Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) has called on Taiwan People’s Party Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential nominee, to sit down and have coffee with him.
Likening the three of them to the three little pigs of the children’s fable, their fate threatened by the “big bad wolf” — the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) candidate, Vice President William Lai (賴清德) — Gou said that unless the “anti-green alliance” can sit down and develop a concerted plan, Lai would win next year’s election.
Pan-blue pundits are losing patience with Gou. Former TVBS news anchor Lee Yen-chiou (李艷秋) wrote on Facebook on Tuesday that the “three little pigs” were grinding down voters’ enthusiasm for a transfer of power. She pointed to a poll which showed that, whereas previously 60 percent of voters wanted to see the DPP out of government, the figure had fallen to only 40 percent.
Lee attributed the decline to the three candidates not working to push home the message of why so many voters wanted fresh faces in power.
Lee accused Hou of being weak and Ko of shooting off his mouth, while Gou was throwing around his money and taking aim at people who are supposed to be on his side.
Recent polling had Lai at 43.4 percent compared with Ko’s 26.6 percent and Hou’s 13.6 percent. If Gou’s supporters think the polls lend credence to his urgency for unity among the “three little pigs,” they should heed the words of Broadcasting Corp of China chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), who told Gou that Ko and Hou polling behind Lai was in no small part due to Gou’s actions. Jaw asked him to either declare his candidacy or announce which candidate he would support.
Why is this still an issue? Why is Gou still prancing in the wings, tossing banana skins and provocations onto the stage while the main acts are attempting to perform? Jaw is right: Gou should stop lobbing bombs at the weak and distracted.
Jaw likened Gou’s “coffee invitation” to the infamous Hongmen feast of Chinese history: For those more familiar with Game of Thrones than ancient Chinese lore, think of the Red Wedding episode.
From his answer to a question during an event in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋) on Sunday, Gou seems to want to work out a system with Ko and Hou where they talk through their ideas and leave it to the electorate to decide which ideas and which coalition ticket they would prefer. In other words, he is still pushing to be invited to the party and given the best seat at the table.
It sounds like the “Three Little Pigs,” albeit with a twist at the end in which the youngest, weakest of the three turns out to be the Big Bad Wolf in disguise, feigning brotherly affection to wheedle his way in and pounce when the other two are least expecting it.
That would require thwarting those who were seeking an alliance and only makes sense if the ultimate goal is to eliminate them. It is no wonder Jaw talked about the Hongmen feast.
Rather than band together, Gou, Hou and Ko should concentrate on their own campaigns. Ko is trying to, while Hou is not being allowed to by Gou, who has not announced one. They need to let go of each other.
Gou needs to let go first, but Ko and Hou must work harder to shake him off.
Congratulations to China’s working class — they have officially entered the “Livestock Feed 2.0” era. While others are still researching how to achieve healthy and balanced diets, China has already evolved to the point where it does not matter whether you are actually eating food, as long as you can swallow it. There is no need for cooking, chewing or making decisions — just tear open a package, add some hot water and in a short three minutes you have something that can keep you alive for at least another six hours. This is not science fiction — it is reality.
Kinmen County’s political geography is provocative in and of itself. A pair of islets running up abreast the Chinese mainland, just 20 minutes by ferry from the Chinese city of Xiamen, Kinmen remains under the Taiwanese government’s control, after China’s failed invasion attempt in 1949. The provocative nature of Kinmen’s existence, along with the Matsu Islands off the coast of China’s Fuzhou City, has led to no shortage of outrageous takes and analyses in foreign media either fearmongering of a Chinese invasion or using these accidents of history to somehow understand Taiwan. Every few months a foreign reporter goes to
The war between Israel and Iran offers far-reaching strategic lessons, not only for the Middle East, but also for East Asia, particularly Taiwan. As tensions rise across both regions, the behavior of global powers, especially the US under the US President Donald Trump, signals how alliances, deterrence and rapid military mobilization could shape the outcomes of future conflicts. For Taiwan, facing increasing pressure and aggression from China, these lessons are both urgent and actionable. One of the most notable features of the Israel-Iran war was the prompt and decisive intervention of the US. Although the Trump administration is often portrayed as
Czech military intelligence last week revealed that Chinese diplomats and intelligence officers followed Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and allegedly planned to stage an incident during her visit to Prague last year. In March last year, Czech media reported that a Chinese diplomat ran a red light while tailing Hsiao’s car. A Czech public radio news Web site reported on Thursday that Chinese officials also had plans to stage a car crash, a claim later confirmed by Czech military intelligence. The radio report cited a Czech Military Intelligence spokesperson who described the incident as “a case of physically following, to the point
RSS