[Text/Observer.com columnist Wang Xiaodi] Zheng Wencan was arrested on his 57th birthday on charges of land bribery. Of course, most of the politicians from the Democratic Progressive Party on the stage have dirty hands and feet and are full of fat brains. This is a personal desi

[Text/Observer.com columnist Wang Xiaodi]

Zheng Wencan was arrested on his 57th birthday on charges of land bribery.

Of course, most of the politicians from the Democratic Progressive Party on the stage are not very clean and have fat brains. This is a personal desire, but also a political need. After all, I have never been to "Loli Island", and I am a family.

It’s just that Zheng Wencan is a little special.

Zheng Wencan was praised by Tsai Ing-wen as "Fat Zhou Yu", resourceful, soft-bodied, passionate, and enthusiastic about academic movement. Zheng Wencan rose to prominence in the "Wild Lily Movement" and later took charge of Taoyuan for many years with the help of Yu Wen from the "Sunflower Movement". Not only did he enjoy high public opinion in society, but he also had good relations with various factions within the party. During Tsai Ing-wen's administration, she was highly regarded and was once considered the best candidate to lead the Democratic Progressive Party.

In other words, for Lai Qingde, who is currently in a precarious situation, the more brilliant Zheng Wencan is, the more guilty he is of harboring the treasure.

A corruption case instantly took on the flavor of "when there is good, how can there be good".

Is the power devolved or is the power still in hand?

In the Principal's situation in "Hearts of Iron 4", the various debuffs can make players dizzy; but for Lai Qingde, who has just entered the Dabao, the situation he is in is actually not much easier than that of the Principal.

Lai Qingde China Taiwan Network

Outside the country, the United States must both use and defend Lai Qingde. Even if it supports Lai Qingde to rise to power, it must leave his back to Xiao Meiqin. After all, what a mature American needs is a Taiwanese leader who listens to his words, not a philandering Lai Ching-te.

Americans are not unreasonable to worry. Although the "May 20" inauguration speech has been reviewed many times between the United States and Taiwan, Lai Qingde still added a few words of "self-discipline" on that day. Since it has not deviated from the agreed framework between the United States and Taiwan on the whole, the Americans have shown great respect on the table, but they have expressed "acceptable but dissatisfied" off the table. Afterwards, Lai Qingde arranged for several royal literati to submit an after-school assignment to the United States. In addition to explaining the day's "expressing one's heart", he also further explained his "feelings for family and country." According to convention, this assignment should appear on the desk of the State Council, but the result was that the Republicans and Democrats would have one share, which shows Lai Qingde’s thoughts. Including

, Lai Qingde's social reputation is relatively low. Only a month after taking office, the opinion polls are already terrible, and he lacks the political capital to make a difference. In addition to the basic base, 60% of the public opinion in Taiwan is in the hands of the Kuomintang and the People's Party. Under the instruction of the Americans, the latter two essentially formed the long-awaited "Blue and White" in the "Legislative Yuan" and actively promoted the so-called The "parliamentary reform" of the "Legislative Yuan" will expand the power and authority of the "Legislative Yuan". On the one hand, it will enhance the strength of the blue and white parties, and on the other hand, it will curb the abuse of power by the DPP and Lai Qingde. In the past two months since the opening of the new government office, the senior officials of the "Legislative Yuan" fought with fists and kicks in front of the statue of Sun Yat-sen. Most of them were killed and injured, and blood flowed all over the ground.

Therefore, it is not so much that Lai Qingde "holds great power", but rather that "power is withheld".

Historically, Chen Shui-bian also had a similar "lame authority" crisis, but unfortunately, Lai Qingde did not have the personal charm that A-Bian had that could intimidate all parties, as the confidence to pave the way for him. Lai Qingde's situation is more like Tsai Ing-wen. He is not a talented player, but the product of weighing the pros and cons among various factions in the party. For such players, the throne of Taiwan's leader is actually on pins and needles, and the so-called "new dynasty atmosphere" is more like the deadly miasma in the mountains.

When a new king takes the throne, centralization of power is essential. For Lai Qingde, it is even more urgent.

How can "Ghost Island" tolerate two tigers?

In order to fight against the outside world, we must first pacify the domestic situation. Zheng Wencan is an inevitable victim in the process of Lai Qingde's centralization of power.

The DPP has a deep factional political culture. Although it publicly dissolved its factions in 2006, in fact the factional operations have only become invisible. Among the various factions, the "New Trend" family dominates, while Zheng Wencan and Lai Qingde are both upstarts in the "New Trend" and have unlimited success. Of course, the "new trend" is not monolithic: geographically, Lai Qingde dominates in the south, while Zheng Wencan dominates in the north.The two of them echo each other across the Zhuoshui River, but "how can we allow others to snore on the side of the bed?" The narrow space of 36,000 square kilometers of "Ghost Island" cannot accommodate two tigers fighting each other.

Chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation and former Taoyuan Mayor Zheng Wencan Taiwan's "China Times News Network"

It should be said that there are early signs of Zheng Wencan's end.

Xie Longjie, who has determined to hunt down Lai Qingde all his life, once predicted that Zheng Wencan may be the first to suffer after Lai Qingde takes office. "He will gradually lose his ability, and maybe something will happen. Just wait and see." After the Democratic Progressive Party won the election, many of the key players in Tsai Ing-wen’s team were retained and promoted, but the boss has yet to make any arrangements for Zheng Wencan. Later, personnel arrangements came belatedly, and Zheng Wencan was entrusted with the important task of chairman of the SEF. On the surface, it seemed to be in line with the mainland's high position and authority. However, at the point where the mainland ARATS "has read and cannot return" to the SEF, the SEF has already This is the Qingshui Yamen with few people, and the cold treatment of Zheng Wencan is full of implications.

