This is the 123rd issue of "Bay Area Lookout".
Guo Zhihui's controversy
Zhuo Rongtai, the head of the administrative department-designate in Taiwan (16th), announced yesterday a new batch of personnel appointments to the administrative team, among which Guo Zhihui, chairman of Taiwan's Chongyue Group, will be appointed as the head of the economic department. Taiwan media described that Guo Zhihui, who is 71 years old and has never been involved in politics, was appointed as a "big dark horse" in personnel appointments.
Interestingly, as soon as Guo Zhihui was appointed, Wang Hongwei, a representative of the Chinese Kuomintang, broke the news that Guo Zhihui had helped the mainland to establish a wafer factory, and today (17th) she also held a press conference with Huang Jianhao, a representative of the Democratic People's Republic of China, saying that Chongyue Group and its subsidiaries have set up factories in various parts of the mainland, covering 12 major cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Shenzhen, and Wuhan, and have also registered 5 subsidiaries in the mainland, saying that Lai Qingde recruited the "red capitalists" in the mouth of the DPP into the administrative team.
Source: Hong Kong "China Review Press"
Wang Hongwei's revelations fell on the DPP's "double standard" of "smearing" others at will, saying that during the election in the Taiwan region, the green camp launched a flank and network army to attack Guo Taiming's investment in the mainland, and it was his turn to appoint the head of the economic department, but he turned a blind eye to his layout in the mainland, "If this is Guo Taiming, the flank network army would not know where to wash it for a long time."
Objectively speaking, Wang Hongwei's revelations did not break out of the vicious circle of vicious fighting between political parties on the island, nor did he see the general trend of cross-strait economic and trade exchanges and the dependence of the island's economic development on the mainland, but only pulled out the details and used words to achieve the effect of attacking the DPP's "shield" with the DPP's "spear." You Shuhui, a member of the Taipei City Council, who is also in the blue camp, saw it more clearly, saying in a political discussion program that Guo Zhihui should teach the DPP authorities how important cross-strait economic and trade exchanges are to the Taiwan region, and that they should not always think about "resisting the mainland" and scolding the mainland while making money from the mainland.
Of course, Lai Qingde's appointment of Guo Zhihui does not mean that he wants to improve economic and trade relations with the mainland. After all, when Tsai Ing-wen first took office eight years ago, she also appointed Lin Quan and other "old blue boys," and the outside world also had an optimistic attitude, thinking that Tsai Ing-wen might not hold on to the "god card" of "Taiwan independence," but the fact is that Tsai Ing-wen refused to recognize the "92 Consensus" during her eight years in power, and cross-strait relations fell to a freezing point. And this time, Lai Qingde appointed Guo Zhihui more because of his background in the technology industry.
Guo Zhihui (data map) Source: Taiwan's "Vision" magazine
At the press conference on the 16th, Guo Zhihui said, "Because I am from the people, I feel a lot about the 'five shortages' (lack of water, lack of electricity, lack of land, lack of work, lack of talent)", the speech was brief, but it did hit the "pain points" of the people's livelihood on the island. In addition, some Taiwanese media analysis pointed out that in addition to being familiar with the semiconductor industry, Guo Zhihui's Chongyue Group has also been deeply involved in the energy field for many years, integrating its affiliated enterprises Thermaltake Green Power, Jiayi Energy, Jianyue Engineering, and Guangyu Engineering, with a complete solar energy supply chain, EPC turnkey engineering, operation and maintenance team, and cloud monitoring system, accumulating nearly 50MW, more than 100 solar power stations inside and outside the island. As soon as the key words of "semiconductors" and "green energy" came out, one is the pillar industry on the island, and the other is the stubborn disease of people's livelihood brought about by the Democratic Progressive Party's administration. Coupled with the comparison of Wang Meihua, the current supervisor who has no common sense, Lai Qingde's superficial kung fu can be regarded as in place.
However, some Taiwan media analysts pointed out that from the perspective of the whole industry, the economic department is mainly responsible for planning and implementing the economic and trade administration and economic construction business on the island, and is not serving a single industry. In recent years, the DPP's style of relying too much on emerging industries and abandoning traditional industries has led to a large number of unemployed people and public discontent.
And the bigger test actually comes from the political ecology of the island. According to Taiwan media analysis, Guo Zhihui had no experience in public service in the past, and he still needed the assistance of other affairs officials in the operation of relevant departments, and the last person in the business circle to directly upgrade the economic department was Zong Caiyi in February 2002. Zong Caiyi, who had never had experience in public office back then, was strongly questioned by public opinion representatives, and the tragic situation of "hanging up" on the inquiry desk appeared several times, which is still fresh in people's memories. In the end, after only 48 days in office, she resigned after calling herself "a rabbit who mistakenly entered the political forest", and saw if Guo Zhihui could pass the artillery attack of the Mindai.
