Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (
Hu has been widely considered to be one of the three future stars of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) along with Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
The three were considered to emerge in the next few years as the new leaders of the KMT, but the picture did not look so rosy after the KMT and allied People First Party (PFP), the blue camp, lost Saturday's presidential election.
PHOTO: LIAO YAO-TUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Joseph Chen (陳永豐), director of the information office of Taichung City Government, said in a telephone interview with the Taipei Times that the political environment after the presidential elections does not look so good for the three future stars of the KMT.
Chen, who emphasized that he was speaking in his private capacity, said the three all happen to be mainlanders, a background that might not count in their favor in the future.
"The local awareness that grew in recent years will continue to exert influence on the political environment. Hu, Ma and Chu might find themselves to be out of place in their attempted climb toward the top positions in the party," Chen said.
"But Saturday's presidential election indicated a way out for Hu. Hu helped the blue team win over the green team in Taichung, though the margin was not as great as initially expected," he said.
"But the results of the election show that the blue team still enjoys solid support in Taichung and that Hu stands a very good chance of winning his second term in office next year. Opinion polls also show that Hu's support rate in Taichung has been nearly 80 percent," Chen said.
Hu demonstrated his ability to make people listen to him early yesterday as a group of about 500 blue-camp supporters launched a protest in front of the Taichung district court prosecutors' office against what they said was suspected ballot tampering. He successfully calmed the protesters down with persuasive language.
As Hu's close aide, Chen said although outsiders have been speculating that Hu would become one of the future leaders of the KMT, Hu had no such plans.
"Hu has stated before that Taichung will be the last stop in his political career," Chen said.
Before becoming mayor of Taichung three years ago, Hu had quite an impressive resume, having been the Government Information Office director, National Assembly member and minister of foreign affairs.
Taichung does seem to be a last stop for Hu after the KMT's loss in the presidential election on Saturday. Hu's health could also curtail his political career. Hu suffered a mild stroke while on a US trip two years ago.
Similar to Hu, Taoyuan County Commissioner Chu also faces a standstill in his otherwise promising political career in the next few years.
The KMT is expected to be broken up into two different camps after the presidential election -- one that follows the localization trend and one that sticks to the old ideology which features reunification with China. This could influence the three men's political futures.
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