According to Chang, executive power is dominant, while the power that legislative and judicial institutions require to exert their respective authorities has not been fully established. In addition, while Taiwan has a “nascent” market economy, there is a great deal of government interference.

“The heavy boot steps of government are everywhere,” said Chang.

I’m reminded of when Heineken had to go to court because it was going to be fined because it had labeled its product as “beer” instead of “beer type” as the ever-changing regulations stipulated.

Or that when Warner Brothers wanted to invest billions in Taiwan in a cable company, that was not allowed because Mr. Koo would have lost his monopoly.

Or why I could find microbreweries in Ho Chi Minh city before they were in Taiwan.

See, this is not even about China half the time, but domestic regulations.

In addition, rule of law is not sufficiently robust.

“Every day, you see in the news that there are many infractions and violations in this area. It is a common occurrence and yet the bad behavior continues.”

Taiwan’s usual solution is to copy the most restrictive laws from Europe, like no plastic bags, car seats for kids up to 11 years old, etc., while still not enforcing the more basic laws like no littering or towing double-parked cars. They now have a new law about not allowing cars to be parked idling their engine. Good luck with enforcing that during the summer. Or if enforced, drivers will drive around aimlessly rather than stop and idle while waiting.

I do like the new motorcycle left turn set-up though - a case where they simply changed the law to follow common practice.