Guo Zhihui's test
However, judging from Wang Hongwei's first shot of questioning Guo Zhihui, Guo Zhihui's past experience has received so much attention, which is still related to the background of the Sino-US game. One of the manifestations is that Wang Hongwei said that Guo Zhihui helped build factories in the mainland, citing a report by Bloomberg last year. The report said that four Taiwanese manufacturers helped Huawei build factories, and Chongyue was one of them. The jury is still out on whether the news is true or not, but the timing of the Bloomberg report is very delicate. At that time, Huawei had just broken through the technical blockade of the United States and launched a new mobile phone, and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Raimondo inadvertently "endorsed" Huawei.
In an interview with Hong Kong's "China Review Press," Chen Chong, a former responsible person of the administrative department of the Taiwan region, said that the current officials in power in the Taiwan region will not think about what will happen in five or 10 years, and will it be beneficial to only "bet" on the United States and Western countries and give up the mainland market? Taiwan will not rely on trade anymore, but will it be able to survive only by relying on internal consumption? It is very hard, and the market Taiwan wants should be 2.3 billion people, not just 23 million people internally, and if they all choose the United States and other Western countries, or are "friends" defined by the Americans Countries and regions, that will be very troublesome, what should we do next? He said, in fact, even the Americans themselves cannot give up these big markets such as Chinese mainland.
Taiwan media observers believe that controlling "Taiwan independence" is one of the demands of US officials' recent intensive visits to China. US Assistant Secretary of State for Asia and the Pacific Kangda visited China from 14 to 16 July, and in addition to meeting with Chinese diplomats on 15 July, he also met with Qiu Kaiming, deputy director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council. Taiwan media said that Kangda visited China on the eve of Lai Qingde's inauguration and met with the deputy director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, a move that was "rare".
Not only officials of the State Department system, on the evening of April 16, Defense Secretary Dong Jun had a video call with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the request. This is the first meeting between the Chinese and US defense ministers in 17 months, and it also marks the complete resumption of high-level exchanges between the Chinese and US militaries.
High-level exchanges between the Chinese and U.S. militaries were interrupted by Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in August 2022, and the decision to resume high-level military exchanges at the China-US summit in Bali in November 2022 was held in Cambodia in November 2022. In February 2023, the US hyped up the balloon incident, which brought high-level exchanges between China and the US military to a deadlock again. At the China-US summit in San Francisco in November 2023, the two heads of state agreed to resume high-level exchanges and dialogues between the two militaries.
During the video call, Dong Jun made clear China's position on the current Taiwan issue. He stressed that the Taiwan issue is the core of China's core interests, and China's core interests must never be damaged. The Chinese People's Liberation Army will never let anything go wrong with all "Taiwan independence" separatist activities and external connivance and support.
According to a notice issued by the Pentagon, Austin reaffirmed that the United States remains committed to the long-standing one-China policy of the United States and reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
As early as November 2022, when the heads of state of China and the United States met in Bali, the Chinese side clearly pointed out that the Taiwan issue is the core of China's core interests, the foundation of the political foundation of China-US relations, and the first red line that cannot be crossed in China-US relations. Anyone who wants to separate Taiwan from China runs counter to China's national interests, and the Chinese people will never agree to it.
When the heads of state of China and the United States met for the second time in San Francisco after a lapse of one year, the Chinese side once again stressed that the Taiwan issue has always been the most important and sensitive issue in China-US relations. China attaches importance to the positive remarks made by the US side at the Bali meeting. The US side should reflect its statement of not supporting "Taiwan independence" in concrete actions, stop arming Taiwan, and support China's peaceful reunification. China will eventually be reunified, and it will be reunified.
Although China has repeatedly stated its position, the US has never put its statement of not supporting "Taiwan independence" into practice. The day after the call, a US P-8A anti-submarine patrol plane sailed through the Taiwan Strait and openly hyped it up.
Senior Colonel Li Xi, spokesman for the Eastern Theater of the People's Liberation Army, said in a statement that the Eastern Theater of the Chinese People's Liberation Army organized fighters to monitor and guard the US plane's transit operations and handle them in accordance with laws and regulations. The troops in the theater are on high alert at all times and resolutely defend national sovereignty, security, and regional peace and stability.
Therefore, Guo Zhihui's test is not so much whether he can withstand the artillery fire of the Republic of China, as analyzed by the Taiwan media, but whether he can deny the general trend of the Sino-US game.
Author丨Li Yi, the chief writer of Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News
Editor丨Guo Jinchi, Editor-in-Chief of Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News