While the presidential candidates bicker over referendums, personal assets and dodgy donations in Taipei, an altogether more local campaign is being fought in the nation's second city.
In Kaohsiung, where a little over 1 million votes are up for grabs, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) has been given the task of making sure the party gets far enough ahead of the pan-blue parties in the south to offset the DPP's weaknesses in the north.
At a luncheon recently with foreign journalists, Hsieh gave estimates of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) support in every southern county. Hsieh, who won 50.04 percent of the vote in the 2002 Kaohsiung mayoral election, said he thought he could lift this figure to 55 percent. Chen, he said, wants 60 percent.
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Hsieh is basing his campaigning efforts for Chen on his own achievements in Kaohsiung. He points to the beautification of the Love River, once a flowing cesspool through the center of the city but now the center of the festival celebrations in the city. He is also proud of cleaning up the city's tap water, which had become infamous for its foul smell.
It was Chen who helped Hsieh improve the tap water by leaning on the Taiwan Water Supply Corp, which had told Hsieh his desires for clean water were unrealistic. Re-elect Chen, Hsieh says, and Kaohsiung residents can enjoy the fruits of more cooperation with the central government.
The DPP's pride in turning Kaohsiung from a dirty port city into a place worth living in is apparent in the party's campaign headquarters, which is little more than a converted shop. Scenic pictures of the city, particularly taken from the banks of the Love River, adorn the meeting the room. Even larger photos are on a truck the party has converted into a mobile stage, an idea Hsieh had to save money on renting venues for campaign events.
The head of the campaign headquarters is Joe Chou (周和男), a shopping center manager when he's not campaigning for the DPP. Chou said that much of what Hsieh had achieved in the city was a result of central government funding that flowed south thanks to Chen.
"If the central government does not support Hsieh's ideas, then you can imagine he can not do a lot of things, because of the budget," Chou said. "The central government has been so supportive of Frank Hsieh. Traditionally the KMT only focused on the northern part, on Taipei. Now the southern citizens want their fair share. That's all we ask."
At spacious offices of the headquarters of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-People First Party (PFP) alliance, campaign manager Lin Hsiang-neng (林享能) has his own estimates of support for the parties. He said KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) could rely on the support of a core of 39 percent of Kaohsiung voters, and the pan-green camp 35 percent or 36 percent.
For him, the difference in the outcome might be the weather. Lien and Soong combined beat Chen in the 2000 election by 53.25 percent to 45.37 percent, when the turnout was over 84 percent. But the pan-blue camp's support fell to 46.36 percent in the 2002 mayoral election, when the turnout was only 71 percent.
"No matter what the weather, the pan-greens will vote," Lin said.
Lin, a former chairman of the Council of Agricultural Affairs, thinks the vote-winner for the pan-blue camp is the economy. Chen has presided over the nation's first recession in living memory for much of Taiwan's young population, and Lin is putting the blame for this squarely at Chen's doorstep.
"Most people are disappointed with the economy, particularly the unemployment rate," Lin said.
Lien is the only one who can return the country to the boom times, Lin said. For Kaohsiung, this means expanding the airport and the deep-sea harbor and creating a free-trade port to attract more industry to the area.
"We want to establish Kaohsiung as a center of transport in the region," Lin said.
In particular, Lin said he expected Lien to stick to his promise of starting negotiations with China on establishing direct links across the Taiwan Strait. Lin pointed to Kaohsiung's slide from being the third largest container port in the world to sixth as an example of how the lack of direct links is hurting Taiwan.
Throughout Chen's term, Beijing has insisted that Taiwan accept its "one China" principle before negotiations on anything can proceed. But Lin said talks between Taiwan and China were more a matter of trust.
"We will not accept the `one China' policy as a fundamental condition," he said. "Beijing will soften their position to reach an agreement. If they have confidence in the KMT-PFP keeping the status quo, I believe Beijing will accept the three links."
Lin said the DPP regarded businessmen who invested in China despite the lack of direct links as betrayers of Taiwan, highlighting the divisive issue of identity that has once again appeared at election time.
With the KMT and PFP now fighting as one unit, "there is no problem for mainlanders in Kaohsiung to unify and support this campaign," he said.
But mainlanders make up only about 20 percent of Kaohsiung's population, and many ethnic Taiwanese regularly vote for the pan-blue parties because of what the DPP's Kaohsiung campaign manager says is brainwashing.
"We have been educated that we are all Chinese," said Chou, who spent 21 years living in Canada. "When I went abroad I read about Taiwan's history and it opened my eyes. I said, `Hey, I've been brainwashed.' I woke up earlier than other people. Others think the KMT is all the way right."
One issue that crosses ethnic lines is vote-buying. The KMT has been trying to shake off a reputation for electoral corruption, also known as `black gold' politics. Hsieh has said he is already aware of a scheme in this election whereby voters are paid NT$2,000 to give up their identification cards, which they would need to present when they vote, for election day. Both sides are hinting that they expect more shenanigans as the vote looms closer.
The city is also reeling from a vote-buying scandal in the city council. After elections in 2002, it was discovered that Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄) had paid councilors NT$5 million to vote for him to become council speaker. Thirty-four of the council's 44 members were implicated in the scandal. All of them were expelled from their parties and many have been prosecuted. Chu himself failed to turn up to begin his jail sentence and is still on the run.
The fact that DPP, as well as KMT, councilors were found to have sold their votes has damaged the DPP's image as a party of reform and anti-corruption.
"We take the attitude that we're not going to hide away," Chou said. "We have to face the fact that some DPP people are going to take money. But looking forward, it's good that people who have damaged the DPP have been kicked out of the party."
The KMT says it has also changed.
"We won't spend even one dollar on vote-buying," Lin said. "Anyway, we don't have the money."
Lin's aide, city councilor Wang Ling-jiao (王齡嬌), who was expelled from the PFP after being arrested in relation to the scandal but was later found not guilty, suggested Kaohsiung had moved on from the scandal.
"In the south, some candidates will buy votes," she said. "Local people don't mind this kind of issue."
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