The Supervisory Yuan recently passed the impeachment case against Yang Jenny, executive member of the Executive Yuan and chief negotiator of the Office of Economic and Trade Negotiations (OTN), and found that she had violated the power of deputy chief negotiator Yan Huixin and some colleagues by weakening her powers, high-pressure management, isolation and exclusion, and the case has been transferred to the disciplinary court for trial. On September 8, the disciplinary court held its first hearing. Jenny Yang denied bullying and claimed that some of the content was "made out of nothing" and "taken out of context." The court asked both parties to provide relevant information on the boundary between "administrative supervision" and "bullying." It is worth noting that Deng Zhenzhong, former Minister of Economic Affairs and former General Negotiator of the Economic and Trade Negotiation Office, also attended the court and listened to the opinions of both sides throughout the process.
The Punishment Court held its first hearing on September 8, and Yang Jenny, the former general negotiator of the Economic and Trade Office of the Political Yuan, appeared in court. (File photo) This scene is actually more worthy of social thinking than a workplace bullying case. Deng Zhenzhong was Jenny Yang’s former general negotiator. The two were in charge of the same economic and trade negotiation system. Now they serve as general negotiators. One is in the dock being punished and the other is in the courtroom. This is not only a matter of personal honor and disgrace, but also makes people have to ask again: Is OTN an organization that highly relies on personal experience and authority, or is it a national economic and trade negotiation body that can continue to cultivate talents, accumulate institutional experience, and accept internal and external checks and balances?
After being impeached, Jenny Yang said that she had been engaged in foreign economic and trade negotiations for decades, and it was not her intention to make colleagues feel uncomfortable due to strict management in a high-pressure environment. However, high-pressure work and bullying are two different things. The key point identified by the Board of Control is not that the negotiation work is hard, but whether the supervisor uses his power to prevent his deputy from performing his duties, excludes team participation, and creates an unfriendly working environment for a long time. These are specific issues identified by administrative investigations and inspections by the Board of Control, and they cannot all be explained by "high-pressure work."
Some people question that in the eighteen years since OTN was founded, only Deng Zhenzhong and Yang Jenny have served as general negotiators. They also worked in high-pressure foreign-related negotiations. Why has the former never had such a major bullying controversy? This question is worth thinking about. It at least shows that a high-pressure environment does not automatically lead to bullying, and high-demand management cannot be an excuse for all inappropriate behavior. More importantly, the different management styles of the two chief negotiators remind us that a country's negotiating ability cannot be based on the personal model of "changing a culture when a new manager is changed."
What really deserves the public's attention is that the Supervisory Yuan's impeachment mainly focused on personal violations, but did not further investigate the long-standing institutional problems of OTN. In fact, the most important content in Yan Huixin's resignation letter is not just a description of personal experiences, but a direct accusation that the Economic and Trade Negotiation Office has maintained temporary task groups for many years, lacks a system for cultivating high-level negotiation talents, has no specific timetable and plan for joining the CPTPP, and has adopted a long-term negative attitude towards important policy recommendations. These issues involve organizational governance, talent development and policy decisions, rather than the personality traits of a single executive.
If a country's important economic and trade negotiation body relies on the personal experience accumulated by a few negotiators for a long time, but does not establish a stable talent cultivation, succession and knowledge transmission system, then even if a general negotiator is replaced, the system itself may still remain in the same place. This is what is really worth asking about Jenny Yang’s case.
The appearance of Deng Zhenzhong in the disciplinary court this time made this issue even more concrete. As the former general negotiator, he has direct experience in the operation of OTN; now that the former general negotiator has faced the same system one after another, society has more reason to expect not only the judicial process to clarify personal responsibilities, but also whether those who have participated in and managed this system can provide explanations for the long-term accumulated problems of OTN. After all, economic and trade negotiations are not about personal heroism, but the accumulation of national capabilities.
Another problem with my country's economic and trade negotiation system is that major decisions have long been dominated by a few core individuals, but public explanations are very limited. From the application to join GATT/WTO to the promotion of CPTPP today, many important negotiation experiences often flow with the advancement and retreat of a small number of negotiating officials, but it is difficult for society to fully understand the decision-making process and institutional gains and losses.
Political Councilor Deng Zhenzhong was Yang Jenny’s previous general negotiator, and the two men successively took charge of the same economic and trade negotiation system. (File photo) Taking the history revealed during Yan Qingzhang’s tenure as the first WTO permanent representative as an example, the political restrictions imposed on the positioning of our delegation by the 1992 GATT Chairman’s Statement Document <C/M/259> were not fully informed to the incoming representatives until 2002. In the end, Yan Qingzhang had to personally negotiate with the WTO Secretary-General to maintain the title of the “Permanent Mission” of our delegation. This period of history still deserves in-depth review, and also highlights the importance of information inheritance and decision-making transparency in the negotiation system.
Therefore, Jenny Yang has been involved in economic and trade negotiations for many years and naturally has rich administrative experience; but what the public society expects is not just qualifications, but a willingness to explain and be responsible when facing historical and institutional issues. Including the lack of breakthroughs in CPTPP promotion for many years, the lack of talent cultivation system proposed by Yan Huixin, and the experience and lessons left by the past negotiation system, they should be accepted by society and should not be summed up as "high-pressure work".
Yan Huixin has left, but what she left behind is not only a collection of commemorative essays that is more than 2,000 pages long, but also a reminder for the reform of Taiwan's economic and trade system. The truly worthy way to commemorate her is not just to commemorate an outstanding scholar, but to honestly face the institutional warnings she raised during her lifetime, to make Taiwan's economic and trade negotiation system more transparent, more professional, and better able to cultivate talents, and to allow negotiation experience to become an institutional asset rather than the personal asset of a few people.
Workplace bullying cases can be clarified through judicial and disciplinary procedures, but system reform cannot stop there. If this case leaves only Yang Zhenni alone with the punishment, but does not leave OTN with institutional reform, then we will only be dealing with an incident, rather than solving a problem.
Yan Huixin has left, but what she left behind is not only a collection of commemorative essays that is more than 2,000 pages long, but also a reminder for the reform of Taiwan's economic and trade system. The picture shows the book "Collected Essays in Commemoration of Yan Huixin: Huaijin Holds Yu's Great Aspirations Unfulfilled". (Taken from the Chinese Academy of Economics) (The author is a doctoral candidate at the Institute of Taiwan History, National Chengchi University)
