The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday hit back at Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who had, during Saturday’s televised debate, criticized KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) proposal to boost economic growth by promoting pay raises, saying that she was “telling bare-faced lies.”
“In 2014, seven Nobel Prize winners urged US President Barack Obama to implement wage increases to drive economic growth. Last year, more than 600 economists also called on the US government to impose a minimum wage hike for the same reason,” Chu’s campaign spokesman Lee Cheng-hao (李正皓) told a press conference in Taipei.
Lee said such a plan was a relatively new concept in academia and has been welcomed in the US, where more than 7 million workers have benefited from its application.
Photo: Huang Mei-chu, Taipei Times
Tsai’s remark that she had not heard of any foreign nation implementing a similar policy showed that she was either an “economic ignoramus” or was “telling bare-faced lies,” Lee said.
Lee was referring to Tsai’s comments at the second and final TV presidential debate, where she dismissed Chu’s proposed policy to boost the economy by raising the national minimum wage to NT$30,000 (US$907) from NT$20,008.
“The economic problems faced by nations around the world would not be that complicated if governments could prop up weak economic growth simply by increasing salaries,” Tsai said during the debate.
“If your [Chu’s] proposal could work as you claimed, then you surely will have a Nobel Prize coming your way. However, unfortunately, I have not seen any successful cases in other nations,” she said.
KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director-general Lee Ming-hsien (李明賢) said Tsai also proposed raising the minimum wage to NT$22,000 when she ran for president in 2011.
“Tsai came to that number on the estimation that each worker had an average monthly living expense of NT$9,800 and was required to feed 1.25 people. Given that the current monthly living expense per person is estimated at NT$12,840, each employee would need NT$28,890 per month, which is close to Chu’s proposed NT$30,000,” Lee Ming-hsien said.
Chu’s proposed salary hike was calculated using the same formula as the one Tsai resorted to in 2011, Lee Ming-hsien said, adding that he was curious about who real Tsai is, “the one we see now or the one from five years ago.”
Lee accused Tsai of flip-flopping on the issue, saying that she had repeatedly pledged to stand with workers, but she has left workers behind and neglected their rights and welfare.
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