President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) past assurances that the nation would not encounter an energy shortfall mean that her words cannot be trusted, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman-elect Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said on Thursday at a forum organized by the KMT.
Tsai has said that the nation is not at risk of an energy shortage, but Tuesday’s power failure indicates that it is, Wu said.
Tsai deceived the public about the severity of the incident, even though it was one of the three largest power outages in the nation’s history and the only one caused by human error, he said.
State-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan and its contractor Lumax International Corp are still passing the buck, Wu said.
The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) response has presented the KMT with an opportunity to regain power, he said.
Tsai has a habit of breaking her promises, he said, citing the Ministry of Labor’s announcement on Thursday that it would reduce compensation it had promised laid-off freeway toll booth workers.
He also referred to a strike last year by flight attendants of state-owned China Airlines, saying that Tsai has not helped the firm’s chairman, Ho Nuan-hsuan (何煖軒), honor his promises to the protesters.
“This is how Tsai is, making promises as quickly as she breaks them. This is the main difference between Tsai and the KMT, which has always delivered on its promises,” Wu said.
Meanwhile, in response to requests for comments on New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming’s (郁慕明) remarks that the New Party is to “part ways” with the KMT, Wu said he does not wish to see a fallout.
The KMT’s goal — maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait while upholding the Constitution — is “largely aligned” with the New Party’s goals, Wu said.
Thanks to the union between the KMT, the New Party and the People First Party, they won about 80 percent of legislative seats and former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was able to obtain 7.65 million votes in the 2008 presidential election, he said.
“These achievements were based on solidarity. We certainly hope to maintain solidarity,” he said.
Separately yesterday, DPP spokesman Ruan Chao-hsiung (阮昭雄) urged Wu not to politicize the power outage.
“Wu’s criticism does not further the public interest. As a former government official, he counted society’s losses as his party’s gains, which the public will surely not approve of,” Ruan said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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