Chan Shun-kuei, hailed as an environmental champion and appointed Deputy Director of the Environmental Protection Administration after Tsai Ing-wen’s 2016 election victory, has resigned. Although his resignation statement only mentions Lai Ching-te once, it instead praises former Premier Lin Chuan, suggesting a significant conflict between Lai and Chan.
Just days ago, Lai publicly stated that if the Guantong Third Natural Gas Receiving Terminal could be built, the Shen’ao Coal-fired Power Plant in New Taipei City might be reassessed. Some say this move is an attempt to salvage the votes of Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan to secure votes for New Taipei City Mayor Su Chen-tsang. The key point is that there’s no guarantee the plant won’t be built.
This immediately brings to mind the Chinese idiom “changing one’s mind frequently,” where a monkey keeper tricks his monkeys into giving him bananas in the morning and afternoon to reduce their banana allowance. Today, Lai Ching-te is that monkey keeper, and the people of Taiwan are the monkeys.
Damn it!!
Just two or three years ago, Tsai Ing-wen and Cheng Wen-tsan of the DPP were acting all high and mighty, claiming they wanted to protect the Guanyin Algal Reef. Now that they’re in power, they’ve completely turned their backs on it.
Caption: Tsai Ing-wen lying in 2013
Not only does Tsai Ing-wen continue to play dumb and remain silent, but Cheng Wen-tsan has gone even further, stating that he never said anything like designating it as a protected area.
Caption: Cheng Wen-tsan in 2014
Then, just two days before the environmental impact assessment review, Chan Shun-kuei, the Deputy Director of the Environmental Protection Administration, actually submitted his resignation, meaning, “I’m not playing this game anymore, lest the DPP ruin the reputation of the environmental fighter and environmental lawyer that I’ve painstakingly cultivated.”
At this point, I thought of how the DPP, in its attempt to oust the president of National Taiwan University, “Kuan Chung-ming,” replaced three Ministers of Education, but instead of getting rid of him, it only left the DPP itself battered and bruised.
James Chan, however, shielded his own Director-General Lee Ying-yuan, Premier Lai Ching-te, and President Tsai Ing-wen from countless storms (yet Lee Ying-yuan still accused him of disregarding professional ethics). For example, the expansion and development project of the Shen’ao coal-fired power plant, which even Su Tseng-chang couldn’t explain, was successfully approved under his leadership. Only on the eve of the election did he forcefully approve the Guantong natural gas development project before resigning. Where else can the DPP find such a cheap, effective, and high-value talent???