Next month’s nine-in-one election results are anyone’s guess, but political circles in Taipei are already embroiled in a battle over the premiership.
The cause of this battle is the ongoing food security issues, which have caused great public alarm.
Although the government has said it will handle the situation, it is yet to show how. The tainted cooking oil scandal is spreading like a disease, from Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團) to Namchow Group (南僑集團), as problems have been found with lard, tallow and vegetable oil products.
From the processing plants, the affected products have reached bakeries, buffet restaurants and roadside stalls, affecting almost everyone. Food safety has become a universal concern, but the government seems incapable of solving the problem and instead repeatedly implies that there are solutions in the pipeline.
Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said in a legislative interpellation session two weeks ago that no problems had been found with Ting Hsin cooking oils and that they were fit for human consumption. Less than two weeks later, it was revealed that Ting Hsin mixed oil for industrial use and animal feed with cooking oil, throwing the nation into a state of fright. It would not be asking too much for the premier step down to take responsibility.
A recent survey released by Taiwan Indicator Survey Research showed that Jiang has a 66 percent disapproval rating for his performance as premier, while a mere 15.6 percent said he is doing a good job. This is a record disapproval rating, worse than those of former premiers Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), at 65 percent, and Sean Chen (陳沖), at 59 percent.
The result is causing problems for the Cabinet’s policy implementation, and Jiang’s worst-case scenario would see him become targeted by opposition attacks and step down to take responsibility for a poor election-season performance.
It is not only the opposition that is putting pressure on Jiang to step down: Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers are also outspoken on the issue, with Legislator Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆) saying food safety is a fundamental public demand and “if this is not handled properly, the premier must step down.”
KMT Legislator Lu Chia-chen (盧嘉辰) has said that “if there are any more slip-ups, stepping down is the only choice.”
These statements were followed by allegations that Namchow added industrial oil to its cooking oil.
Although President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is vigorously backing Jiang and — at a ceremony handing over the reins of the party’s legislative caucus to new officials on Wednesday — called on KMT legislators to support the Cabinet, public discontent is soaring, forcing KMT lawmakers to prioritize public opinion.
Furthermore, the run-up to the elections is a sensitive time, and as new food-security scandals are revealed, KMT candidates sense the public discontent and feel that a Cabinet reshuffle cannot wait until after the elections, because if it is not done now, they might go down with a sinking ship.
This is why KMT Taipei mayoral hopeful Sean Lien (連勝文) said that if he were the premier, he would step down, while his campaign director Alex Tsai (蔡正元) made a direct call for Jiang to step down.
There are also whispers in Taipei political circles that if Jiang steps down, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), a food sanitation specialist, would take over.
The battle within the KMT over the premier’s seat has begun.
Given the situation, it would not be excessive if Jiang stepped down. In fact, the sooner he does, the better. If the move were to be postponed until after next month’s elections, public worries would grow and the KMT would have to pay an even greater price.
Because much of what former US president Donald Trump says is unhinged and histrionic, it is tempting to dismiss all of it as bunk. Yet the potential future president has a populist knack for sounding alarums that resonate with the zeitgeist — for example, with growing anxiety about World War III and nuclear Armageddon. “We’re a failing nation,” Trump ranted during his US presidential debate against US Vice President Kamala Harris in one particularly meandering answer (the one that also recycled urban myths about immigrants eating cats). “And what, what’s going on here, you’re going to end up in World War
Earlier this month in Newsweek, President William Lai (賴清德) challenged the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to retake the territories lost to Russia in the 19th century rather than invade Taiwan. He stated: “If it is for the sake of territorial integrity, why doesn’t [the PRC] take back the lands occupied by Russia that were signed over in the treaty of Aigun?” This was a brilliant political move to finally state openly what many Chinese in both China and Taiwan have long been thinking about the lost territories in the Russian far east: The Russian far east should be “theirs.” Granted, Lai issued
On Sept. 2, Elbridge Colby, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development, wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal called “The US and Taiwan Must Change Course” that defends his position that the US and Taiwan are not doing enough to deter the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from taking Taiwan. Colby is correct, of course: the US and Taiwan need to do a lot more or the PRC will invade Taiwan like Russia did against Ukraine. The US and Taiwan have failed to prepare properly to deter war. The blame must fall on politicians and policymakers
Gogoro Inc was once a rising star and a would-be unicorn in the years prior to its debut on the NASDAQ in 2022, as its environmentally friendly technology and stylish design attracted local young people. The electric scooter and battery swapping services provider is bracing for a major personnel shakeup following the abrupt resignation on Friday of founding chairman Horace Luke (陸學森) as chief executive officer. Luke’s departure indicates that Gogoro is sinking into the trough of unicorn disillusionment, with the company grappling with poor financial performance amid a slowdown in demand at home and setbacks in overseas expansions. About 95