New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, only said he is open to playing second fiddle to Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) out of desperation and pressure from within his party.
Even though Hou seemed magnanimous in accepting the proposal, he is only looking for a way out in the event the alliance fails. After all, Ko and Hou are in different positions. In the 2020 presidential election, the TPP did not have a presidential candidate and secured just five legislator-at-large seats. It is unlikely that the TPP would do worse than that in next year’s elections.
If the KMT cannot secure more than the 5.5 million votes former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) did in 2020 or even fewer than Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) 3.81 million votes in 2016, the party would be due for some soul searching as it assesses the damage.
Hou is nothing like Ko. If the KMT is a mafia syndicate, then the TPP is like a new cult. The leader of the cult, Ko, who considers himself “Mr Omniscient,” is not worried that his party members could turn against him. It is the other way around: The party would be lost without him.
In comparison, the pan-blue camp seems heavily divided regarding the KMT’s presidential candidate, with many harboring grievances and voicing complaints over the nomination process. As a century-old party, the KMT is never short of elite members, with any one of them ready to leap at the chance to replace Hou and become the savior of the party.
For one, the pro-China faction could use the opportunity to abandon Chu and Hou’s “3Ds strategy” and revive the “two sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one China” ideology to push for a unification agenda, two stances that were endorsed by former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and former KMT chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱).
This division has given Ko a lot of bargaining power, while the KMT is “shunned” for its “wooing” and advances.
Since the moment Hou chose not to take a leave from office to run for the presidency, his New Taipei City has been in disarray, while his campaign has been a fiasco. If the KMT loses the presidential election, Hou would be kissing his political career an early goodbye. No wonder he is keen on pushing for a joint Ko-Hou presidential ticket.
Hou’s “magnanimous” attitude sets the scene: In the event that the “blue-white alliance” collapses, the fault would lie with the TPP. If the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) triumphed in a three-way election, the KMT would still have an excuse to evade responsibility and mitigate the backlash. The catch is that even if the KMT could lower itself to ask for the TPP’s help, Ko might not even want to partner with such an ill-omened black cat.
For Ko, the blue-white alliance is a deal that only promises returns and poses no risks. What he wants is for the TPP to be a third party force in the legislature. In this way, he would have four years to bargain with the KMT and the DPP.
Hou has relented, but the KMT did not consider that Ko only regards the KMT as a political ATM to withdraw influence from during times of need, with the former Taipei mayor using it to reach independent presidential candidate Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘). Rumor has it Ko is open to a “green-white alliance” after the election. So far, the KMT’s ardent passion has only won it a cold shoulder from the arrogant Ko.
As a “marriage” based on different cultures and agendas, the proposal has only underscored how “incompatible” Hou and Ko are.
Ko’s reply to Hou’s proposal was that he felt he was “being forced into a marriage.” His true thoughts might have been that he holds Hou in contempt and has his eyes set on winning legislative seats.
With things going south for the KMT, and with Ko’s support ratings overtaking Hou in the opinion polls at times, Ko probably has no desire whatsoever to put his name on the same ballot as Hou. After all, this would not be the first time Ko threw away allies he deems no longer useful.
The alliance started with both parties’ campaign staff vowing to conduct “open communication and public negotiation,” but has deteriorated into presidential candidates hurling accusations and preparing to pass the buck. There are no policies or program discussions in sight, but plenty of plotting, intrigue and the desire to outwit the other.
The KMT and TPP are only out for their own interests, without a shred of regard for the general public or the nation’s welfare. It is truly pathetic that a century-old party and a party founded on “new politics” would end up in such a deplorable state.
Jethro Wang is a former secretary at the Mainland Affairs Council.
Translated by Rita Wang
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