I am again disturbed by President Chen’s irrational actions and would like to remind him that those leaders who try to rewrite history often fail and usually end up being ignored by it themselves. In fact, in my opinion, Chen’s current actions seem to be more those of a dictator than the person he is trying to discredit. President Chen was elected to drive Taiwan forward and firmly establish the country’s place in the world’s society. It is not necessary to be a member of the U.N. to do this and his responsibility should be more to the people of Taiwan who elected him, than to his ego.

He had the opportunity to continue the development of Taiwan as a major global business and research hub in Asia, but instead he chose to focus on his own agenda and to create division in the country, where he should have encouraged unity. When Chen came to power Taiwan had a vibrant, growing economy and had the capacity to lead the development of Asia in the world economy. This spirit and opportunity still exists, but after eight years he has managed to drive the country toward becoming backwater, by ignoring the opportunities available if direct links with China were established and creating a divided and polarized population, by encouraging in-fighting and conflict, rather than dynamism and harmony.

He has used the greatest of the dictators’ tools — create a mythical and magical enemy and blame all your misfortunes on them, to avoid having to accept responsibility for his failure to deliver his promises to the people of Taiwan.

Ultimately, after March 2008, Chen’s legacy to Taiwan may not even be remembered — much less compared to that of Chiang Kai-shek. At least Chiang was an “honest” dictator.

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