The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) have again locked horns over the party’s decision to nominate New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) as its presidential candidate.
The spat began when KMT Secretary-General Justin Huang (黃健庭) said that when it was in talks with Gou about the nomination in March, party representatives had offered him a “plan B” of first place on the party’s legislator-at-large list with an option to being legislative speaker.
Gou denied this, accusing Huang of tarnishing his image, peddling lies and distorting the situation.
Huang’s words were more likely an attempt to defuse the situation and demonstrate the KMT’s goodwill, but they had the opposite effect, and now Gou sounds like a jilted lover.
Commentators have asked whether the KMT has been bitten by a benefactor it has come to see as its cash cow. Is the KMT at fault? What does the spat say about Gou, his suitability as a potential political leader and the implications for the presidential race?
Gou has donated to previous KMT presidential campaigns and political events either through personal donations or his company, always within legally allowed limits to keep himself, his company and the KMT above criticism.
He has also become more politically active in the past few years, seeking the KMT presidential nomination on two occasions, in 2020 and this year. His attempts were frustrated both times.
Commentators have asked — some seriously, some with a degree of sarcasm — whether the party had treated its benefactor fairly, or whether it had just used him for campaign financing, perhaps dangling the prospect of the nomination.
It is unreasonable, indeed undemocratic and corrupt, for an individual — especially one who does not even have party membership — to expect special treatment in return for political donations, so that can be discounted as among Gou’s motivations.
When the KMT nominated Hou, many wondered how Gou would respond, but he said that he would fully support Hou’s campaign, as he wanted to see the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) removed from power.
Things changed when it became obvious that Hou’s campaign was foundering. Gou has started becoming more politically active in the past few days, criticizing the DPP’s record in government and announcing that he would attend a protest rally on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei on Sunday.
Former TVBS news anchor Lee Yen-chiou (李艷秋) wrote on Facebook that Gou had “already strung his bow,” predicting that he was preparing to announce plans to run as an independent.
Lee said that if Gou turned the election into a four-horse race, it would further hobble Hou, virtually securing a win for the DPP against a pan-blue vote split between Gou, Hou and former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), the Taiwan People’s Party candidate, and potentially consigning the KMT to permanent opposition status.
No wonder the KMT is concerned about Gou’s behavior, leading to Huang’s recent comments.
Has the KMT been bitten by its cash cow? The relationship between Gou’s donations and the KMT’s obligations to him, when not clearly articulated, seem to have become a source of antipathy.
The party itself is guilty of nothing remarkable in political terms, but what does Gou’s reaction say about his understanding of how politics works, the thickness of his skin, his clear-headed conviction of how best to bring down the DPP government or his ability to keep a promise and maintain loyalty?
For this campaign, those questions would be answered by simply continuing to support Hou, as he promised to do in May.
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