A few days ago, Hon Hai Group chief financial officer Huang Chiu-lien (黃秋蓮) conveyed a statement from company president Terry Gou (郭台銘), who said he was very disappointed by criticism from Taiwan accusing the company of running sweatshops and calling it “the shame of Taiwan.” Gou said he was re-evaluating Hon Hai’s investments in the country. He also asked rhetorically if Taiwan was trying to push the company out of the country.
Whether this negative criticism is well founded or not depends on your point of view and Kuo is of course entitled to feel both disappointed and unhappy, but why doesn’t Hon Hai direct its ire at the Chinese government and Western media outlets?
When the government in Beijing demands wage increases and changes to labor standards, Hon Hai complies without daring to protest at being treated unfairly. Moreover, the description of Hon Hai as a sweatshop didn’t originate in Taiwan, but in Chinese and Western media. Did Gou dare say anything then? No, he kept silent, took journalists on tours of the factory concerned and gave press conferences.
The fact is that for the duration of its three-decade long success story, Hon Hai has benefited not only from Gou’s vision and managerial skills, but also from government largesse in the form of land, financing and other inducements from the Taiwanese government, at both central and local level, whether led by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) or the Democratic Progressive Party.
Leaving historical examples aside, the land expropriation scandal in Dapu (大埔), Miaoli County, is all about land that a highly cooperative county government wants to give to Innolux Display Corp, a company in the Hon Hai Group. This, Gou seems to think, is as it should be, because everyone is begging him to invest in Taiwan, create more jobs and boost local economic development.
Gou is, clearly not very happy to have been asked to invest only to find his actions subject to public criticism by a free press.
As expected, Gou’s press conference was quickly followed by Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) speaking out in defense of Hon Hai and affirming the company’s many contributions to the economy.
This state of affairs makes one wonder whether there is any kind of preferential treatment that will not be given to Hon Hai.
Put bluntly, businesspeople care only about business, and no matter how much the government begs them to invest, they will only agree to do so when there is profit to be made.
It is true that we should work toward creating a positive investment environment and encourage companies to keep their research and development and manufacturing operations in Taiwan, but that does not mean we should attend only to superficial trivialities and neglect fundamental problems by keeping quiet and avoiding criticism, just because we’re afraid of displeasing a certain company.
To do that would be to undermine the hard won freedom and democracy that so many have fought to bring to Taiwan.
Gou can rest assured that the Taiwanese public is well aware of Hon Hai’s contribution to national development.
If only Gou would display a little bit more corporate social responsibility toward the country that helped nurture his business kingdom, more people would be willing to defend him and the criticism would slowly fade into the background.
Leou Chia-feng is a senior researcher at Taiwan Thinktank.
TRANSLATED BY PERRY SVENSSON
Speaking at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on May 13, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that democracies must remain united and that “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism.” Earlier that day, Tsai had met with a group of Danish parliamentarians led by Danish Parliament Speaker Pia Kjaersgaard, who has visited Taiwan many times, most recently in November last year, when she met with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office. Kjaersgaard had told Lai: “I can assure you that ... you can count on us. You can count on our support
Denmark has consistently defended Greenland in light of US President Donald Trump’s interests and has provided unwavering support to Ukraine during its war with Russia. Denmark can be proud of its clear support for peoples’ democratic right to determine their own future. However, this democratic ideal completely falls apart when it comes to Taiwan — and it raises important questions about Denmark’s commitment to supporting democracies. Taiwan lives under daily military threats from China, which seeks to take over Taiwan, by force if necessary — an annexation that only a very small minority in Taiwan supports. Denmark has given China a
Many local news media over the past week have reported on Internet personality Holger Chen’s (陳之漢) first visit to China between Tuesday last week and yesterday, as remarks he made during a live stream have sparked wide discussions and strong criticism across the Taiwan Strait. Chen, better known as Kuan Chang (館長), is a former gang member turned fitness celebrity and businessman. He is known for his live streams, which are full of foul-mouthed and hypermasculine commentary. He had previously spoken out against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and criticized Taiwanese who “enjoy the freedom in Taiwan, but want China’s money”
A high-school student surnamed Yang (楊) gained admissions to several prestigious medical schools recently. However, when Yang shared his “learning portfolio” on social media, he was caught exaggerating and even falsifying content, and his admissions were revoked. Now he has to take the “advanced subjects test” scheduled for next month. With his outstanding performance in the general scholastic ability test (GSAT), Yang successfully gained admissions to five prestigious medical schools. However, his university dreams have now been frustrated by the “flaws” in his learning portfolio. This is a wake-up call not only for students, but also teachers. Yang did make a big
RSS