TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- Foxconn tycoon and Kuomintang (KMT) presidential candidate Terry Gou (郭台銘) on Wednesday (June 26) said that Want Want Group chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) is the "hatchet man" (打手) and "lackey" (狗腿) of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO).
During a visit to Kaohsiung's Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum on Wednesday, a reporter from Want Want Group-owned CtiTV News (中天電視) asked him if he was really "unafraid of the China threat" and if his comment during a televised KMT debate "Who is afraid of whom" was true, reported Liberty Times. Initially, Gou did not respond to the question, but later turned to the reporter and said, "Tell the Taiwan Affairs Office to give instructions to your boss to stop asking me this question."
As he started to walk away, Gou admonished the reporter, "Ask your conscience, are you for the Republic of China? Or for Taiwan?" Then, as Gou boarded a shuttle bus to visit another building in the sprawling Buddhist complex, he said, "Ask your Boss Tsai."
After a pause, Gou then said, "The Taiwan Affairs Office hatchet man and lackey," reported CNA. Following a meetting with Fo Guang Shan’s Master Hsing Yun (星雲法師), the CtiTV reporter then asked if he had any evidence to point to the TAO influencing Taiwan's media.
This time, Gou gently emphasized to the CtiTV reporter this his previous remarks were "aimed at your boss, not at you." He then said, "Don't ask any more questions at this holy Buddhist sanctuary," reported Liberty Times.
As of publication, CtiTV News has yet to respond to Gou's accusations.