Outside View

A legacy of lost hopes

As Chen Shui-bian prepares to step down from Taiwan's leading post after the March 22 election, he leaves a legacy of tense relations with the Chinese mainland, strained links with the United States, a limping economy, and a battered bureaucracy, the Los Angeles Times reported on Monday.

Even supporters criticize his impetuous style, capped in later years by his entanglement in corruption scandals.