In tears, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice presidential candidate Jennifer Wang (王如玄) yesterday apologized to the public over her “investments” in military housing units, while stressing that all the transactions were legal and that she is concerned about issues that affect people from disadvantaged groups, though a look at her political career shows just the opposite.
In the past couple of weeks, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has questioned Wang’s dealings in military housing units in Taipei and New Taipei City, alleging that she and her husband have been involved in property speculation involving as many as 19 military housing units.
In a press conference at KMT headquarters yesterday afternoon, Wang admitted that she had bought and sold military housing units as an “investment,” but said that the number of units had been exaggerated.
Wang apologized to the public and her supporters for causing such a controversy with her personal “investment arrangements,” and shed tears as she explained how her family had been affected by criticism in the media.
Wang said several times that she has always been concerned about the disadvantaged, whether acting as a lawyer or serving in government positions, adding that she had agreed to become KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) running mate because she wanted to contribute more to society.
Ironic, very ironic.
Military housing units were built for military personnel who followed the KMT regime into exile in Taiwan after it lost the Chinese Civil War to the Chinese Communist Party after the end of World War II.
Although high-ranking military officers were also allocated housing units, the majority who were granted the units were low-ranking troops and their families, who would otherwise have had no place to live in Taiwan.
Today, there are still veteran KMT troops living in disadvantaged conditions and having a hard time finding a place to call home.
At the press conference, Wang was asked if she was aware that a veteran who sold her a military housing unit was now living in poverty in Changhua County. Wang replied that she could not be expected to know the story of every seller, adding that all those who dealt with her did so voluntarily and that both sides were happy when the deals were completed.
More irony.
If Wang is concerned about the disadvantaged, she should know not to “invest” in military housing units because these are supposed to be public housing for disadvantaged veterans and their families, and investment activity in any form would inflate prices, making it impossible for those who are in need to purchase the units.
Wang likened the DPP’s criticism to a form of “political murder,” but perhaps she should be reminded that, when she served as Council of Labor Affairs minister, she showed no mercy when using NT$20 million (US$605,382 at current exchange rates) of taxpayers’ money to hire lawyers to file suits against elderly laid-off workers, mostly economically disadvantaged and many of them in bad health.
Did Wang shed tears for them?
No.
Did Wang ever think of the suffering that those laid-off workers would have to deal with when they were being pursued by the state?
Probably not.
Wang needs to respond to criticism with more sincerity and honesty, and stop pretending to be someone she is not.
KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) recent visit to Beijing and her upcoming visit to Washington will serve as a high-level test of her diplomatic mettle. In Beijing, Cheng was received with symbolic gestures, a warm reception, and high-level access. In Washington, she will receive far less pomp and far sharper questions about the KMT’s vision for the future of Taiwan. Her challenge will be to persuade Washington that the KMT’s engagement with China can coexist with strong deterrence. Cheng’s April 7-12 visit to mainland China coincided with an intense period of conflict in Iran. Despite the strategic significance of Cheng’s trip,
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has sent the vast Asian chemicals industry into a tailspin. Deprived of the likes of Qatari natural gas and Saudi Arabian oil, the region’s fertilizer and plastics plants are slowing production or even shutting down. Everywhere except China, that is. In petrochemicals, China is unique. As well as a traditional industry that uses oil and gas as feedstock, it has parallel output that relies on its abundant domestic coal. Unsurprisingly, India and other regional powers want to copy and paste the Chinese method. This would not be easy — or climate friendly. The
History might remember 2026, not 2022, as the year artificial intelligence (AI) truly changed everything. ChatGPT’s launch was a product moment. What is happening now is an anthropological moment: AI is no longer merely answering questions. It is now taking initiative and learning from others to get things done, behaving less like software and more like a colleague. The economic consequence is the rise of the one-person company — a structure anticipated in the 2024 book The Choices Amid Great Changes, which I coauthored. The real target of AI is not labor. It is hierarchy. When AI sharply reduces the cost
US President Donald Trump recently repeated his claim that “Taiwan stole America’s chip industry,” reigniting public debate on the issue. As a former Taiwanese minister of economic affairs and an entrepreneur deeply involved in semiconductor supply chain development, I feel a responsibility to clarify this misunderstanding. From the perspective of global industrial evolution and the economic principle of comparative advantage, such a statement appears overly simplistic and risks obscuring the essence of the issue. The rise of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry was not built on “replacing America,” but rather emerged as a result of countries pursuing different development paths within the
RSS