The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday accused President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of applying double standards, saying that her criticism in 2008 of former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration consumer voucher program could apply to the stimulus coupons that her administration is launching next month.
In a statement, the KMT showed a Facebook post on Nov. 19, 2008, by Tsai about the consumer vouchers, in which each person was to receive paper vouchers with a combined face value of NT$3,600 the following year in the wake of the global financial crisis.
Tsai, who was then the chairperson of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), wrote that the administrative costs of issuing the vouchers would be high, that the time it took from the policy’s finalization to its execution was relatively long, and that there were risks of counterfeit vouchers or people exchanging the vouchers for cash, KMT Culture and Communications Committee chairwoman Alicia Wang (王育敏) said in the statement.
Tsai suggested that the government should instead offer tax rebates and provide subsidies for disadvantaged groups, and give citizens cash directly, saying that these measures would be quicker and more effective, Wang said.
The arguments Tsai made 12 years ago can be applied to today’s stimulus coupon program, Wang said, adding that the central government has taken too long to finalize its stimulus program.
Just as Tsai criticized the delays in the consumer voucher program, the central government has missed a “golden opportunity” to slow the economic decline, she said.
Counterfeit coupons are also a risk and public discussion of ways to exchange the exchange the coupons for cash is widespread, Wang said.
Tsai criticized the Ma administration’s economic policy as being “haphazard,” “disorganized” and “directionless,” she said.
Those comments are an accurate “prediction” of the “mess” that characterizes the Tsai administration’s COVID-19 relief efforts, she added.
She urged Tsai to “reflect,” and to not use a different set of standards as the ruling party, compared with when she was in the opposition.
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