The defeat of each Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) mayoral and commissioner candidate endorsed by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) in Saturday’s nine-in-one elections has been widely interpreted by netizens as a rejection by voters of the government’s lean toward China.
Gou campaigned for KMT Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文), Greater Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強), Yunlin County commissioner candidate Chang Li-shan (張麗善) and Greater Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興).
The business tycoon pledged on Monday last week to increase his investment in Taichung if Hu were elected for a fourth term. He also announced a plan earlier in the month to spend NT$80 billion (US$2.67 billion) to build a low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) display factory in Kaohsiung as part of his effort to drum up support for Yang.
However, Gou’s oft-played “economic card” seemed to have lost its appeal, as the quartet were all soundly beaten by their opponents.
Lien lost to independent Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) by more than 250,000 votes, Hu fell to the Democratic Progressive Party’s Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) by nearly 210,000 votes, and Chang and Yang lost their campaigns by 57,000 and 540,000 votes respectively.
Commenting on the phenomenon, Taiwanese writer Ping Lu (平路) said since Gou is regarded as a “spokesman” for Beijing, if his endorsement had benefited the candidates concerned it would imply Taiwanese succumbed easily to intimidation and economic inducement.
“Hopefully, Gou’s backfiring endorsements will prompt Beijing to learn to respect the nation’s democracy,” she said.
Wealth publishing group chairman Hsieh Chin-ho (謝金河) yesterday posted on Facebook that the four candidates’ failure in the elections suggests that the economics card so frequently played by businesspeople who have made significant profits in China is no longer working.
“Gou might be the biggest loser of Saturday’s elections,” Hsieh said.
Gou’s tactic of threatening voters had already raised concerns and triggered criticism prior to the elections, with critics saying: “Being rich does not give Terry Gou the right to dictate to voters.”
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
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The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated
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