New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate currently trailing in the polls, earned himself a new nickname after an event at the Huang Fu-hsing (黃復興) military veterans’ branch in Kaohsiung on Saturday last week.
Hou was seated next to former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the party’s 2020 presidential candidate, as a show of unity to bolster Hou’s flagging campaign. Several commentators focused on how Han apparently used any opportunity to move his chair away from Hou, only for Hou to pull it closer when Han stood up to go to the podium. Hou’s name is homophonous with the phrase “Hou moved [it]” (侯有移) in Chinese; hence the new nickname.
The name is born of a frivolous observation, and yet it is remarkably appropriate given how Hou has moved his position in the past few days on significant policy positions: his views on nuclear power plants and national defense in particular.
As New Taipei City deputy mayor, Hou had called for the scheduled decommissioning of the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in the city’s Shihmen District (石門) and the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in the city’s Wanli District (萬里) before 2018. As mayor, he voted against the party line, opposing restarting construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮) in the December 2021 referendums.
His position then was at least consistent. He was concerned about the safety of the aging plants and the lack of safe storage for spent nuclear fuel rods. His willingness to vote against the party line was admirable, and contributed to his image of being willing to do the right thing irrespective of partisan loyalties.
Hou’s about-face comes just as the International Atomic Energy Agency concluded it is safe for Japan to release treated wastewater originally contaminated by the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant meltdown more than 12 years ago, a reminder of the dangers of nuclear power plants in earthquake zones.
Hou’s comments that he would revert to a four-month mandatory military service, reversing the government’s decision to extend it to a full year, are also concerning, because of the implications for Taiwan’s ability to defend itself, as well as the message such a decision would send to allies mulling whether they would come to Taiwan’s aid should the Chinese Communist Party order an invasion.
What could have changed Hou’s mind? His low opinion poll ratings and the need for support within party ranks, with pressure to conform more closely to traditional KMT policy positions, might go some way to explaining it.
The KMT, aware that Hou is losing the race, just ratcheted up its support. A meeting with Han was arranged, despite the clearly frosty dynamic between the two men. Yesterday, former legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) reiterated his backing.
Most significant, perhaps, was former KMT secretary-general King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) joining Hou’s campaign team. King was former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) right-hand man. After King joined the campaign, Hou suddenly moved closer to policy positions remarkably similar to those of the Ma administration.
Hou’s concerns for a stable energy mix are legitimate, but why fall back to aging, semi-dismantled or mothballed old technology? Other countries, including the US, the UK, China and Russia, are moving to next-generation small modular-reactor technology that would be safer and far more appropriate for Taiwan’s earthquake-prone environment. Would it hurt the KMT to have vision rather than fall back on Ma’s old positions? And why revert to the four-month military service and lack of preparedness?
Voters have already given their verdict on Ma’s failed policies. Hou should move on.
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