Growing up in a rural village in Pingtung County, the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Greater Taichung mayoral candidate Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) has opposed the Chinese Nationalist Party (KTM) since a young age, largely because members of his family suffered political persecution under the then-KMT government’s authoritarian rule.
In 1986, Su took part in the establishment of the opposition party — the DPP — and has since become an active politician in Pingtung County.
Su was elected as a legislator twice in Pingtung County. In 1997 he won the Pingtung County commissioner election, and was re-elected in 2001.
GRAPHIC: TT
Wei Pin (魏斌), a veteran journalist who covered Su during the years he served as Pingtung County commissioner, said Su had succeeded in promoting the county by creating the Donggang Yellowfin Tuna Festival and the Hengchun Windbells Festival during his terms.
These annual festivals successfully promoted tourism to the county and allowed the rest of the nation to better understand it, Wei said.
Su’s wife, Hung Heng-chu (洪恆珠), is a former police officer and came from a pro-KMT family. He has previously said that Hung didn’t know about his anti-KMT stance when they started dating.
Su said that Hung only gradually came to see eye to eye with him about the KMT after an incident in the 1980s when she was approached by an individual seeking to buy votes for the KMT.
Su was not affiliated with any factions within the DPP and was perceived by many as having maintained good relations with all them.
After the DPP lost power in 2008, Su was assigned a tough job last year: leading a task force on the party’s nominations for last years’ three-in-one elections and then serving as the party’s secretary-general.
“Su agreed at the last minute to the party’s request to run in the Taichung mayoral race, suggesting that he is not afraid of taking up challenges,” said Wang Yeh-li (王業立), a political science professor at National Taiwan University.
Despite his extensive public experience, Su has no prior experience in Taichung and is engaged in a tough campaign.
As a former Council of Agriculture minister, Su began his campaign in Taichung’s mountainous areas, Lishan (梨山) and Tungshih Township (東勢), appealing to voters whose focus is on farming.
Besides farming experience, Su has also campaigned on his -security achievements as he accused his KMT opponent, Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強), of failing to satisfactorily address a notorious public order situation in Taichung.
In the 1990s, Pingtung County was known as the “home of gangsters.” Su said that after he became commissioner, his efforts to combat gangsters paid off and the county’s public order improved, and that the name “home of gangsters” no long applies to Pingtung County.
Wang said that the fact Su is a new face in Taichung might actually attract more support from voters than some had expected.
“Su was willing to go on the frontline when the party needed him,” Wang said. “Whether or not Su wins the Taichung mayoral election, he will establish himself as a heavyweight in the party.”
Additional reporting by staff writer
Our series of profiles of the candidates in the Nov. 27 special municipality elections continues tomorrow with the KMT mayoral candidate for Greater Taichung, Jason Hu (胡志強).
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai