The financial implosion of the Rebar Asia Pacific Group (
It's another case of a tycoon sending his money to China and leaving debts behind in Taiwan.
Wang's many victims include investors who bought shares in listed Rebar subsidiaries before those subsidiaries filed for restructuring, other investors who suffered losses as the market plunged and depositors at The Chinese Bank, who lined up in the cold to withdraw their savings from the Rebar Group subsidiary.
And then there are Taiwan's taxpayers, each of whom took a hit from Rebar Group when banking authorities took over The Chinese Bank's bad debt.
The government is of course at fault for not having predicted Rebar Group's collapse. But was it negligent, or did the company receive covert assistance?
The Financial Supervisory Commission and investigative agencies should investigate how Wang and his wife were able to waltz out of the country, just as white-collar criminals with close ties to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) used to do when the KMT was in power.
Predictably, politicians from across the spectrum are now thundering in their condemnation of Wang. Although some say that Wang had politicians from all parties in his pocket, it should be remembered that he was a KMT member who sat on the party's Central Standing Committee for 15 years. He remains a KMT member in his bones even if he did start making nice with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) after it came to power.
The problem is that these white-collar criminals have a backer in China. They are able to not only flee there with impunity, but also live there in high style off the proceeds of their crimes. Indeed, they are welcomed with open arms in China as "patriotic Taiwanese businessmen."
And why shouldn't they be? They have, after all, faithfully served the People's Republic of China by wreaking havoc on Taiwan's financial markets, disrupting lives and increasing "foreign" investment in China.
Just before the Rebar scandal broke, armored car driver Lee Han-yang (
Taiwanese white-collar criminals in China don't get extradited because they are have friends in Beijing. Adding insult to injury, Taiwan then gets to listen to white-collar criminals like Chen complain from their overseas havens about how unfairly the DPP government has treated them. Chen did exactly that in front of a national television audience during the run-up to the 2004 presidential election.
China throws a few crumbs to smaller, family-owned Taiwanese businesses and calls them special incentives for Taiwanese businesses, but does little about the high-risk business environment in which they operate.
Taiwan will hold presidential elections next year. Perhaps we will be treated to the spectacle of a joint performance by Wang and Chen wailing bitterly about the perfidy of the DPP and how shabbily it treated them. If they do so, Taiwanese will need to think clearly about why such criminals are free to make their accusations in China.
Paul Lin is a Taipei-based political commentator.
Translated by Michael Fahey
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