When former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) announced his candidacy for the Taipei mayoral election in March, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) asked whether Su would run for president in 2012. After Hau announced his intention to seek re-election last month, he questioned Su’s position on the proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with Beijing. In opening his campaign office yesterday, Hau attacked Su’s campaign slogan, saying that “Taipei Will Surpass Taipei” is redundant, as all mayors seek to exceed their predecessors. His slogan was much better, in that “Taipei Fly High” refers to the direct flights recently begun between Shanghai Hongqiao and Taipei Songshan airports, Hau said.
One hopes that the new Shanghai route is more successful than the Wenshan-Neihu MRT line, which has been plagued by technical problems since opening last year. Indeed, one wonders why, with so many pressing municipal issues, Hau dwells on slogans and national politics. Other topics that Taipei residents would like to see addressed include the Maokong Gondola fiasco, the massive debt to the National Health Insurance Program, bus lanes on city streets, Jiencheng Circle, the soaring cost of housing, property tax reform and pollution of the Tamsui and Keelung rivers.
Of course, it is no mystery why Hau avoids such issues. All are a direct result of either his poor performance in office over the last four years or that of his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) predecessor, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). Given that Hau’s job approval ratings hover at about 40 percent, it is no wonder he remains firmly focused on the irrelevant.
Hau’s opponent seems no more eager to deliver. While Su offers a steady stream of promises and platitudes, he is too distracted by his party’s national agenda to be specific.
This too is unsurprising. Pro-independence groups threatened not to support Su if he didn’t oppose the ECFA. In addition, the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) and the KMT’s habit of running party heavyweights in local elections is bound to raise questions about their loyalties and credentials.
To give Hau credit, questioning Su’s commitment to Taipei is entirely justified. The same is true of the DPP candidate for Sinbei City, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who is being groomed as a presidential candidate. Aside from her lack of municipal experience and the fact that she and Su both aspire to national office, they play crucial leadership roles in the DPP. Running Taipei and Sinbei will require a major commitment of time and expertise.
It is just such a commitment that voters should demand in municipal elections, rather than looking to the ECFA or the sloganeering of celebrity politicians. Taipei residents are particularly inclined to the seductions of national politics and capital city vanity.
As with other large municipalities in Taiwan, Taipei’s problems are largely practical and candidates for office, including that of mayor, should be held accountable before and after being elected. Doing so would help ensure passengers on the Wenshan-Neihu MRT line might actually reach their destinations in future. It would also encourage both parties to develop stronger candidates who are familiar with local issues and able to address them in public debate.
Tsai and Su have made it clear that they do not plan to abandon their positions if elected. If they — or any other candidate — fails to deliver, they should be held accountable.
When Panama severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan and recognized China in 2017, Beijing achieved one of its most important diplomatic victories in Central America. However, nearly a decade later, Panama is demonstrating that diplomatic recognition does not necessarily eliminate Taiwan from a country’s political system. Panama and Taiwan had diplomatic relations for more than 100 years and the goodwill between the countries was displayed last week when Panama’s National Assembly established an interparliamentary exchange group with the Legislative Yuan. Forty-five of the assembly’s 71 lawmakers joined the group, representing more than 60 percent of the legislature. Its members include National Assembly President Shirley
Ten years ago, when I was an undergraduate at National Chung Hsing University (NCHU), there was a referendum on whether to remove a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) from the campus. I wrote to the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) urging faculty, staff and students to vote for its removal. Eventually, the statue was removed from the university. Today, I am filled with emotion at seeing students at Soochow University democratically remove their own statue of Chiang, a figure of authoritarian rule, after it was on display for 48 years The timing is noteworthy, with the nine-in-one local elections approaching.
Beijing has for decades insisted that Taiwan is a matter to be settled between China and the US — or, preferably, by China alone. The strategic environment around Taiwan is making that increasingly difficult. The clearest evidence this week came not from Washington or Beijing, but from Tokyo. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Tuesday met with US President Donald Trump before his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Taiwan is expected to feature prominently in US-China talks, particularly as Beijing presses Washington over arms sales to Taipei. However, focusing only on what Trump might or might not concede misses the
On the surface, a radio interview with Democratic Progressive Party and Taipei mayoral candidate Puma Shen (沈伯洋) hosted by television producer Wang Wei-chung (王偉忠) on Sept. 10 came across as an old-time city resident putting questions to a candidate on the campaign trail. Beneath that, however, it was an encounter between two distinct Taiwanese experiences, two generations and two different political vocabularies. Wang grew up in a military dependents’ village. His parents came to Taiwan with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government, carrying with them the legacy of war, displacement, the loss of a homeland, and an identification with Chinese culture
RSS