A former "Miss ROC" beauty queen, Lien Fang Yu (
In an opinion poll released on Jan. 29 by the SET cable network, 33.3 percent of female respondents described Lien Fang Yu as "the most fitting candidate for first lady," while Chen Wang-shui (
But KMT grass-roots leaders are not convinced of Lien Fang Yu's vote-pulling power.
FILE PHOTO
During a swing through the counties last November aimed at boosting Lien's campaign, KMT secretary-general Huang Kun-hui (
"Both Lien Fang Yu and Liu are `poison' to the KMT's presidential box office," the unidentified KMT local official said.
Lien Fang Yu's problem is that with her "Miss ROC" background and marriage into the family of the wealthy vice president, she appears to have lived in a family-oriented gilded cage of privilege with which people find it difficult to identify.
FILE PHOTO
At the same time she is neither media-savvy nor a good campaign speaker. As a result she has met with a backlash of unpopularity from the public -- much as her husband has during the campaign.
"Unlike Soong's wife, Chen Wang-shui, Lien Fang Yu pays more attention to family and her children than to interaction with the public. So, in terms of exercising campaign language, Lien Fang Yu is not as familiar as Chen," said Chen Shei-saint (
Chen also pointed to a lack of political guile.
FILE PHOTO
"Lien Fang Yu is a decent and innocent person, and she has always said whatever flashes into her mind. No doubt, she has no intentions to hurt anybody, but her words could easily be given new twists by either the opposition or the media."
Her daughter Lien Hui-hsin (連惠心) has similar concerns about her.
"My mother treats everyone as if they are a good guy," she says. "I sometimes worry that she may be deceived [by others]."
In such a scenario, Chen and other campaign counselors have advised Lien Fang Yu to do "less talking, more handshaking.''
Soong's secret weapon
Although these would-be members of the "first wives' club" all claim to dislike engaging in political affairs, both Soong's wife, Chen Wang-shui, and the wife of the DPP's Chen, Wu Shu-jen, find themselves quite welcomed -- at least compared with Lien Fang Yu -- by their husbands to help boost campaign momentum.
Soong once described his wife as his "secret weapon,'' saying he could always rely on her to lend an ear to grass-root opinions.
Chen has said that she has more extensive channels for gathering information at the grassroots than her husband because his political prominence makes it difficult to meet people in natural settings.
Chu Tzong-ko (
"Chen enjoys going to buy things on the street, and in the meantime she can find out what the public is thinking,'' Chu said.
"With Chen's easy-going personality, we believe she could well draw in many votes for Soong's campaign," Chu said.
While Chen has tried her best to boost her husband's presidential bid, she has, however, never concealed her contempt for politics, whether in public or on private occasions.
She has said previously that she would be the "loyal opposition in my family" in order to monitor Soong's performance as an elected official.
"I hate politics. But ironically, I married a man who cares about politics above anything else," Chen said.
"I have no idea how power can corrupt people, but I will do my best to prevent Soong from being corrupted by this power," Chen added.
`The most difficult job on the planet'
The relationship between the DPP's Chen Shui-bian and his own wife, Wu Shu-chen, is probably even more interesting than that of the Soongs.
While the wives of both Soong and Chen say they dislike their husbands' devotion to politics, Wu's opinions on the subject are even more frank.
Wu herself has also played an even more hard-line role than Soong's wife, despite a physical handicap that confines her to a wheelchair.
Wu was paralyzed after being run over in 1985 in what many suspect was a politically-motivated assassination attempt.
"Being a politician's wife is the most difficult job on the planet. I would recommend that all women should never allow their husbands to take part in politics. It's just like a drug abuser -- once he starts, he'll never stop," Wu said on Jan. 31.
"A-bian [Chen's well-known diminutive] always gives me different reasons when he needs to join a campaign and he has already signed piles of guarantees for me. I don't know when he will really come back to me.''
With the presidential election fast approaching, Wu said as each day passes, she feels less pain. No matter whether her husband won or lost, "I will get some benefit," she said.
"If he wins, our labor during all these days will have been worth it; if he loses, I can get my husband back,'' Wu said.
In spite of her scorn for politics, she is still someone willing to give Chen extra impetus to overcome obstacles to his political career.
"Twenty years ago, it was Wu that persuaded Chen to accept the appointment as lawyer for two of the defendants in the Kaohsiung Incident and that marked the beginning of Chen's political pursuits," said Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉), the DPP's spokesperson and a top aide to Chen.
"Wu is the master of the family, while at the same time, Chen has also relied on her instincts to help him make significant decisions," Luo said.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
UNPRECEDENTED: In addition to the approved recall motions, cases such as Ma Wen-chun’s in Nantou are still under review, while others lack enough signatures The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday that a recall vote would take place on July 26, after it approved the first batch of recall motions targeting 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安). Taiwan is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of mass recall campaigns, following a civil society push that echoed a call made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in January to initiate signature drives aimed at unseating KMT legislators. Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Taiwanese can initiate a recall of district-elected lawmakers by collecting