Source: China News Network
According to comprehensive Taiwan media reports, the hometown of Lai Qingde, the Democratic Progressive Party's candidate for leadership in the Taiwan region, has recently become a hot topic on the island. The house was caught in a storm of illegal construction and tax evasion, and the controversy has been burning for many months. In the face of relevant doubts, Lai Qingde denied it to the end, and recently said that he was willing to hand over the house to a charitable trust as a "memorial to the life of miners". In this regard, some netizens on the island questioned "will it become legal if the illegal construction donation is made", and some Taiwan media commented that this move is "a fig leaf used by the DPP to bleaching in violation of regulations".
Lai Qingde is located in his hometown in Wanli District, New Taipei City. Image source: Taiwan's "United Daily News"
"Lai Pi Liao" became popular: soldiers stood guard 24 hours a day, and people on the island organized groups to check in
At the beginning of September this year, Lai Qingde's hometown in Wanli District, New Taipei City, was exposed to illegal construction. Although Lai denied it, the New Taipei City Government said that "the explanation that it was confirmed to be illegal construction by the current investigation has not changed." The New Taipei City Tax Department said on October 31 that after checking the relevant tax records, it found that the house was built in 2003 and has not applied for a relevant license. On November 1, New Taipei City Councilor Ye Yuanzhi further broke the news that Lai Qingde had not even paid the land price tax, and New Taipei City Councilor Lin Guochun named Lai Qingde for "tax evasion" during the general questioning of the council on the same day, and Chen Ronggui, director of the New Taipei City Finance Bureau, called on Lai to declare in accordance with the "Housing Tax Regulations" as soon as possible, or provide relevant tax payment records.
However, more than 3 months have passed, Lai Qingde's hometown involved in illegal construction is still unmoving, and it has recently been revealed that there are soldiers standing guard 24 hours a day, in addition to assisting in environmental cleaning, there is a mysterious hut on the side, suspected to be a soldier's office, and there are police officers who sign in to patrol from time to time. Some Taiwanese netizens directly set up the place as a check-in point and named it "Laipiliao", and even the nearby green space was marked as "Laipi Park", and some people changed the name of Google Maps in Lai's hometown to "Laipi Village", and it was also reported that some people wanted to enter the small garden next to the building but were stopped by security personnel. However, the relevant label was removed soon after it was put on the shelves, and it was also ridiculed by netizens that "it is good to dismantle it so quickly".
Taiwanese netizens changed their name to "Lai Pi Liao" on Google Maps. Image source: Taiwan's "China Times"
Lai Qingde played the "warmth card" and the people were difficult to buy: "tears" were outstanding
In the face of doubts, Lai Qingde choked up and cried in front of the camera many times, playing the "warmth card", but the people didn't seem to buy it. Ma Ying-jeou, the former leader of the Taiwan region, said that Lai Qingde's home in Wanli, New Taipei City, was an illegal building, and he was not demolished and shed tears, which made him feel very strange. When Lai was the mayor of Tainan, he showed no mercy to the demolition households of the Southern Railway, and the elderly in their 90s were required to move within two hours. He is very lenient with himself, and he presents double standards with others. "What's there to cry about, it's good to move, isn't it?"
In addition, Lai Qingde said on the 20th that he was willing to hand over the house to a charitable trust as a "memorial hall for miners' life". Kuomintang 2024 campaign spokesman Ling Tao bitterly criticized Lai Qingde for treating himself as a god, Lai Qingde's "out-of-print house" will not be demolished for 107 days, and its solution is actually to trust it into a memorial, which will become the world's first and Asia's first "Taiwan's legal illegal memorial", he questioned, is it legal to donate all illegal matters in the future? Could it be that the egg dealer who sells the problematic eggs says "I donate it", is it not guilty? All the Taiwanese people see it in their eyes and absolutely have no way to accept it.
In response to Lai Qingde's operation, many netizens left messages saying that "out of 'tears' to excel", "will illegal construction donations become legal", "shameless invincible", "always cheating".
Lai Qingde. Taiwan's "China Times News Network" data map
Public opinion on the island: The DPP's various deficiencies in governance have caused a breach in Lai's hometown
Huang Zhixian, a veteran media personality in Taiwan, pointed out in his analysis that the DPP is not at all soft in tracking down the Kuomintang's party property, depriving the Zhongtian TV station of its license, and cracking down on dissidents. Tsai Ing-wen's government has been in power for eight years, and real estate has risen to the point where working-class people cannot afford to buy a house. It is only natural that Lai Qingde's 10,000-mile old house has become a breach for the people to vent their emotions against the Taiwan authorities.
She said that the DPP is only interested in the matter of "resisting China." In order to "resist China," even cross-strait tourism must be blocked with all its might. It has been almost 4 years since Su Zhenchang unilaterally announced in January 2020 that mainland tour groups would be banned from Taiwan, and the island's tourism industry has been exhausted. But the DPP still feels good about itself, and it is still very strange and indifferent, which is really peculiar.
Taiwan's "United Daily News" commented that as early as 2012, Su Jiaquan, who was running for the president and deputy leader of Taiwan with Tsai Ing-wen, was also involved in the controversy of illegally building farmhouses, and finally decided to donate it to the Changzhi Township Office for free and designated it as a local public welfare purpose, hoping to stop the bleeding for the election. It seems that the DPP has used public welfare donations as a fig leaf for illegal bleaching.
The commentary pointed out that behind all kinds of controversies, the most criticized abuse of power, self-righteousness and double standards in the past few years of the DPP's administration are highlighted. Lai Qingde was labeled as "Lai Piliao", and I am afraid it will be difficult to wash it off. (Source: China News Network)