Sunday, October 19, 2014

Lien in desperate move: Ko= economic doom!

FormosaNation on Twitter, who has been doing a great job tracking the Taipei mayor election, passed this glorious moment around. Here is Sean Lien, the KMT mayoral candidate for Taipei, announcing that if he isn't elected, the economy is doomed. People on Twitter pointed out that his solution is the same as Ma's: more China. That might have played in 2008. It won't play now. The government's insistence on failed China policies has backfired on one of the KMT's most critical claims in maintaining electoral superiority: the claim that it can deliver on the economy. Clearly, with Ma in office nearly six years, and the legislature controlled by the KMT, this was the time to show that was true. It's obvious to everyone that has failed.

Surely the Lien Campaign has to be one of the worst run campaigns in the history of the island's democracy.

For ordinary people, economy is in the dumps. Polls consistently show that Taiwanese are willing to take higher-paying jobs in China. I met a friend who is a buyer in the electronics industry this week, and he was telling me that Chinese electronics firms offer pay 3-5 times higher, or more, to lure key staffers to China. Once they have squeezed their knowledge out of them, they dump them after a couple of years. That higher paying jobs are widely available in China shows how hard the government has worked to keep wages low -- perhaps one purpose of this policy was to force Taiwanese to move to China.
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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

RE: Lien, it's as if the KMT has become senile in their efforts.

Speaking of which, there is a good outline of the Lien family here. Even if you know the history, its an interesting read. I think this was written by the same person that contributed that immigration piece you linked to.

Anonymous said...

Another link that may be the start of something bigger: Japan Caves to China on Senkaku Island Dispute

Abe would first reassert that the Senkaku Islands are an inherent part of Japanese territory, but then “acknowledge that China has a case as well” to the islands.

...The Japanese government has always refused to acknowledge that a territorial dispute even exists with China over the Senkaku Islands..

Anonymous said...

Well would you look at that, now Ko has his own volunteer team of 1,500 poll station watchers.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2014/10/20/2003602494