Chapter 33 Adopt a "legislator"

Regarding the relationship between politics and business in Taiwan, let me tell a story.I went to Taiwan 4 years ago, and the chairman of the Taiwan Construction Trade Union picked me up by car. From Taipei to Taichung, I used a van.I thought at the time, usually a car should be picked up, how to pick up with a van?But it was true that the car drove smoothly, and ran all the way without any trouble.On the way, I couldn't help asking him, "Why are you running so fast, aren't you afraid of copying the license plate?" He smiled and said that the car belonged to a "legislator" (a relative of their family is a "legislator"), and the front of the car There is a sign that no one dares to stop this car, but "legislators" work for the common people and cannot be equipped with luxury cars, so they are usually vans, and sometimes they are used for elections.Therefore, "legislators" have great particularity, and there is an "adoption" relationship between "legislators" and entrepreneurs.He said that in Taiwan, an entrepreneur needs to adopt some "legislators".The adoption fee is about 20 million Taiwan dollars (about 5 million yuan), just like we adopt children now. After adoption, these people will speak for you in the "Legislative Yuan". "Legislative members" usually have some immunity, just like our deputies to the National People's Congress have judicial immunity.

I was quite curious about this, and I talked to him a lot about the election.He said that in Taiwan, he was very busy. There were several conferences in mainland China. We invited him, but he didn't come. Why?He said that he will participate in the election. On the one hand, he must be present during the election, because he holds the titles of dozens of chambers of commerce and councils. Why does he hold so many titles?He said, the more I have, the more activities I participate in, the votes of these groups are in my hands, and those politicians have to beg me.election time.They came to eat with me. If I want to support him, then I will mobilize these councils and so many associations to vote.

Another time when we were eating in Taichung, his company had a restaurant, and he asked me to sit at the main seat. He said that Chen Shui-bian once came to him to collect donations, and he sat at this seat for dinner.For the campaign, Chen Shui-bian would come over to have dinner with him and take pictures with him, because he represents so many associations.Recently, I have been asking some entrepreneurs in Taiwan how they will respond during the election period.They generally take two attitudes, which is very interesting.One is that you must participate, you must wager. For example, Ma Ying-jeou and Hsieh Chang-ting, the former is the Kuomintang, and the latter is the Democratic Progressive Party. He said that I have to suppress them. I just support you and suppress you, but I don't suppress competitors.He said that this is very difficult. The difficulty lies in the fact that you have suppressed them all, but if you clearly tell the other party that you have suppressed one.

In fact, the candidates for the election also know in their hearts that it is difficult to know that enterprises are difficult, so everyone just walks along like this, knowing each other well, and not breaking this layer.So he said that probably every time a "president" is elected, one person has to pay three to four million.Another attitude is to hide, hide from elections.Because there are too many elections, there are "Legislative Yuan" elections, mayoral elections, and "presidential" elections, all of which are gambled, and the burden is too heavy, so some Taiwanese entrepreneurs go abroad when the election season comes, or "get sick" and hide , hide from apportionment.Taiwan has a set of game rules (hidden rules) on how companies give money to politicians during elections. Unlike Japan and the United States, there are laws that clearly stipulate through which channels and how to give money.So they all give in private. There are some restrictions on the surface, but they give a lot in private.These political leaders took the money and went to help him choose through local Jiaotou (Jiaotou is a local powerful figure, or a big brother of the underworld).This is a way of relationship between Taiwan's current business community and politicians.

But even if adopting and betting, it is difficult for politicians to cover everything and put everything on balance.I met the boss of another big family in Taiwan. He said that the way his family handles it is four brothers, one for each, and one brother for the Democratic Progressive Party. One brother oppresses the Kuomintang and only hangs out with the Kuomintang every day; one is exclusively oppressing the mainland;Their family is at home now, and the four brothers are very professional.The ones I saw were those who overwhelmed the mainland. They have been guarding the mainland for almost 20 years, but it has really been smooth sailing.

Therefore, under this kind of government-business relationship, the business community is actually very troubled, and it is a matter of great pressure.These stories show that Taiwan's political and business relations have actually changed from the regime that allocated resources and determined the behavior of enterprises under authoritarian rule to the regime, corporate interest groups, and local forces that jointly game and allocate these resources.This is the reality when Taiwan's per capita GDP is around US$15,000.