On Saturday last week, the Chinese state-run Global Times ran an article titled “What else can Taiwanese eat?” about rising food prices. Using egg prices as its main example, the article said the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government was letting Taiwanese suffer, while doing nothing to curb the problem.
Interestingly, the article quoted Broadcasting Corp of China chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康): “With nearly every commodity on the rise, what else can Taiwanese eat?”
Jaw had earlier written the statement on Facebook in a post in which he accused Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) of failing to set measures to control food prices.
Many Taiwanese, including celebrities, have taken to the Internet to “hit back” at the article, posting mouthwatering pictures of food, and commenting about what people in Shanghai were having for dinner.
Even though the article is an obvious ploy to divert attention from the Shanghai lockdown, it sheds light on the character and manipulative nature of Jaw, the leading figure of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) “blue fighters” faction. With his comment, Jaw is trying to present himself as a “common” Taiwanese, standing with the people. His criticism was meant to underscore the supposed ineptitude of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration and the possibility that Taiwanese might soon struggle to feed themselves.
However, Jaw has brushed aside reports that rising food prices are a global phenomenon. With the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, food prices have skyrocketed worldwide. The US consumer price index shows inflation there at 8.5 percent, while Taiwan’s index shows inflation at 3.27 percent.
Jaw appears to be unaware that he is being exploited by the Global Times. In using his comment, Beijing is attempting to ridicule and paint a contrasting, albeit false, picture of Taiwan compared with China. Meant to alleviate lockdown frustration at home, the article backfired, exposing the gaping difference between the situation across the Taiwan Strait: one in which hungry people are forced to buy food at 30 times higher than pre-lockdown prices, and one where people are struggling to choose what to eat next.
Since the KMT’s Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) lost the presidential election to Tsai in 2020, the party has been rallying behind the blue fighters faction, with Jaw as its champion. From the faction’s vehement opposition to allowing imports of US pork containing traces of ractopamine and food from five Japanese prefectures that were banned following the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster, to criticisms of Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) over the ministry not obtaining the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children, the blue fighters have been at odds with the government on every policy, without providing evidence or rationale for their protests.
Under Jaw’s “leadership,” the KMT’s approval rating has nosedived, and it is perilously close to being surpassed by the Taiwan People’s Party. Enjoying the “deep blue” camp’s support, Jaw might not care about pushing the KMT into the abyss. Nonetheless, he should refrain from acting as a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party and helping Beijing by directing his intellectual fire toward Taiwanese and their government.
There is no denying that an opposition party has the responsibility to supervise a ruling party, but it also needs to remain objective and truthful to retain the public’s support.
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