The woman hoping to be the next vice-president is a self-proclaimed “cat warrior” who says she will be able to deliver the “global vision” needed to tackle tensions with China.
The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) hopes that Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), who until November was the Taiwanese envoy to the US, will be able to convince voters to back the DPP in the high stakes presidential election on Jan. 13.
A political veteran, Hsiao, 52, came up with her own nickname when she was sent to Washington — with her four cats — in 2020.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The moniker was her response to Beijing’s aggressive “wolf warrior” style diplomacy, which was becoming increasingly combative at that time. Like a cat, Taiwan’s diplomacy would be agile, flexible and comfortable in narrow spaces, she said. The animals are lovable but also independent.
Born in Japan to Taiwanese and American parents, Hsiao’s own life reflects the desire felt by many in Taiwan to forge a distinct Taiwanese identity.
She grew up in Taiwan speaking Mandarin, English and Taiwanese (also called Hoklo). Her family traveled widely; when she was a teenager, they moved to the US where she went on to study political science at Columbia University; she reportedly successfully fought to have a Taiwan stall at the university’s international festival, against the opposition of students from China.
Photo: Yao Kai-shiou, Taipei Times
She chooses to use the Taiwanese version of her given name, rather than the Mandarin version or her English second name, Louise. In the words of her father, who wrote an article about her in 2020: “She wanted a name that would embody her unique background.”
Her identity as a mixed-race woman illustrates the gulf between politics in Taiwan and China. She was Taiwan’s first female envoy to the US and, if elected, would be the second female vice-president.
In Beijing, the Communist party chief Xi Jinping (習近平) last year revealed an all-male politburo, meaning that for the first time since 1997 there are no women in the party’s leadership committee. And the prospect of a mixed-race politician in China is vanishingly remote in a system that emphasizes ethnic purity as central to its idea of nationalism. Some see her as a contrast to the laolunan (老綠男, “old, green, male”) style of politics that has traditionally dominated DPP politics (the party’s color is green).
Photo courtesy of Hsieh Hsi-yang
Hsiao argues that her extensive contacts in Washington on both sides of the aisle will help Taiwan to preserve its status quo — even if that comes at the cost of dialogue with Beijing. China imposed sanctions on Hsiao in 2022 and last year, meaning that she and her family members cannot enter mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau.
PEACE IN THE STRAIT
All three of the main parties are arguing that their candidate can preserve peace and stability for the self-governing island. For the incumbent DPP, that offer to voters comes in the form of a ticket headed by William Lai (賴清德), the current vice-president, and his running mate, Hsiao.
Although the DPP does not formally support a declaration of independence, it is widely seen as the party that would try to put the most distance between Taipei and Beijing. Lai has previously described himself as a “pragmatic worker for Taiwan independence.”
The main opposition party, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), argues that more dialogue, as well as economic and trade links with China, will help reduce cross-Strait tensions. And the relative newcomer, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), claims to offer a middle way for voters, although its candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has supported increased links with China.
Hsiao, however argues that Taiwan needs to bolster its defenses against the “constant pressures” from China. The DPP hopes she will be able to convince the country’s 19.3 million eligible voters it is the party that can boost Taipei’s standing on the world stage.
“She is very international,” says Bonnie Glaser, the managing director and Taiwan expert at the German Marshall Fund, a thinktank. “That is part of what the DPP wants to portray itself as, as a party that is connected to the world.”
Soon after graduating in the US, Hsiao returned to Taiwan to join the DPP, becoming the party’s head of international affairs at the age of 26. In 2002, she renounced her US citizenship in accordance with laws about civil servants.
Before being appointed to serve in Washington in 2020, she was a member of Legislative Yuan, and served for a decade in the east-coast county of Hualien, which has a large Indigenous population — an experience which her supporters say boosts her credentials outside the Taipei elite.
In Monday’s televised vice-presidential debate, Hsiao said that there were three main issues facing Taiwan: the economy, geopolitical uncertainties and global challenges such as climate change.
But the question of how to negotiate the relationship between the US and China is dominating the race. In a recent interview with The Economist, Hsiao summed up her, and the DPP’s, approach: “Cats have the ability to tread softly but firmly … You can’t force them to do things they don’t want to. You don’t command cats. You’ve got to be nice to them, and cats will repay your kindness with warmth.”
Taiwan’s overtaking of South Korea in GDP per capita is not a temporary anomaly, but the result of deeper structural problems in the South Korean economy says Chang Young-chul, the former CEO of Korea Asset Management Corp. Chang says that while it reflects Taiwan’s own gains, it also highlights weakening growth momentum in South Korea. As design and foundry capabilities become more important in the AI era, Seoul risks losing competitiveness if it relies too heavily on memory chips. IMF forecasts showing Taiwan widening its lead over South Korea have fueled debate in Seoul over memory chip dependence, industrial policy and
“China wants to unify with Taiwan at the lowest possible cost, and it currently believes that unification will become easier and less costly as time passes,” wrote Amanda Hsiao (蕭嫣然) and Bonnie Glaser in Foreign Affairs (“Why China Waits”) this month, describing how the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is playing the long game in its quest to seize Taiwan. This has been a favorite claim of many writers over the years, easy to argue because it is so trite. Very obviously, if the PRC isn’t attacking Taiwan, it is waiting. But for what? Hsiao and Glaser’s main point is trivial,
May 18 to May 24 Gathered on Yangtou Mountain (羊頭山) on Dec. 5, 1972, Taiwan’s hiking enthusiasts formally declared the formation of the “100 Peaks Club” (百岳俱樂部) and unveiled the final list of mountains. Famed mountaineer Lin Wen-an (林文安) led this effort for the Chinese Alpine Association (中華山岳協會). Working with other experienced climbers, he chose 100 peaks above 10,000 feet (3,048m) that featured triangulation points and varied in difficulty and character. The list sparked an alpine hiking craze, inspiring many to take up mountaineering and competing to “conquer” the summits. A common misconception is that the 100 Peaks represent Taiwan’s 100 tallest
And so, in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s trip to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), all the experts on the Strait of Hormuz suddenly became experts on US-China-Taiwan relations. The Internet has certainly expanded human knowledge. Lots of these sudden experts made noise this week about Trump’s words after the meeting with PRC dictator Xi Jin-ping (習近平). Trump is going to sell out Taiwan! Longtime Taiwan commentator J. Michael Cole summed the situation up neatly in the Guardian: “We need to keep in mind that he has a tendency to say many things — sometimes contradicting himself within
RSS