It is worth mentioning that Zheng Wencan himself has a lot of black material. During his tenure as the "King of Taoyuan", Zheng Wencan handled many land development cases. Among them, land changes and volume grants were good deals that were given privately, which greatly conflicted with the anti-black gold image that Lai Qingde worked hard to create. In addition to taking bribes for land, Zheng Wencan was also keen on looking for flowers. Not only did he hook up with Guo Zhemin, the person in charge of the "88 Guild Hall", but he also discussed mechanical engineering with young women in his room in Macau. Although he was given the title "Fat Zhou Yu" within the party for his resourcefulness, Zheng Wencan believed in the boundless power of collective wisdom and worked hand in hand with comrades in the party on the road to plagiarism.

If the matter only ends here, then the cold treatment of Lai Ban can also be explained as "there is too much black material and it is difficult to place it." However, shortly before Zheng Wencan's incident, "Tainan's First Sister" Chen Tingfei was dismissed from the Democratic Progressive Party's "Major Congress" "The "surgery and beheading" forced the outside world to associate it with the drama of palace fighting.

Concubine Chen Ting has a deep foundation in the party, a high status in the party, and she covets Tainan. Lai Qingde has been operating in Tainan for many years and has long regarded it as private property. Concubine Chen Ting's imminent move poses a threat to Lin Junxian, the top disciple of Lai Men who is preparing to take over, and destroys Lai Qingde's careful layout in his hometown. Therefore, taking advantage of Chen Tingfei's illegal candidacy for the "Central Standing Committee" of the DPP, Lai Qingde worked hard to let the "Main Congress" take the initiative to remove Chen, in order to increase his bid for the DPP's center of power, the "Central Standing Committee", and then run for the "Central Standing Committee" The difficulty of being the mayor of Tainan.

Democratic Progressive Party "Legislator" Chen Tingfei Taiwan's "China News Network"

Chen Tingfei "asked for the beheading" in the front, Zheng Wencan's birthday memorial flag was behind, a combination of punches to purge dissidents and hunt down political opponents. The people were stunned. After the Dongchuang Incident, Lai Qingde's authorities rushed to cut off the "Taoyuan King" and set the tone for the inspection unit to "do nothing in vain". Although Zheng Wencan paid NT$5 million to be released on bail pending trial and is temporarily exempted from jail - it may not be settled, but the high bail of NT$5 million is enough to leave the public with the impression that something really happened. From then on, Zheng Wencan's political life may have come to an end. Not only is he unable to "disobey" Lai Qingde within the party, but he is also not qualified to challenge Lai Qingde, who wants to be re-elected in 2028.

This "Fat Zhou Yu" finally failed on Red Cliff.

From centralization to totalitarianism

Lai Qingde is the new king, but the position of this new king is not stable. Both Concubine Chen Ting and Zheng Wencan are feared by Lai Qingde because of their power, and they want to get rid of them quickly.

In addition to internal purges, Lai Qingde also took many power-centralizing actions externally.

After Lai Ching-te came to power, he "unconstitutionally" added three committees, including the "Climate Change Countermeasures Committee", "Society Defense Resilience Committee" and "Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee", forming a set of extraordinary Lai governance mechanisms. Although the names of the committees carry out their own duties, which corresponds to Lai Ching-te's political views during the election campaign, the term "defense resilience of the whole society" already encompasses everything and is full of imagination. In this regard, although Chen Ju, the nominal leader of the New Trend South, argued that Lai Qingde's original intention of fulfilling his political views was good, he also reminded him that when the "Legislative Yuan" expands its powers, leaders who also expand their powers will lead to a poor social perception.

In the face of the Blue and White joint strangulation in the "Legislative Yuan", Lai Qingde launched a review and "constitutional interpretation" war on the "'Parliamentary' reform", boycotted the election and strike law, and adopted a posture of confronting the enemy. Taiwan's " Legislative Yuan’s trademark all-out show of force is only likely to increase.

Whether it is internal or external strife, Lai Qingde is much more straightforward and cruel in his approach than Tsai Ing-wen. In addition to being a bit "cockfighting" in his own character, Lai Qingde is also deeply anxious about the current situation of the "lame authorities". Centralization of power is an inevitable measure to alleviate inner anxiety. In order to strengthen the power of the team in the short term, it is inevitable that there will be many disputes in the island's political vanity fair.

However, while those who are obsessed with profit are staring into the abyss, they are also stared into by the abyss. The lack of legitimacy due to the weak foundation of public opinion limited the ways Lai Qingde could reasonably centralize power. Therefore, he could only take the wrong path and go astray. The result was a move from centralization to totalitarianism, and the political struggle continued to polarize.

It is foreseeable that the political polarization caused by the fierce political fighting on the island will become the political label of "depending on one dynasty" and the main content of governing the whole Taiwan. The DPP will continue to go to extremes with 40% of its base and attack from all sides. , killing all directions, the people of Taiwan complained, but there was nothing they could do. The spillover of this political polarization on the island will further intensify the "hostile spiral" of cross-strait relations until the moment it becomes unsustainable.

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