern cities? Think about it—who on earth visits these government buildings on a daily basis?
The only substantial benefit of moving these institutions south is to drive up land and housing prices and increase the construction profits for specific developers who have already snatched up the land.
Taiwan is incredibly small. For the DPP’s political heavyweights to split the political, administrative, and economic centers across Tainan, Taichung, and Taipei is a flashy but hollow move. It is a “killing the goose that lays the golden eggs” strategy that lacks any industrial logic.
Mayor Lai Ching-te, please just focus on turning Tainan into a cultural and creative hub.
Mayor Chen Chu, please consider the President’s safety. Kaohsiung faces year-round high temperatures, months of typhoons, and even outbreaks of dengue fever. Please do not place President Tsai in such a precarious environment.
TaiwanNext urges President Tsai: although we know you distanced yourself from corporate interests during the campaign, please do not adopt the ideological, “rob Peter to pay Paul” political mindset of the Chen Shui-bian era. That approach cost the people of the R.O.C. a great deal of money while bringing them nothing but hardship.