Taiwan Mayor Chiang Wan-an's food safety criticism sparks political row

Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an has sharply criticized the central government's approach to food safety, highlighting Taipei's extensive inspection record. During an interview, Chiang stated that Taipei conducts over 70,000 food safety inspections annually, significantly more than the over 40,000 inspections in Tainan and Kaohsiung, which are governed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). He questioned whether President Lai Ching-te finds this disparity acceptable.

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I want you to step down, not to have a cup of tea with you.

Chiang also called for the central government to implement comprehensive benzene pyrene testing across the board, noting that Taipei has already initiated such tests and obtained preliminary results. He implied that the central government's inaction on this front is a failing. However, media personality Jan Ling-yu countered these claims, accusing Chiang of misrepresenting the situation and targeting the central government to mask his own administration's shortcomings.

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This is what Chiang Wan-an is like now. The evidence of inspection failures is right in front of him, but he directs all his firepower at the central government, distorting right and wrong, talking nonsense, as if the oil was refined by the Executive Yuan.

Jan Ling-yu alleged on Facebook that Chiang's criticisms are a deliberate deflection from evidence of his administration's inspection failures. She described his accusations as "distorting right and wrong" and "talking nonsense," likening it to blaming the Executive Yuan for issues with cooking oil. Jan further pointed out Chiang's use of past DPP criticisms against the central government from 2014, arguing that this logic backfires as the KMT controlled the central government then.

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Mayor, in 2014, the ruling party was Ma Ying-jeou; the central government being scolded back then was the KMT itself. Using the words they used to scold you is equivalent to admitting that you did poorly back then. What kind of logic is this that your aide helped you think of?

According to Jan, Chiang's public stance is not genuinely about food safety but a strategic move to secure a presidential candidacy for 2028. She believes Chiang is capitalizing on the political vacuum left by other KMT figures, using public anxiety over food safety as fuel for his own political ambitions. "The people's food safety anxiety has become his personal rally fuel; his intentions are obvious to everyone," Jan wrote, concluding that Taipei residents elected a mayor who is preoccupied with running for president.

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To put it bluntly, the July 25th demonstration on Ketagalan Boulevard was not about food safety at all, but Chiang Wan-an's qualification test for the leadership. With Lu Shiow-yen mired in trouble, he seized the KMT's stage. The louder he scolds, the closer the ticket for 2028 becomes. The people's food safety anxiety has become his personal rally fuel; his intentions are obvious to everyone. Taipei people elected a mayor, and he is busy running for president.