The impeachment controversy thickens. Politics has descended into name-calling and threats of lawsuits. The currency is slumping, share prices are plummeting and investors are fleeing in droves. The established political order is lining up against the president and threatening to impeach him. But this drama is not unfolding in the Philippines. Taiwan is convulsed by its own political trauma.

The skirmishes began with the election of Mr. Chen Shui-bian, head of the Democratic Progressive Party, as president of Taiwan earlier this year. Mr. Chen's win ended 55 years of Nationalist Party rule on the island and marked the first time in Chinese history that there had been a peaceful change of government.

Unfortunately, his margin of victory was slim; he was elected with only 39 percent of the vote in a three-way race. Worse, his party controls only 67 seats in the 220-member legislature. Although they lost the presidential ballot, the Nationalists maintained their grip on that body, holding on to 115 seats. Despite attempts by Mr. Chen to reach out to the opposition -- his first prime minister was his predecessor's defense minister, a respected member of the Nationalist Party -- the sniping began almost immediately.