Despite no longer running for president and having no concrete plans for his political future, former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) is still the object of conversation — and it looks like the chatter won’t end anytime soon.
The media-savvy underdog of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential primaries appears unwilling to leave the political scene and has even upstaged DPP Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on a few occasions, prompting party leaders to urge a rethink of his role in Tsai’s election campaign.
Making an open secret of his desire to play a role in Tsai’s coming election campaign in its final preparatory stage, Su told a pro-independence gathering in New Taipei City (新北市) on Sunday: “I don’t care about the position and I respect Tsai’s arrangements.”
Photo: CNA
His remarks seemed to lay the groundwork for supporters to accept the role he is almost certain to be given, with senior Tsai staffers saying an offer for Su to mastermind the elections as campaign chairperson was in the works and pending Tsai’s approval.
Staffers close to Tsai said there was little choice but to offer Su the position.
Su has already begun stumping for some DPP legislators and there is little doubt he has had his eyes on the role since a meeting with Tsai last month.
The uncomfortable get-together was marked by repeated questions, nine times, from Su asking what type of “important position” Tsai had planned for him, even as the DPP candidate remained ambiguous and evasive.
Party insiders said the developments, coupled with information that Su has continued to maintain his foundation’s office, was evidence he wanted to continue his role in politics even as the road ahead remains bleak for someone who has rejected a vice-presidential candidacy.
“He appears to want to continue his stature in the DPP ... even though the actual role he may play, despite whatever position he holds, may be somewhat limited,” a senior party official familiar with the developments said on condition of anonymity.
Despite widespread calls for Su to join Tsai in a joint DPP ticket during the presidential primary, Su rejected the idea, saying he would rather help the DPP “wholeheartedly” if he lost.
The official said that despite those remarks, Tsai had been unwilling to relinquish control to Su, noting his feud with 2008 running mate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), who is expected to be asked by the DPP to mastermind most of the party’s legislative campaigns for next January.
“She had hoped to leave most of the controversy behind her,” the official said, suggesting that the campaign chairperson title could be little more than a figurehead.
Party politicians say that despite the clash in personalities, Su’s inclusion would be beneficial to Tsai because of his widespread support among young, urban voters and many of the party’s older generation.
In fact, his popularity appears to have only gained rather than wane after the primary, as DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) said when she invited Su to officiate the opening of her election campaign in a difficult-to-win riding in Greater Kaohsiung.
Chiou I-jen (邱義仁), a former top aide to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) who is expected to also play an important part in Tsai’s election campaign, is also understood to have discussed with Tsai a future role for Su.
With Tsai’s campaign platform expected to be released sometime before the end of this month, staffers in her campaign are saying it is becoming increasingly difficult to leave this kind of advice unheeded. However, Tsai will do her “homework” before reaching any conclusions, a senior staff told reporters yesterday.
“Tsai’s most pressing homework during her trip abroad will be how to unite the party’s various [factions] and delicately prepare the campaign roster,” the official said.
Officially, the party line is that Tsai “respects” Su and will find “methods of close cooperation.”
However, it seems clear that Su is betting the close cooperation will entail an arrangement that will see him continue his popularity both within party circles and the media, at least for the next few years.
He showed reporters a new office for his 120 ping (397m2) Eball Foundation yesterday despite one of his spokesmen telling media earlier that his current office on prime real estate in downtown Taipei would be toned down to a 40 ping location “to save money.”
“We found that we needed the space and it came at the right cost,” said Andrew Wang (王閔生), a Su spokesman, declining to elaborate on its pricing and length of contract, which reports have said put it just in time for the 2016 presidential election.
“It’s definitely not four years and has nothing to do with 2016,” Wang said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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