Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

In the wake of the sweep of three legislative by-elections by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, President Ma Ying-jeou and his right-wing Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) administration should cease their habitual "black box" decision making style in favor of a more open and consultative method that can build consensus on the critical challenges facing Taiwan.

Saturday's sweep by the DPP of formerly KMT held seats in Taoyuan, Taichung and Taitung Counties displayed the gap between the Ma government's policies and the public will and demonstrated the vulnerability of both the KMT's current huge legislative majority and even Ma's own chances of re-election in early 2012 if his government does not change its ways.

Following announcements by the Obama administration last week that sales of weapons systems to Taiwan approved by the previous administration would proceed, Beijing reacted with its usual contempt, claiming that Washington’s decision would undermine US-China ties and represented meddling in China’s internal affairs.

One thing that Beijing did differently this time, however, was up the ante by hinting that the sale could result in trade sanctions against the US firms involved. This unprecedented threat — ostensibly targeting Lockheed Martin Corp, which was awarded a contract to sell Taipei an unspecified number of Patriot missiles — was yet another sign that China now perceives itself as a “Great Power” and that it can now threaten countermeasures that hitherto had mostly been the remit of leading states like the US, or groups like the EU.