Frank Hsieh: a president in waiting?

Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh rides a bicycle in the city's Chichin District on Nov. 22 to mark the opening of the Chichin bicycle area. TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO

Presidential Office Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) is often described as President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) No. 1 counselor, while Chiou himself, referring to former legislator Chou Po-lun (周伯倫), says the cleverest man in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is jailed in Hualien. Most DPP members, however, consider the cleverest politician with the fastest response to be Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷).

"Very often when others have thought things over once, Frank Hsieh has already thought things over three times," deceased former DPP legislator Lu Hsiu-yi (盧修一) once said.

Hsieh, 57, is often compared with the 53-year-old Chen. Both were both born to poor families. They were both hardworking students and passed the bar examination with the highest score among their competitors when they were only in their junior year.

Both began their political careers with the Kaohsiung Incident in 1979 when they decided to defend the accused dissidents.

Strategist

"Looking back to their performances at that time, I feel that Chen Shui-bian focused on the details of the incident and related papers as evidence. It looked complicated and trivial, but it also showed Chen's sincerity and devotion," said former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德).

"But Frank Hsieh adopted an attacking strategy. He revealed the prosecutors' flaws by playing on the prosecutors' responses and words and catching their contradictions. This shows that he indeed has a better grasp of a comprehensive strategy."

Early on in the two men's careers, political observers thought Hsieh would advance further than Chen because of Hsieh's tact and emphasis on building relationships and trust with other participants in the democratic movement.

They saw Chen as having a heroic air and basing his political ideology on justice and anti-corruption.

Based on that ideology, Chen would attack his own alliance or supporters if they were involved in illegal matters.

When non-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) democracy groups held an event called "Looking for a Leader" in 1985, over 60 leading figures of the democratic movement voted Hsieh to be their top leader and Chen their No. 2.

When Hsieh and Chen were running against each other for the Taipei mayoral nomination in 1994, each formed his own faction within the DPP.

Chen's Justice Alliance (正義連線) was seen as a single-person faction while Hsieh's Welfare State Alliance (福利國) consisted of elites from both northern and southern Taiwan.

"A strong A-bian [Chen] won support from the grassroots with his personal style, and a gentle Frank Hsieh had support from the party," said Chen Sung-shan (陳淞山), Civil Service Commissioner and the director of Chen Shui-bian's legislative office during his time as a lawmaker.

"Finally A-bian, who looked for support from the people, won the nomination and became the DPP's candidate for Taipei mayor. Hsieh, who imitated the Japanese-style interaction among political factions, chose to become the executive director of A-bian's campaign and to try to go a step forward from there," Chen Sung-shan said.

Hsieh's political philosophy probably stems from his education background.

With a master's degree from Kyoto University in Japan, he stresses hierarchy and seniority in office, and treats well-educated people with respect. But he is also known to unconsciously show arrogance toward blue-collar workers.

community awareness

"Compared with the grassroots support and aggressive style of other DPP figures, Hsieh is one of the few among the elite who paid attention to culture, religion and recreation at an early stage," DPP Legislator Hung Chi-chang (洪奇昌) said.

"Issues such as community awareness, Taiwan fellowship of destiny, a gentle party and the third way were all first proposed by Hsieh," Hung said.

The ability to see the big picture and present a vision shows that Hsieh can learn and adopt international perspectives and theories earlier than others. But because Hsieh is walking ahead of society, he becomes a target in political circles.

While Chen is following Taiwan's political development closely and gaining political clout, Hsieh is slowly losing his chips as he tries to secure top positions.

When Hsieh tried to win the nomination for vice president in 1996, friendly factions within the party split with him. When he tried to win the nomination for Kaohsiung mayor in 1998, he offended his friends within his own faction.

During the Kaohsiung mayoral race last year, Hsieh got little support from the party and fought battles with his own people.

With his record of cleaning up three major rivers and the start of MRT construction over the past three years as Kaohsiung mayor, he won votes from neutral voters and KMT supporters. He won a second term and is expected to aim for the presidency in 2008.

internationalized

"The mayor travels abroad four times a year because he is thinking about the future, trying to open more channels for Taiwan," said Albert Lin (林耀文), director-general of the Kaohsiung City Government's Department of Information.

Leading members of the KMT of the same generation appear to have placed a greater emphasis on international relations. Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Taoyuan County Commissioner Chu Li-lun (朱立倫) and Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡自強) all have degrees from internationally recognized universities, are fluent in foreign languages and are familiar with international affairs.

Among the DPP's potential future leaders, however, only Hsieh is doing his homework about globalization and international relations. As his competitor Chen Shui-bian has already realized the dream of becoming president, in the post-A-bian era, Hsieh's tenacity and vision make him the one who is most likely to take over Chen.