The administration of President William Lai (賴清德) surrendered without a fight in the tariff and currency wars, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) wrote on Facebook yesterday.
Chu also recalled Japan’s asset price bubble in the late 1980s, saying it was an example of economic collapse caused by rapid currency appreciation.
“The yen sharply appreciated due to pressure [from US trade deficit], but the bubble eventually burst, leading to economic collapse and the lost decade [in the 1990s],” Chu said.
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
Similarly, Taiwan is facing a tariff war against the US, but Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) handed a US$100 billion investment to the US on a silver platter ahead of bilateral negotiations, he said.
“That is not a strategic arrangement but a giveaway, or a white flag without a war,” Chu added.
The Lai administration surrendered in the currency war without a fight, which the KMT had been warning about, he said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The New Taiwan dollar has been appreciating from NT$33.2 to below NT$30 against the US dollar over the past few days, Chu said, adding that it was a nearly 10 percent appreciation and that it has caused serious losses to Taiwanese exporters.
“Given that many traditional industries operate on low to moderate margins, a 5 percent appreciation could eat up their profit margin for the year. The steep appreciation within just a few days must have caught small and medium-sized companies off guard and would batter the life insurance industry,” he said.
“While tech and manufacturing industries nationwide are under great pressure, the government is obsessed about creating an optimistic atmosphere that ‘the negotiation went smoothly on the first day’ or ‘the future is under control,’” Chu said, referring to initial Taiwan-US tariff talks.
The Lai administration has been causing internal strife and has been incompetent in external affairs since its inauguration a year ago, he said, referring to the ongoing mass recall campaigns.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in January called for recalls of KMT lawmakers.
The KMT caucus told a news conference yesterday that the Lai administration has been “buttering up” US President Donald Trump since “reciprocal tariffs” were announced last month, while the exchange rate between the New Taiwan dollar and the US dollar skyrocketed by NT$1.462 over the past week.
KMT Legislator Ko Ju-chun (葛如鈞) said the high-tech industrial chain is shifting abroad, as TSMC was investing in the US for free, and Nvidia Corp said it would produce and test its Blackwell chips in Arizona and make its new graphics cards in the US.
The five Taiwanese electronic giants — Wistron Corp (緯創), Asustek Computer (華碩), Gigabyte Technology (技嘉), Delta Electronics (台達電) and Tatung Co (大同) — are also setting up plants in the US, despite the risk of skill drains, he said.
More than 60 percent of Taiwan’s GDP relies on exports, and the increase in tariffs and exchange rates would severely impact industries with relatively low gross profit margins, Ko said.
“The DPP government should tell Taiwanese what such great financial interests of people were traded for in return,” he added.
Separately yesterday, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said the central bank continues to deny that US pressure caused the steep currency appreciation, despite wide international media coverage, adding that it is “making fools out of Taiwanese.”
TPP Legislator Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) cited companies as saying that their first quarter’s profits were wiped out due to the New Taiwan dollar appreciating by NT$1.
The Japanese economy was dragged into a recession for 30 years due to a rapid appreciation in the yen following the country’s signing of the Plaza Accord with the US in 1985, he said, urging Lai to form a strong Cabinet specializing in fiscal affairs.
Additional reporting by Lin Che-yuan
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
A Taiwanese academic yesterday said that Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰) disrespected Denmark and Japan when he earlier this year allegedly asked Japan’s embassy to make Taiwan’s representatives leave an event in Copenhagen. The Danish-language Berlingske on Sunday reported the incident in an article with the headline “The emperor’s birthday ended in drama in Copenhagen: More conflict may be on the way between Denmark and China.” It said that on Feb. 26, the Japanese embassy in Denmark held an event for Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday, with about 200 guests in attendance, including representatives from Taiwan. After addressing the Japanese hosts, Wang
RSS