Ko Wen-je Has No Skin in His Business Proposal, While Terry Gou Faces a Moral Quandary

 Ko Wen-je Has No Skin in His Business Proposal, While Terry Gou Faces a Moral Quandary

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

August 5, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

Ko Wen-je has announced that he would organize a new political party, winning him high conversation volume on social media, becoming the talk of the town. Nevertheless, in the inaugural meeting tomorrow (August 6^th), the best actor Terry Gou, for whom a seat has been reserved, will not be present. The "Gou-Ko ticket" sounds earth-shaking, but many obstacles have yet to be conquered. The crux of the matter is that Ko Wen-je’s setting up a political party is a sure-win business with no skin in the game, but Terry Gou, however, must face an extremely high moral risk and responsibility for success or failure. It is obviously a proposition completely out of proportion.

The most desirable calculation for Ko Wen-je at present is: Terry Gou will head the ticket in the presidential race, while Ko will remain in City Hall. Through alliance and Internet popularity, the two men, galvanizing the third force everywhere on the island, could garner over a dozen legislators, in the Legislative Yuan; thus, in the future, "Chairman Ko" would be able to possess considerable influence in the Parliament. Ko needs an alliance with Terry Gou because Ko Wen-je’s current ranking in opinion polls is between second and third; he must coalesce with Terry Gou, an ace hitter, in order to gain a plus; nobody can say for sure that perhaps this team would be so strong to reverse the trend and score a big win.

Once Terry Gou agrees to form an alliance with Ko Wen-je, Gou would become the stepping stone for Ko Wen-je, and could also be the ladder for him to step down. If the Gou-Ko coalition should win, Terry Gou would become president, and Ko Wen-je a "king-maker"; Ko could remain at City Hall participating in the affairs of state in both the Presidential Palace and the Parliament, remote-controlling legislators of the Taiwan People’s Party in Parliament in his capacity as chairman of the party. Thus, Terry Gou would be Ko’s stepping stone. If Terry Gou should lose, Ko Wen-je could still coalesce some legislators through elections, and receive for Taiwan People’s Party tens of millions or even close to a hundred million dollars in subsidies for his political party for his use. Thus, even a pretext could be found for entering national election while remaining at City Hall. This would be the ladder for Ko Wen-je to step down. This calculation of Ko Wen-je is a sure-fire business without any skin in the game.

However, viewed from Terry Guo’s perspective, this proposition could be calculated in different ways. This general election is bound to be a hard-fought battle; besides putting up money and efforts, Terry Gou himself has to bet his lifetime reputation, hook, line, and sinker.

If Terry Gou should represent the Taiwan People’s Party to run for president, he could face three moral risks: one is betraying his pledge of loyalty to the KMT; the second is losing the "Republic of China" which has always been on his mind; the third is the third force cannot overtake Blue and Green, and conversely miring Taiwan’s society in tri-polarization. With such a scenario, Terry Gou’s run, even if victorious, would lose its legitimacy.

Ko Wen-je’s business proposal with no skin in the game, would hide, however, a moral quandary for Terry Gou; with a small misstep, Gou would fall into a deep abyss of destroying both his popularity and reputation.

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