In tears, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice presidential candidate Jennifer Wang (王如玄) yesterday apologized to the public over her “investments” in military housing units, while stressing that all the transactions were legal and that she is concerned about issues that affect people from disadvantaged groups, though a look at her political career shows just the opposite.
In the past couple of weeks, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has questioned Wang’s dealings in military housing units in Taipei and New Taipei City, alleging that she and her husband have been involved in property speculation involving as many as 19 military housing units.
In a press conference at KMT headquarters yesterday afternoon, Wang admitted that she had bought and sold military housing units as an “investment,” but said that the number of units had been exaggerated.
Wang apologized to the public and her supporters for causing such a controversy with her personal “investment arrangements,” and shed tears as she explained how her family had been affected by criticism in the media.
Wang said several times that she has always been concerned about the disadvantaged, whether acting as a lawyer or serving in government positions, adding that she had agreed to become KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) running mate because she wanted to contribute more to society.
Ironic, very ironic.
Military housing units were built for military personnel who followed the KMT regime into exile in Taiwan after it lost the Chinese Civil War to the Chinese Communist Party after the end of World War II.
Although high-ranking military officers were also allocated housing units, the majority who were granted the units were low-ranking troops and their families, who would otherwise have had no place to live in Taiwan.
Today, there are still veteran KMT troops living in disadvantaged conditions and having a hard time finding a place to call home.
At the press conference, Wang was asked if she was aware that a veteran who sold her a military housing unit was now living in poverty in Changhua County. Wang replied that she could not be expected to know the story of every seller, adding that all those who dealt with her did so voluntarily and that both sides were happy when the deals were completed.
More irony.
If Wang is concerned about the disadvantaged, she should know not to “invest” in military housing units because these are supposed to be public housing for disadvantaged veterans and their families, and investment activity in any form would inflate prices, making it impossible for those who are in need to purchase the units.
Wang likened the DPP’s criticism to a form of “political murder,” but perhaps she should be reminded that, when she served as Council of Labor Affairs minister, she showed no mercy when using NT$20 million (US$605,382 at current exchange rates) of taxpayers’ money to hire lawyers to file suits against elderly laid-off workers, mostly economically disadvantaged and many of them in bad health.
Did Wang shed tears for them?
No.
Did Wang ever think of the suffering that those laid-off workers would have to deal with when they were being pursued by the state?
Probably not.
Wang needs to respond to criticism with more sincerity and honesty, and stop pretending to be someone she is not.
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not
RSS