Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Next year’s presidential election is drawing near and Taiwanese must do some serious soul searching.

As they look back at the past four years under the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), basic questions must be asked: Is Taiwan better off now than it was in 2008? Has the economy and overall status of the nation improved significantly since Ma’s infamous “6-3-3” campaign pledge?

No president could have stepped into office with a better position and with better support than Ma. Not only did he receive about 58 percent of the vote, but also by disproportionate representation in the Legislative Yuan (the pan-blue camp had only 54 percent of the vote), Ma was able to get an unstoppable 76 percent majority of the seats.

China’s local government debt may be 3.5 trillion yuan (US$540 billion) larger than auditors estimated, potentially putting banks on the hook for deeper losses that could threaten their credit ratings, Moody’s said yesterday.

Moody’s reviewed a report released by China’s state auditor last week, which found that local governments had chalked up 10.7 trillion yuan of debt. Moody’s said it identified more loans funded by banks after accounting for discrepancies in figures given by various Chinese authorities.

Investors worry the pile of loans, about half of which were racked up during a 2008 stimulus spending binge, could destabilize the Chinese economy in the long run. If banks have to absorb heavy losses, it could restrict lending.