Various public opinion polls show that physician Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Sean Lien (連勝文), son of former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), are currently the two top contenders in the year-end Taipei mayoral election. These are not the candidates that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who is also chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) want to see. If the election comes down to a battle between these two men, that sends a strong message that Taipei residents are tired of the long-standing KMT-DPP polarization, that they want to vote for a person, not a party, and that they want some new faces and voices that are different from the old ones.
There may be several potential DPP candidates, but opinion polls show they are far behind Ko, a political novice. The party leadership has yet to make up its mind whether it should reject Ko and respect the party’s nomination process, or if it should embrace him and expand its power as an opposition party. Regardless of what the decision will be, Ko has a strong lead in opinion polls, and this only highlights the party’s inability to reach a decision.
The KMT still has to complete its nomination process. There are several candidates, but Sean Lien is not the one Ma wants. Ma is afraid of the contacts that the Lien family have in the KMT and China. Sean Lien has on several occasions openly criticized Ma, and if he wins the party’s candidacy, Ma will probably find it very hard to give him his full support.
Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe won as an independent with the support of the Liberal Democratic Party, defeating former Japanese prime minister Morihiro Hosokawa, who ran with the support of another former Japanese prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, in a victory that has boosted the prospect of innovative election solutions in big cities. As atypical pan-green and pan-blue candidates, both Ko and Lien may be free of some of the baggage that weighs down a party, and this can only be a good choice.
Many people from outside Taipei work in Taipei. There is a huge wealth gap and intense competition for jobs, and many young people only earn NT$22,000 a month. This a cause for discontent and there is little hope for change in the near future. Regardless of whether the KMT or the DPP is in power, the rosy future promised by the winning candidates never materialized. This is not helpful to improving living standards, and voters do not pay attention to politics and do not trust political parties. An atypical candidate would be the perfect vehicle for politically alienated Taipei voters to show their discontent.
Taipei voters long for change. They are tired of the KMT’s incompetence and the DPP’s lack of direction. They would accept a political novice, clean of any political baggage and free of stale political parties. They may be blunt and unpolished, but at least they are not using ambiguous political language to mislead the public. They may be politically naive, but at least they do not try to deceive them. An atypical candidate with the backing of a political party and its resources will be able to force through needed reforms. He does not have to be a hero, but he will be able to improve Taipei’s economic problems and social inequities.
The fact that Ko and Lien have a big lead even before the election campaign has started is a clear political message from voters. Are Ma and Su listening?
US President Donald Trump has gotten off to a head-spinning start in his foreign policy. He has pressured Denmark to cede Greenland to the United States, threatened to take over the Panama Canal, urged Canada to become the 51st US state, unilaterally renamed the Gulf of Mexico to “the Gulf of America” and announced plans for the United States to annex and administer Gaza. He has imposed and then suspended 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico for their roles in the flow of fentanyl into the United States, while at the same time increasing tariffs on China by 10
As an American living in Taiwan, I have to confess how impressed I have been over the years by the Chinese Communist Party’s wholehearted embrace of high-speed rail and electric vehicles, and this at a time when my own democratic country has chosen a leader openly committed to doing everything in his power to put obstacles in the way of sustainable energy across the board — and democracy to boot. It really does make me wonder: “Are those of us right who hold that democracy is the right way to go?” Has Taiwan made the wrong choice? Many in China obviously
US President Donald Trump last week announced plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on eight countries. As Taiwan, a key hub for semiconductor manufacturing, is among them, the policy would significantly affect the country. In response, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) dispatched two officials to the US for negotiations, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) board of directors convened its first-ever meeting in the US. Those developments highlight how the US’ unstable trade policies are posing a growing threat to Taiwan. Can the US truly gain an advantage in chip manufacturing by reversing trade liberalization? Is it realistic to
About 6.1 million couples tied the knot last year, down from 7.28 million in 2023 — a drop of more than 20 percent, data from the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs showed. That is more serious than the precipitous drop of 12.2 percent in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the saying goes, a single leaf reveals an entire autumn. The decline in marriages reveals problems in China’s economic development, painting a dismal picture of the nation’s future. A giant question mark hangs over economic data that Beijing releases due to a lack of clarity, freedom of the press
RSS