In their election campaign four years ago, Chen Shui-bian and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) cohorts promised a rosy economic future for Taiwan. But since the DPP took office, the island's economy has been mired in recession and rising unemployment.

The problems can be attributed to both economic and non-economic factors. At the top of the list is the separatist posturing of the Chen Shui-bian administration that has led to instability on the island and serious blunders in formulating economic policies. These are directly responsible for the sluggish economy.

The island's economy boomed all the way into 2000. But after Chen assumed office in May of that year the economic situation took an abrupt turn for the worse and growth failed to meet the annual forecast. In 2001, Taiwan's economy recorded its first negative growth in half a century.

The island experienced a clumsy investment growth in 2003. In the second quarter of the year, consumer spending had its first recession in 50 years.

Rising unemployment has accompanied the dormant economy, with the annual average jobless rate climbing to 5.17 per cent from about 3 per cent.

The island's foreign trade showed a sharp decline in 2001. Its exports and imports contracted by 17.1 per cent and 23.4 per cent respectively, the biggest drops in their history.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's stock market has been bearish. The index has fallen below 5,000 points, 4,000 points and even 3,500 points.

The current sluggishness offers ample proof that Chen's promises to energize the economy were nothing but empty slogans -- fantasies that masked the administration's real goal of pursuing Taiwan independence.

The road to Taiwan's economic revival is industrial restructuring. The mainland serves as a platform for achieving that goal. Against the backdrop of dwindling global economy, trade across the Taiwan Straits has greatly stimulated the island's economy.

Cross-Straits trade has become an important source for Taiwan's trade surplus as well as job opportunities. That is why mainstream Taiwan opinion has been calling for the opening of "three direct links" of trade, transport and mail services across the Straits so that bilateral trade can be further enlarged.

But out of their deep-rooted pro-independence mentality, Chen Shui-bian and his cohorts have erected numerous obstacles to cross-Straits economic and trade activities.

Out of political consideration for independence, many of the authorities' policies contravene the law of economic development, which go against mainstream public opinion and hinders the island's economic progress.

Chen Shui-bian has also been actively promoting a "money diplomacy" to buy support for independence from a few countries. In the 2004 fiscal year alone, the open budget on this regard hit NT$28.6 billion (US$861 million).

Furthermore, over the 10 years following the fiscal year 2005, Chen Shui-bian authorities plan to allocate NT$700 billion (US$21 billion) to buy weapons from other countries. Each year, a huge sum of money is also spent on defending the island.

All these moves are aimed at adding military stakes to the pursuit of independence by Chen and his followers.

Chen Shui-bian authorities' penchant for squandering taxpayers' dollars has no doubt inflated and accelerated the island's economic woes.

The sluggish economy has triggered fierce public criticism against Chen Shui-bian authorities. To divert public attention from the island's political instability and across-Straits tension caused by their pro-independence hardline, and to win public support for a re-election, Chen Shui-bian and his gang continue to toss out slogans promising economic revitalization.

But slogans are just words. Unwilling to give up their pro-independence mentality, the Chen authorities lack sincerity and thus efficient approaches to revitalize the economy. Such slogans are tossed out for the sole purpose of attracting ballots.

Taiwan authorities, using their ruling power and public resources, have attempted to fabricate achievements for themselves to mask a deplorable lack of genuine accomplishments.

In November of 2002, they decided that over the following five years the annual government investment on key projects would be kept to at least NT$1,200 billion (US$36 billion). In June 2003, in the name of expanding investment, they mapped out a three-year special budget amounting to NT$300 billion (US$9.0 billion), which was later readjusted to a five-year budget of NT$500 billion (US$15.1 billion).

In August of 2003, they announced establishment of a special loan fund totalling NT$350 billion (US$10.5 billion) to increase support to small- and medium-sized enterprises. Other promised investments include promotion of employment in public service sectors, poverty relief and expanded construction of small-scale projects.

The annual fiscal income of the authorities stands around NT$1,600 billion (US$48.2 billion). The basic cost to keep the operation of the government is around NT$1,100 billion (US$33.1 billion). The authorities' annual budget deficit has exceeded NT$250 billion (US$7.5 billion). And their debts have accumulated to NT$3.2 trillion (US$96.3 billion).

The public investments promised by Chen Shui-bian authorities to seek favour from voters translate into astronomical numbers. How they can seek so much money to realize their promises remains a big question mark.

So the purpose of Chen Shui-bian authorities is crystal clear. What they really care about is not how to revitalize the economy, but to win a re-election, and win four more years for the pursuit of Taiwan independence.

(China Daily March 1, 2004)