Recently, the situation on the island of Taiwan has aroused widespread attention from the media on both sides of the strait, and it is now less than a month before Lai Qingde takes office, but his deputy Xiao Meiqin is caught in the whirlpool of "privilege transporting wine."
According to a report by Taiwan's local media "United Daily News" on April 22, Hsiao Mei-qin, the incoming deputy leader of the Taiwan region, returned to Taiwan from the United States in March by sea of bootlegging, and used her privilege to ask the "Customs Affairs Department" to exempt herself from inspection.
As the deputy of Taiwan's next leader, Lai Ching-te, Hsiao Mei-qin was not only born in the United States, but also settled in the United States for a long time as Taiwan's "representative to the United States", and this time she shipped back to Taiwan as many as 23 bottles of moonshine from the United States, with a total value of about NT$35,000.
Taiwan's new second-in-command Xiao Meiqin
At the same time, a person familiar with the matter broke the news on social media, saying that Xiao Meiqin specially instructed Taiwan's "Ministry of Foreign Affairs" to let the "Customs Affairs Bureau" exempt the inspection link of its moonshine wine shipped back to Taiwan, and there was even a paper letter leaking, showing that Xiao Meiqin entrusted a local company in Taiwan to handle customs clearance matters.
The revelation caused a big repercussion on the island, because it is very reminiscent of the "special plane illicit cigarette case" that occurred during Tsai Ing-wen's tenure in 2019.
In July 2019, the media on the island revealed that the special service personnel in Taiwan's "Presidential Office" took advantage of their positions to use Tsai Ing-wen's special plane to transport illicit cigarettes, with a total value of more than 10,000 pieces, with a total value of up to NT$6 million.
Tsai Ing-wen's "special plane illicit cigarette case" during her tenure
This was an earth-shattering political scandal at the time, and Tsai Ing-wen's office immediately came forward to clarify, saying that this was just an "overbought" behavior, which meant that the purchase and sale quota was exceeded, and it was not smuggled without permission.
In the end, under the pressure of public opinion, Tsai Ing-wen had to apologize in person, admitting that the cigarettes brought back from overseas were "illegal illicit cigarettes", and the relevant people involved in the case were investigated and dealt with one after another.
Tsai Ing-wen personally apologized
The incident has brought a great negative impact on Tsai Ing-wen's administration, and has also made the corruption problem within the DPP increasingly concerned by the outside world.
Mikoto Mo
Although Xiao Meiqin came forward to explain, she claimed that the liquor she transported was fully in line with the management measures for the transfer of overseas personnel for personal use after the expiration of their term of office, and there was no suspicion of tax evasion.
Some people in the Democratic Progressive Party even defended Xiao Meiqin, claiming that this was a malicious smear by ill-intentioned people with the purpose of interfering with the inauguration ceremony on May 20.
The so-called "ill-intentioned people" naturally refer to the New Party personages who exposed this matter, and of course it is not excluded that the Kuomintang personages who have been quite vocal in the recent past.
Mikoto Mo
However, the matter did not end because of Xiao Meiqin's explanation, on the contrary, some senior media people pointed out that even if Xiao Meiqin's batch of moonshine went through the customs clearance process according to the normal procedures, its customs clearance speed was too fast, and even the process was completed on the same day, which shows that she was given special care.
In fact, no matter what Xiao Meiqin's explanation is, this matter has been considered by the outside world to be a copy of the "special plane illicit cigarette case", which will undoubtedly have a negative impact on her subsequent political career.
At a time when Hsiao Mei-qin was caught in the whirlpool of public opinion, Taiwan's next leader, Lai Ching-te, was in full swing building up his own "Taiwan independence" team, and even demanded that the Taiwan Air Force prepare for war 24 hours a day, as if it wanted to go head-to-head with the mainland.
Lai Qingde
Not long ago, Lai Qingde announced the fifth wave of personnel appointments for his "new cabinet", among which Guan Biling's name is particularly eye-catching.
Because of Guan Biling's practice of disobeying the truth in the previous "Kinmen ship collision incident," the process of cross-strait discussions on the incident has not been able to make any progress for a long time, and there are even many voices inside and outside the island demanding that Guan Biling, who is the chairman of the "Maritime Affairs Commission," step down.
You must know that the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council once criticized Guan Biling by name, so the outside world believes that Lai Qingde's new team will most likely remove Guan Biling.
However, the facts are unexpected, Lai Qingde does not hesitate to accept the pressure of public opinion, and still continues to use Guan Biling, which is undoubtedly sending a signal to the mainland, that is, Lai Qingde will not retreat on the "Kinmen ship collision incident," let alone dismiss his cronies because of this.
Guan Biling
In addition to insisting on going his own way in personnel appointments, Lai Ching-te recently inspected Taiwan's air force units to learn about the "preparations for engagement" and even demanded that the air force be in a state of readiness 24 hours a day.
Lai Ching-te had earlier said that after he took office, he would bring in US technical advisers from within the Taiwan military in order to enhance the combat capability of the Taiwan military, and this was interpreted by the outside world as a signal that the DPP intended to separate the Taiwan military from the Kuomintang.
As everyone knows, Lai Qingde was a notorious "golden grandson of Taiwan independence" as early as when he was Tsai Ing-wen's deputy, and he himself has repeatedly denied the "consensus of '92" and is a representative figure of "leaning on the United States to seek independence."
Therefore, the outside world generally believes that after Lai Qingde formally takes office on 20 May, cross-strait relations will deteriorate further, and the possibility of the outbreak of a "Taiwan war" cannot even be ruled out.
In particular, after the "Kinmen ship collision incident," the two sides of the strait can be said to be in a state of saber rattling, and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has even crossed the so-called "middle line of the Taiwan Strait," leaving the so-called "first strike" of the Taiwan side completely gone.
Now that Lai Qingde has not yet come to power, he has already shown such a tough position, and the follow-up cross-strait relations can be described as precarious.
At the same time, another Taiwanese politician has also attracted a lot of attention recently: Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an.
Recently, Jiang Wanan gave a public interview on whether to abolish the death penalty, and he said that although more than half of the people in Taiwan support the abolition of the death penalty, he personally believes that Taiwan does not have the corresponding conditions at present.
It can be seen that Jiang Wanan rarely agrees with Wang Shijian, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party, on the issue of the abolition of the death penalty, and even has the intention of joining forces to oppose the abolition of the death penalty.
This can't help but make the people on the island sigh that Mayor Jiang will join hands with the DPP one day after all, which shows that it is difficult to distinguish the real from the fake in the political game.
As the great-grandson of Chiang Kai-shek and the grandson of Chiang Ching-kuo, Jiang Wanan has always had high hopes in the Kuomintang since he entered politics, but now that the Kuomintang as a whole is declining, Jiang Wanan, who is still young, is also powerless.
Taking a general view of the situation on the island of Taiwan, it can be said that it is in a complicated state of internal and external difficulties, and this is precisely the result of the DPP's obstinate obstinacy and the cocooning of Taiwan independence elements; in the long run, the DPP authorities will inevitably begin to disintegrate from within, and the general trend of peaceful reunification between the two sides of the strait is just around the corner.
Information sources:
In response to the controversy over the abolition of the death penalty, Jiang Wanan stated: Taiwan currently has no conditions for abolishing the death penalty 2024-04-23 15:44·Global.com
Xiao Meiqin was bombed and returned to Taiwan to ask for exemption from inspection, and the DPP authorities actually involved "cognitive warfare" 2024-04-24 06:39·Global.com