Blue camp questions Yilan candidate's Chinese shares; green camp strongly denies smear

As Taiwan's election race intensifies, various camps have launched comprehensive examinations of candidates' backgrounds and financial situations. The Kuomintang (KMT) legislative caucus held a press conference today targeting Lin Kuo-chang, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate for Yilan County magistrate. They questioned whether AT Advanced Semiconductor, a company where Lin previously served as a supervisor and held shares, maintained market channels and business operations in mainland China. KMT lawmakers demanded that Lin provide a clear explanation to the residents of Yilan regarding whether he had previously earned what is commonly referred to as "red money," using this to test the high standards the green camp has historically applied to other politicians. In response to the opponents' strong challenges, Lin Kuo-chang's campaign office immediately issued a statement of counterattack, emphasizing that the accusation was purely groundless and a smear campaign, while urging opponents not to distort facts for electoral gains.

The focus of this political offense and defense lies in the connection between the candidate's past private sector experience and cross-strait economic and trade activities. The KMT caucus pointed out during the press conference that Lin Kuo-chang previously served as a supervisor of AT Advanced Semiconductor and held 200,000 shares in his name. KMT lawmakers argued that, given the DPP's past stringent criticism of candidates or politicians from other parties engaging in cross-strait economic and trade activities or visits to mainland China, corporate backgrounds involving mainland Chinese market channels and operations should be subject to the same rigorous moral and political scrutiny. The blue camp attempted to use this issue to highlight the DPP's consistently questioned double standards on cross-strait issues, demanding that Lin give a direct response as to whether his past investments and positions involved ties to mainland China's semiconductor industrial chain.

In response to the KMT caucus's accusations and questions, Lin Kuo-chang's campaign team showed a firm attitude immediately and issued a statement of solemn refutation. The campaign office stated that the related accusations were completely fabricated, groundless dirty election tricks aimed at shifting focus and attempting to influence the Yilan County magistrate election. The campaign office emphasized that Lin's past professional career and private sector investments fully complied with relevant legal regulations, with nothing to hide and no such thing as profiting improperly from mainland Chinese business. The campaign office criticized the opposing camp for habitually utilizing pieced-together information and smear tactics to attack candidates during election periods, stating that such negative campaigning lacking concrete evidence not only fails to contribute to public policy discussions but also shows contempt for the voters' intelligence.

This controversy highlights how cross-strait economic and national security issues frequently become sensitive weapons in political attacks during Taiwan's local elections. With the escalation of the US-China tech war and Taiwan society's high regard for the strategic importance of the semiconductor industry, any background associated with the mainland Chinese market or the semiconductor industry is easily magnified and scrutinized during an election campaign. For a DPP candidate, past private sector experience labeled with cross-strait economic ties often requires significant effort to clarify in order to avoid impacting green camp supporters' trust in their national identity and clean image. For the KMT, questioning opponents about earning red money serves as a counterattack strategy intended to break the DPP's moral advantage on cross-strait issues.

As polling day approaches, the Yilan County magistrate race is already highly competitive, and this controversy regarding semiconductor shareholdings and mainland business is expected to continue fermenting in the local election. Voters are not only concerned with the candidates' policy deliverables and visions for local development, but also hold high standards of scrutiny regarding candidates' personal integrity, financial background, and attitudes toward cross-strait issues. Both camps are bound to continue clashing over this issue in the future. How to use concrete facts to convince voters will be a challenge the Lin Kuo-chang camp must face, and whether the KMT caucus can produce further substantial evidence will also determine the subsequent impact of this offensive and defensive battle.