Former Hon Hai Precision Industry Co chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) yesterday accused Want Want Group chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) of being a “hatchet man” for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO).
Gou, who resigned on Friday last week as company chairman to pursue the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) nomination for next year’s presidential election, made the claim when leaving Kaohsiung’s Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum to visit the Fo Guang Shan Sutra Repository.
A reporter with the Want Want Group-owned CtiTV had asked him if he was “truly unafraid” of the Chinese threat, and whether a comment that Gou made on Tuesday during the KMT’s first televised forum — “Who is afraid of whom?” — still held true.
Photo: Hung Ting-hung, Taipei Times
“Do not ask this type of question,” Gou said, adding after a pause: “A media controlled by the TAO has no right to ask me.”
“Ask your own conscience: Are you for the Republic of China or for the TAO?” he said.
“Ask your boss Tsai, the TAO’s hatchet man and a sycophant,” he added.
Later, after Gou visited Fo Guang Shan’s Master Hsing Yun (星雲法師), the CtiTV reporter asked him if he had any evidence that the media outlet was controlled by the TAO.
Gou said his comments had been directed at the media head, not at the reporter, and requested the reporter to not discuss the matter at a religious site.
CtiTV said it had no comment about “a presidential candidate with no love and no tolerance.”
Gou told reporters that he had asked the Buddhist master how to give Taiwanese confidence, happiness, hope and convenience.
The master told him he would be able to achieve it by acting on his words, Gou said, adding that the master also told him to be pragmatic and honest, and to lead by example.
Additional reporting by Hung Su-chin
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
RSS