TransAsia Crisis: KMT blames Tsai for airline debacle

‘ECONOMICALLY VICTIMIZED’: One KMT official said the president has hung the private sector out to dry by not recognizing the effects of a decline in Chinese tourists

By Lu Yi-hsuan and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer





The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday blamed the government for TransAsia Airways’ demise, saying President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) cross-strait policy and a decline in the number of Chinese tourists were responsible for the airline’s dissolution.

Although TransAsia “admittedly has internal problems,” the losses incurred by the declining number of Chinese tourists that occurred under the Tsai administration made TransAsia vulnerable, as cross-strait travel comprised 40 percent of the airline’s operations, KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director Tang Te-ming (唐德明) said at a news conference.

TransAsia, an ailing company founded in 1951, is estimated to have paid nearly NT$1.2 billion (US$37.6 million) in compensation to victims and their families of two deadly crashes in July 2014 and February last year.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Culture and Communications Committee deputy director Hung Meng-kai speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times

“The Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] government’s policies have led to a cooling of cross-strait relations, which affected cross-strait flights. Those issues were probably the last straw for TransAsia,” Tang said, citing a recent poll that showed Tsai’s disapproval rating has climbed to nearly 60 percent and identified her cross-strait policy as causing the “suffering of the public.”

The number of Chinese tourists showed annual declines of 15 percentage points in July, 33 percentage points in August and 38 percentage points in September, KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said.

Statistics have shown that the average Chinese tourist spends about US$295 on goods and services during their stay in Taiwan, with the decline of 100,000 Chinese tourists in September causing a loss of NT$900 million for the nation’s tourism industry, Hung said, adding that at this rate, “losses for the year will total NT$12 billion.”

The Tsai administration has “economically victimized” the private sector, Hung said, adding: “Tsai should accept the fact that the number of Chinese tourists has dropped by a significant amount and stop leading the nation with ideology.”

Beijing has imposed a series of punitive measures against the DPP government over its refusal to acknowledge the so-called “1992 consensus,” such as suspending official cross-strait communication mechanisms and reducing the number of Chinese tourists allowed to visit Taiwan.

The “1992 consensus” refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means. Former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted to making up the term in 2000.

TransAsia had more passengers in the first three quarters of this year than it did last year and in 2014, suggesting that Chinese tourists had “little effect” on its business, DPP Legislator Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) said.

“TransAsia’s sudden suspension of flights and ensuing dissolution should be seen as a reflection of its flight safety practices, corporate mismanagement and the allocation of its funds. It is not a situation that can be attributed to a single factor,” Wang said.

“The KMT has not conducted any research to back up its claims that the fall in the number of Chinese tourists and the Tsai administration are to blame,” he said. “It is not a political party accustomed to using its brain.”