President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) exchanged potshots on democracy and the economy with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘), who is seeking the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) nomination for next year’s presidential election.
Tsai, who is facing a challenge within the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for its nomination, hit back at Gou after he said that “democracy alone does not provide food to eat,” saying he does not understand democratic values.
Democracy is the value that Taiwanese gained after more than 50 years of effort and without it the Taiwan that makes people feel proud would not exist, she said on Facebook.
“We have never ignored the economy because of democracy,” she wrote, adding that the “responsibility of a responsible political figure” is to enable people to build a better life under a free and democratic system.
Presidential candidates in a democratic nation must have democratic credentials, she wrote.
“For us and future generations, next year is crucial,” as Taiwanese will have to choose between maintaining the “status quo” of freedom and democracy, and being forced into China’s “one country, two systems” unification process, Tsai said.
Tsai had previously said in a radio interview when asked about Gou’s remarks that without democracy, the nation and society would regress.
Gou on Saturday said that he has always adhered to democracy, but believes that democratic momentum must be converted into economic gains.
“Democracy alone does not provide food to eat” is a simplification of that idea, Gou said, adding that this does not mean he denies democracy.
After Tsai posted on Facebook, Gou reiterated that she had taken his remark out of context.
There are two types of democracy: One creates peace, and brings national prosperity and strength, while the other — which could be described as “populist democracy” — undermines peace and moves in the direction of poverty, Gou said.
The democracy backed by Tsai’s DPP is the second type — a populist democracy — because people are increasingly having trouble getting enough to eat, he said.
Gou cited Council of Agriculture figures from September last year that showed at least 1.6 million people in Taiwan do not get enough to eat every day, about double the number from 10 years earlier.
“Tsai used comments by netizens to criticize me, but she had no business doing so, given that more than 1 million people in Taiwan do not have enough to eat right now,” Gou said.
One of the top reasons for his decision to take part in the KMT primary was to debunk the DPP’s fake democracy, “let politics serve the economy” and rebuild peace and prosperity for the Republic of China, Gou said.
“I am the guy to do things pragmatically,” he said.
Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said that the statistics Gou cited did not support that claim.
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