EDITORIAL: Price to pay

Kevin Tsai (蔡康永), former host of the variety show Here Comes Kangxi (康熙來了), on Sunday last week attended a campaign event of Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋), the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) candidate for Taipei mayor. Chinese on social media expressed outrage.

Tsai, who was born in Taipei and is a second-generation waishengren (Mainlander) whose parents were from Shanghai, like some other Taiwanese entertainers, has a substantial following in China.

Given his background, people on the other side of the Taiwan Strait were under the impression that he was pan-blue, although Tsai had not explicitly identified himself with either political camp.

One thing about him that Chinese might not be aware of is that during the Martial Law era, Tsai was the editor of a school magazine. He received two demerits and nearly got expelled for encouraging his classmates to write about the 228 Incident. In an interview with TVBS in 2005, he said that as a child of the privileged class, he felt guilty toward those who had suffered and wanted more people to know the truth.

Chinese audiences feel betrayed by Tsai’s attendance at Shen’s event because the lawmaker was named on Beijing’s list of “die-hard Taiwan independence separatists” in October 2024.

While Tsai said he wanted to hear all sides and that he did not speak, his attendance alone was interpreted by Chinese critics as supporting independence.

Chinese government-linked social media accounts began mobilizing a boycott of Tsai. Without naming him, they warned that entertainers who profit from the Chinese market while “flirting with Taiwan independence” would “pay a price too heavy to bear.” A commentary published by the Chinese-language United Daily News, which was later removed, described one of the Chinese accounts as having “drawn a blade.”

Several Chinese businesses have distanced themselves from Tsai, while the Chinese propaganda machine pressed on with the attacks, with a social media commentary platform affiliated with the People’s Daily overseas edition naming Tsai, and saying he had failed to admit wrongdoing or distance himself from Taiwanese independence advocates.

While Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), who is seeking re-election as the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate, was not concerned that Tsai attended the Shen event, KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) was stunned by it. She asked whether he is ready to give up his “massive commercial interests” in China.

Chiang said he respects Tsai’s decision to endorse whoever he feels like and invited Tsai to attend one of his own campaign events. He said that everyone is free to make their own choices and their freedom should not be interfered with in any form.

By contrast, Cheng distanced herself from Tsai, saying they were not friends and that she had no idea why he attended Shen’s event or whether he supported the DPP candidate. She added that Shen is no ordinary DPP politician, but someone with “a very clearly defined political stance.”

By associating with Shen, Tsai runs a great risk of being boycotted, she said.

While Chiang knows the right things to say as an election looms, Cheng, as leader of the KMT, seems to believe that political ideals are tradable items and that only a fool would give up their own interests.

Are national interests and sovereignty also up for sale in her mind?

Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑), using a Chinese idiom, said he was shocked by Cheng’s willingness to meekly accept humiliation.

The shamelessness of the KMT is plain to see.

For all of its bluster, the Chinese propaganda machine got one thing correct: National sovereignty is a matter of principle with “no room for ambiguity.” Those who “sit on the fence and go wherever the wind blows” would eventually pay an “unbearable price.”

Next month’s nine-in-one elections are fewer than 50 days away. The opportunists who think they are betting on the winning side while flirting with the Chinese Communist Party might be the ones to face a “price too heavy to bear.”