Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Nov. 24 announced that she is stepping down as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson after the party suffered a string of stinging defeats in the nine-in-one elections. She did so amid a public outcry over her poor and inadequate leadership.

The public trusted and chose Tsai, gave DPP candidates an overwhelming majority in the Legislative Yuan and rejected the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the 2016 presidential and legislative and 2014 local elections. No more than three years later, Tsai has sown despair and dissatisfaction with her government in the hearts of the public.

Taiwan is a successful example of transformation from authoritarian rule to democracy, but the nation still lacks the foundation for implementing true rule of law. Due to the confusion resulting from the Republic of China’s (ROC) Constitution, the consolidation of Taiwanese democracy has encountered problems that are hard to solve, and the nation is constantly bullied by China without being able to fight back.

In terms of its content, the Constitution was originally intended for China, which makes it inappropriate for Taiwan. Rendered ineffective for decades by the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of National Mobilization for Suppression of the Communist Rebellion (動員戡亂時期臨時條款), which served the needs of the military government, the Constitution was — absurdly — only restored after Taiwan’s democratization.