Terry Gou naive on China
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘), who once said that “democracy is not food,” recently announced that he is once again running for the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential nomination.
That Gou is launching his presidential bid for a second time proves that “democracy” is a way of life in Taiwan. If he lived in China, he would have no chance of running for president, because in Beijing, democracy certainly is not food.
Although the tycoon is good at business, some of his comments on national policies are stunning. Confronted by China, which wants to annex Taiwan, Gou shows naivety when expressing his ideas. For example, the best way to prevent war is to be prepared to win, so Taiwan must obtain suitable and sufficient weapons to deter a potential annexation by China.
However, Gou said that if Taiwan buys too many weapons, China would hit the areas where they are stored.
I would like to ask Gou: As a presidential candidate, do you oppose military procurement?
When announcing his presidential bid at a news conference early this month, Gou said that to avoid Taiwanese children living under “a hail of bullets,” nobody should support the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), as it advocates for Taiwan independence.
Obviously, he was not aware of a recent poll in which 54 percent of respondents supported Taiwan independence and only 10 percent supported “unification” with China. Or does he dare not to recall the poll?
The DPP has been in power twice for nearly 16 years. Has it ever let children live under a hail of bullets?
It seems as if Gou implies that Taiwan can only protect itself by surrendering to the Chinese Communist Party. If that is what he means, he has underestimated the ability of the armed forces and the determination of Taiwan’s democratic allies.
Chiu Ping-chin
Taipei
A nation has several pillars of national defense, among them are military strength, energy and food security, and national unity. Military strength is very much on the forefront of the debate, while several recent editorials have dealt with energy security. National unity and a sense of shared purpose — especially while a powerful, hostile state is becoming increasingly menacing — are problematic, and would continue to be until the nation’s schizophrenia is properly managed. The controversy over the past few days over former navy lieutenant commander Lu Li-shih’s (呂禮詩) usage of the term “our China” during an interview about his attendance
Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), the son of former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee Politburo member and former Chongqing Municipal Communist Party secretary Bo Xilai (薄熙來), used his British passport to make a low-key entry into Taiwan on a flight originating in Canada. He is set to marry the granddaughter of former political heavyweight Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政), the founder of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital in Yilan County’s Luodong Township (羅東). Bo Xilai is a former high-ranking CCP official who was once a challenger to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the chairmanship of the CCP. That makes Bo Guagua a bona fide “third-generation red”
US president-elect Donald Trump earlier this year accused Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) of “stealing” the US chip business. He did so to have a favorable bargaining chip in negotiations with Taiwan. During his first term from 2017 to 2021, Trump demanded that European allies increase their military budgets — especially Germany, where US troops are stationed — and that Japan and South Korea share more of the costs for stationing US troops in their countries. He demanded that rich countries not simply enjoy the “protection” the US has provided since the end of World War II, while being stingy with
Historically, in Taiwan, and in present-day China, many people advocate the idea of a “great Chinese nation.” It is not worth arguing with extremists to say that the so-called “great Chinese nation” is a fabricated political myth rather than an academic term. Rather, they should read the following excerpt from Chinese writer Lin Yutang’s (林語堂) book My Country and My People: “It is also inevitable that I should offend many writers about China, especially my own countrymen and great patriots. These great patriots — I have nothing to do with them, for their god is not my god, and their patriotism is
RSS