Minister responds to KMT commercial

The pan-blue camp should not judge Taiwan's economic performance based on select figures or exploit the economy to boost their election campaigns, Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆) said yesterday.

Chen responding to a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-sponsored TV commercial in which a South Korean businessman says Taiwan used to be a model for South Korea but had seen its economic development hampered under the leadership of the Democratic Progressive Party.

The commercial says that people have less cash in their pockets and the nation's "misery index" has soared.

Chen the nation's economic development was different from that of South Korea's in that small and medium-sized businesses are important here, while South Korea's economy relies heavily on chaebol, or business groups.

Chen the flexibility of small and medium-sized firms carried Taiwan through the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s and the disparity of wealth in Taiwan is not as serious as in South Korea.

Taiwan also done a better job controlling consumer prices and creating jobs, with Taiwan's misery index registering 4.4 for the first seven months of this year, compared with South Korea's 5.7, he said.

The minister said that the pan-blue camp should take into consideration the feelings of the public, stability of consumer prices and employment opportunities, instead of focusing solely on figures.