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
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