Taichung Councilors Clash over Mooncake Orders and Alleged Political Showmanship

A dispute over Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake orders in Taichung has turned into a political fight over public money, welfare groups and the meaning of a canceled order.

City councilors Chen Yu-jung and Chen Shu-hua said the Taichung government had instructed departments to purchase 1,578 boxes from five groups, at a cost of about NT$510,000. Chen questioned whether the purchases represented genuine support or a political task carried out with departmental funds to promote Mayor Lu Shiow-yen.

The councilors linked the dispute to cuts by Kuomintang and Taiwan People’s Party lawmakers to the Presidential Office’s confidential affairs budget. Chen said the cuts affected orders for about 15,000 mooncake boxes from 37 sheltered workshops nationwide. She argued that without the budget reduction, the workshops would not have needed what she called a mooncake rescue effort.

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The Presidential Office canceled the orders, Taichung takes the orders.

Chen said Mayor Lu had repeatedly used the phrase “The Presidential Office canceled the orders, Taichung takes the orders,” while criticizing Deputy Mayor Cheng Chao-hsin for defending the wording on Facebook and calling it neutral. After Chen requested detailed procurement records, she said one department urgently reclaimed 345 boxes that same day, which she described as effectively canceling the order.

Cheng denied that the city had canceled any mooncake orders. He said departments might not report purchases immediately, but maintained that all orders placed by the city government with social welfare groups remained in place.

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Canceled orders is just a neutral term.