Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (
Hu has been widely considered to be one of the three future stars of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) along with Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
The three were considered to emerge in the next few years as the new leaders of the KMT, but the picture did not look so rosy after the KMT and allied People First Party (PFP), the blue camp, lost Saturday's presidential election.
PHOTO: LIAO YAO-TUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Joseph Chen (陳永豐), director of the information office of Taichung City Government, said in a telephone interview with the Taipei Times that the political environment after the presidential elections does not look so good for the three future stars of the KMT.
Chen, who emphasized that he was speaking in his private capacity, said the three all happen to be mainlanders, a background that might not count in their favor in the future.
"The local awareness that grew in recent years will continue to exert influence on the political environment. Hu, Ma and Chu might find themselves to be out of place in their attempted climb toward the top positions in the party," Chen said.
"But Saturday's presidential election indicated a way out for Hu. Hu helped the blue team win over the green team in Taichung, though the margin was not as great as initially expected," he said.
"But the results of the election show that the blue team still enjoys solid support in Taichung and that Hu stands a very good chance of winning his second term in office next year. Opinion polls also show that Hu's support rate in Taichung has been nearly 80 percent," Chen said.
Hu demonstrated his ability to make people listen to him early yesterday as a group of about 500 blue-camp supporters launched a protest in front of the Taichung district court prosecutors' office against what they said was suspected ballot tampering. He successfully calmed the protesters down with persuasive language.
As Hu's close aide, Chen said although outsiders have been speculating that Hu would become one of the future leaders of the KMT, Hu had no such plans.
"Hu has stated before that Taichung will be the last stop in his political career," Chen said.
Before becoming mayor of Taichung three years ago, Hu had quite an impressive resume, having been the Government Information Office director, National Assembly member and minister of foreign affairs.
Taichung does seem to be a last stop for Hu after the KMT's loss in the presidential election on Saturday. Hu's health could also curtail his political career. Hu suffered a mild stroke while on a US trip two years ago.
Similar to Hu, Taoyuan County Commissioner Chu also faces a standstill in his otherwise promising political career in the next few years.
The KMT is expected to be broken up into two different camps after the presidential election -- one that follows the localization trend and one that sticks to the old ideology which features reunification with China. This could influence the three men's political futures.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS