Three aspects of the response have special interest to foreigners concerned with East Asia. First, it was surprising that a diplomatically isolated country like Taiwan initially rejected foreign aid. One would think that those in charge of Taiwan’s foreign relations would have accepted any offers of foreign assistance even if not required. Ultimately, American, Japanese, Australian and Chinese aid was accepted including the use of American military heavy-lift helicopters required to move equipment to the isolated, destroyed mountain villages. Comments both from within and outside the ruling Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) suggested that the current government’s attempts to curry favour with China explained the initial rejection of foreign aid.

Second, in an astute political move, the opposition Democratic Progressive Party invited the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan to console the victims of the typhoon. President Ma quite properly believed he could not refuse permission for the Dalai Lama to come to Taiwan, though he and members of his government refused to meet the Dalai Lama personally for fear of upsetting China. China fumed and criticised Taiwan, especially the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, and delayed some meetings, but the Ma government was spared substantial Chinese criticism. Polls, however, demonstrated that the Dalai Lama’s visit to Taiwan proved very popular with the Taiwanese people indeed.

Finally, the poor government response to Typhoon Morakot destroyed approval for the government among Taiwan’s electorate. According to a pro-government TVBS poll, President Ma’s approval rating dropped to 16 per cent and Premier Liu’s approval rating dropped to 13 per cent. Just last year, President Ma had won over 58 per cent of the votes in the presidential poll.

At the beginning of September, the government had stated that Premier Liu would be retained and that any cabinet reshuffle would be limited. However, on September 7, President Ma approved Premier Liu’s resignation and announced a new Premier and Vice-Premier.

Unlike Premier Liu, who is a Mainlander and cannot speak Taiwanese, the new Premier, Wu Den-yih, is a Taiwanese. Now aged 61, Wu was a journalist who entered the Taipei City Council in the 1970s, won two terms as County Executive of Nantou County during the 1980s, and was appointed mayor of Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s second largest city, in 1990. When Kaohsiung was allowed to elect its mayor in 1994, Wu won, but he lost his attempt at re-election to the Democratic Progressive Party candidate in 1998. Wu has not studied overseas and lacks a reputation for clean government. He recently has acted as secretary-general of the ruling Kuomintang.

The new vice-premier is Eric Chu, an urbane reformer who has nearly finished two terms as county executive of Taoyuan County, one of Taiwan’s largest local units. Still less than fifty years old, Chu is very young by Kuomintang standards. Whether or not he will be able to give the new government some reformist drive from the vice-premier’s position remains to be seen.

In many ways, Hurricane Katrina destroyed the presidency of George W. Bush. Quite possibly, Typhoon Morakot will destroy the presidency of Ma Ying-jeou.

J. Bruce Jacobs is Professor of Asian Languages and Studies and Director of the Taiwan Research Unit at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.