Former Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislator Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) yesterday announced that he would enter the Tainan mayoral race as an independent.
Tainan was once the nations’s capital and was very prosperous during the age of discovery, but its development has hit a snag, as the average monthly disposable income of its residents ranks 14th in the nation and is the lowest among the six special municipalities.
Its marriage and birth rates, as well as population size, are also the lowest among the six, he said.
Photo: CNA
The fundamental problem is that Tainan’s economic and industrial development strategy lacks a global view, he said, proposing the creation of an industrial park aimed at European companies.
The municipality’s agricultural and fishing industries could be revitalized by increasing exports to Japan, he said.
Tainan’s agricultural products suit the Japanese diet, but are not grown in Japan due to environmental differences.
Hsu earned a doctorate in law from Cambridge University and also speaks Japanese and German, which he said adds to his confidence in his global perspective and ability to attract foreign investors.
Veteran activist Chen Yung-hsing (陳永興), a former superintendent of St Mary’s Hospital in Yilan County’s Luodong Township (羅東) who is a supporter of Hsu’s, said that many people are dissatisfied with Taiwan’s current political climate, despite its strides in democratization.
Hsu represents a local consciousness and he would work to change the “status quo” and make Taiwan an independent nation, so people who support Taiwan’s dignity should support him, Chen said.
Ketagalan Institute president and prominent political commentator Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒) said that the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) candidate in the race, DPP Legislator Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲), has collaborated with his sister, author Huang Chih-hsien (黃智賢), who is a pan-blue camp supporter, to attract extra votes, which helped him to win his party’s primary.
However, Huang Chih-hsien has talked about an agreement she made with her brother to “never shame our ancestors,” which indicates that the two might be opposed to the idea of independence, Chin said.
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