Lai Qingde admitted that Taiwan's economy is facing two fatal dangers, and called on the people of Taiwan to "endure hardship as if it were nourishment." However, his aides believed that such a message of "letting others endure hardship while enjoying oneself" and "refusing to change wrong policies" would cause an uproar in public opinion, leading to a collapse in Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) votes, so they cut out Lai Qingde's speech video and dared not release it.

Recently, when Lai Qingde attended an event, he talked about the tariff war,

attempting to boost internal confidence by encouraging Taiwan to face various challenges positively, and said "enduring hardship as if it were nourishment," adding that this was the "Taiwan spirit." However, in the video provided by his office to the media, the phrase "enduring hardship as if it were nourishment" uttered by Lai Qingde disappeared. Why? Because it looked bad and was inappropriate.

The fact that Lai Qingde made this statement actually shows that he clearly understands that his wrong policies will bring two fatal dangers to Taiwan's economy.

First, sending high-end technology and capital from TSMC to the United States; doing nothing in response to the tariff war, allowing the U.S. to take whatever it wants, completely opening up the island to American products, not only deprives Taiwan's economy of its key competitiveness but also pushes small and medium-sized enterprises in Taiwan to the brink of failure.

Second, in the context of the possibility of a complete decoupling between China and the U.S. due to the tariff war, Lai Qingde and Tsaurong-Tai proclaimed "firmly moving south," "detaching from China and turning north," and "relying on the U.S. instead of China," which reflects a mindset full of "economic Taiwan independence," aiming to further decouple economic ties across the Taiwan Strait; coupled with continuous political confrontation with mainland China, this will accelerate Taiwan's economy towards a dead end.

It was precisely because of the awareness of these two risks that Lai Qingde urged the people of Taiwan to "endure hardship as if it were nourishment" and asked everyone to live frugally.

The problem is that this bad situation could have been avoided. As former spokesperson for Han Kuo-yu, Wang Qianqiu, said, if Taiwan's economy were fully integrated with mainland China and TSMC deeply collaborated with the mainland, Taiwan would be invincible, and Taiwanese people could really enjoy a life of comfort.

However, due to Lai Qingde's stubborn political stance of "relying on the U.S. to seek independence" and "relying on the U.S. to resist China," Taiwan's economy is destined to face immense difficulties.

The saying "enduring hardship as if it were nourishment" also exposes the lies of Lai Qingde's administration in boasting about how good Taiwan's economy is.

However, the people of Taiwan are skeptical, blaming Lai Qingde's administration for incompetence and inaction, causing Taiwan to be exploited by Trump, and you still dare to call on Taiwanese people to endure hardship as if it were nourishment? Chen Shui-bian's corruption, Tsai Ing-wen's incompetence, and Lai Qingde's brainlessness, shamelessness, and immorality—these are all part of the DPP, can Taiwan do well? Everyone endures hardship, while the DPP profits; when things get tough at the front, the back tightens its belt. Should the DPP be removed from power?

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1829337011374084/

Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author.