Foxconn Technology Group chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) came under fire yesterday for saying on Monday that he would “invest more” in Greater Taichung if Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is re-elected, drawing criticism from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and student activist Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷).
Tsai criticized what she called the business tycoon’s overly intimate relationship with the KMT on Facebook yesterday, saying that for Taiwan’s economy to experience vibrant and robust development, the economic environment should be distanced from political “colors,” because a political party interacting too closely with big corporations would engender a hotbed of corruption.
“Corporations getting too involved in electoral campaigns would also raise suspicion that they have engaged in quid pro quo dealings with a certain party,” she added.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Tsai said that if an entrepreneur cares about the Taiwan’s future, “he would not pull investments from the nation simply because the ruling party changes,” adding that if this entrepreneur cares about improving people’s lives “he would start with the people in his own company by taking care of his employees, protecting the environment and helping vulnerable groups, rather than intervening in elections.”
Chen focused his criticism on the promise of a NT$200 billion (US$6.47 billion) investment Gou made while stumping for Hu in Taichung.
The student leader, who cofounded activist group Taiwan March after helping spearhead the Sunflower movement, snubbed the offer yesterday on Facebook, saying the businessman had made similar promises in previous elections that had gone unfulfilled.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
From 2002 to 2010, Gou made seven such promises during electoral campaigns that have yielded little results, Chen said, citing a chart compiled by a Chinese netizen to warn others in China against Gou’s investment plans.
“It’s such an embarrassment that a Chinese person used examples from Taiwan to caution other Chinese against Gou,” Chen wrote.
The activist said that because it only goes up to 2010, the chart probably only shows part of Gou’s unfulfilled promises, because within the past four years, the tycoon must have made more such offers.
“The most famous example of these pledges is the one he made regarding Miaoli County’s Dapu Borough (大埔). Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) used Gou’s plan to carry out factory expansions as an excuse to support the county government’s land expropriation. Now, with the land expropriated, rice fields destroyed and a person dead, Gou has said that no factory will be built after all,” Chen said, referring to Chang Sen-wen (張森文), who died after his home was bulldozed last year.
He added that it would not mean much if the businessman did follow through on his promises, because as “a lot of people have already pointed out when Gou threatened to leave Taiwan days ago, Gou has been enjoying subsidies and tax exemptions in Taiwan, although most of his production lines are in China. He offers less than 5,000 job opportunities in Taiwan, which is proportionally not on par with the nation’s small and medium enterprises.”
In a separate incident, DPP Taichung mayoral candidate Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) accused Hu of siding with big business, to which the incumber yesterday replied: “The public know who is close to the corporations.”
Hu said that when Gou had asked people to not force Foxconn out of Taiwan, he had immediately thought of Taichung, stressing that politics should not hurt the economy, but the economy should not take the lead in politics either.
Additional reporting by Su Chin-feng
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS