However tedious Taiwan's political scene has become recently, the battle for Taipei mayor promises to be an exception now that People First Party Chairman James Soong (
Following hot on the heels of eccentric independent Legislator Li Ao (
While rumors of Soong's intention to run have long been circulating, he has never confirmed them. Instead he has been busy touring Taipei over the last few months on so-called "inspection tours" to get the lowdown on issues that concern residents in the city's 12 districts.
Soong has also used former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh's (
Soong's decision to run is more bad news for Ma, because it puts Soong in direct competition with Hau and could split the pan-blue vote, so it is likely to put pressure on the KMT and PFP to come to some sort of agreement in order to avoid what would be an embarrassing defeat.
But as PFP party caucus whip Lee Hung-chun (
Ma is also unlikely to drop Hau, as he was chosen using the KMT's new "democratic" primary system and Ma has personally endorsed his candidacy. Ma blasted the DPP for choosing Hsieh without the use of a proper selection process, so for Ma to drop Hau would be another hole in his already perforated armor of credibility.
But between Soong and Hau, it is the son of former premier Hau Pei-tsun (
Soong knows this and will use it to his advantage. Indeed, the KMT and PFP chiefs have already met to discuss the issue but to no avail.
With Li involved, at least we will be guaranteed that things will be eventful; the same goes for Chou, but realistically neither of them is likely to affect the overall result.
Soong's candidacy, if it happens, is great news for the DPP and the Hsieh camp, as two prominent pan-blue candidates would give Hsieh his best chance of winning this traditional KMT stronghold.
But with the pan-blue alliance loath to lose Taipei to the DPP like they did in 1994, when a New Party candidate and his KMT rival split the vote, we can expect the two parties to eventually thrash out some kind of deal.
And whatever kind of agreement the KMT and PFP come to -- if one is ever reached -- if it involves Hau or Soong stepping aside, then all Ma's talk of "high-class elections" and the "clean election pledge" policy he introduced last year will have gone out of the window, along with his lackluster efforts to reform the KMT and what little reputation he has left.
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not
RSS