It seems there are constant rumors swirling around the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) that Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) is about to be replaced as its presidential candidate.
The little chilli pepper — as Hung is nicknamed — is perpetually looking over her shoulder, passionately declaring her resolve to her detractors within the party, while she threatens the electorate that the nation would be eaten alive without her leadership.
Her rhetoric is a surreal mix of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) brand of unification.
Chiang’s regime used force to implant the Republic of China constitution into Taiwan and governed the nation by martial law. Chiang arbitrarily froze constraints on any legal provisions on his power, declared himself lifelong president and cemented a legislature elected in China in place for “10,000 years.” He wanted to retake China and simply ignored public opinion and religious beliefs, despite his Protestant faith.
Ma, supposedly a Catholic, cheated the electorate into voting for him by grabbing the first incense stick at temple ceremonies and hypocritically offering it in the same way as Taiwan’s firecracker-loving, god-in-a sedan-chair-following politicians.
He worships gods, spirits and Taiwan’s democracy, but after having lied and cheated himself into the presidency, he wanted to excommunicate Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), the high priest who taught him how to make offerings at the altar in the first place.
Wang is not very able, but as the KMT’s talent pool is so limited, talent is seniority, and it should have been his turn to play president. He visited all the right temples, offered incense to Buddha and worshiped in local ceremonies with all the right gestures and postures.
Wang is for the large part without political enemies, but unfortunately, he does have one. His disciple, Ma, who at one time offered incense together with him, turned Judas.
In contrast with Wang, Hung does not usually playact at offering incense, but even she suddenly saw the light and ran off to a Buddhist temple, coyly offering incense and bowing her head.
In politics, Hung only has one friend, who is considered to bear the greatest responsibility for the impending defeat of the KMT — Ma.
She wants to follow Ma in his blind worship. Since she was first to grab the incense stick, then legally, perfectly justifiably, she will never let it go and never withdraw from the presidential race.
The little chilli pepper proclaims her honesty and disdains to take incense and offer it with pro-localization worshipers because that would be populist. She wants to worship the Constitution and legitimacy. She absolutely cannot understand the shame of a foreign-imposed constitution and the way it humiliates Taiwan’s democracy. All she does is try to be like Ma, using a foreign-imposed legitimacy to betray the nation.
Of course, she knows that Taiwanese fear and refuse unification, so she sticks to the hard line, according to which the Constitution says there must be eventual reunification. However, she claims this would entail Taiwan unifying with China on its own terms, rather than China unifying Taiwan against its will.
Someone who cannot even unify their own party boasts shamelessly that she can annex a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
This little chilli pepper has a stinging sense of humor.
James Wang is a senior journalist.
Translated by Clare Lear
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