New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) on Wednesday said that he would unite supporters and lead the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) return to power in next year’s presidential election.
“We must be determined to engage in disruptive change if we want there to be another shift in power,” Hou said, after his nomination was announced by KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) at a meeting of the party’s Central Standing Committee.
At a time when the nation is facing fierce challenges internationally and internal divisions that have left much to be done, and young generations see no future for themselves, only when the KMT returns to power “can we save the nation and save Taiwan,” Hou said.
Photo: CNA
Hou has said little about international relations during his time as New Taipei City mayor, but had begun voicing opinions on relations with China recently when fielding questions from his KMT colleagues at New Taipei City Council meetings, possibly to establish his credentials on major issues before the nomination.
On some occasions, Hou has said he opposed the “one country, two systems” formula proposed by Beijing for Taiwan to promote unification and he was against pursuing “Taiwan independence” because it “has no legal basis.”
When asked on Tuesday last week about his position on the so-called “1992 consensus,” Hou replied by emphasizing the importance of safeguarding the Republic of China (ROC), and its free and democratic system.
“The ROC is our country and Taiwan is our home. We have to take good care of our home and country,” Hou said.
The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Born to a family whose father was a veteran and a pork vendor in Chiayi County, the 65-year-old Hou began his police career in 1980 after graduating from Central Police University.
He rose to national prominence in the 1990s because of his involvement in investigating several high-profile kidnapping and fraud cases, and murders and shootings that made national headlines. In 2006, he was promoted to National Police Agency director-general during the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration. At 49, he was the youngest person ever to assume the post.
After the KMT came to power in 2008, Hou was made president of Central Police University before stepping into politics two years later to serve as deputy to Chu when he was New Taipei City mayor from 2010 to 2018.
He served as acting mayor for three months in 2015 when Chu took time off to make an unsuccessful run for president.
Hou first ran for office in 2018 and won the most votes ever for a New Taipei City mayoral candidate with 1.16 million votes to defeat DPP rival Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).
At the time, Hou faced criticism over his role in leading a raid that preceded the death of Freedom Era Weekly magazine publisher Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕) on April 7, 1989.
Deng set himself alight after heavily armed police attempted to break into his office following 71 days of self-imposed isolation after he was charged with sedition by the then-KMT government for publishing a draft “Taiwan Republic Constitution” in 1988.
In an interview in 2018, Hou said that as head of the criminal investigation division at the Taipei City Police Department’s Zhongshan Precinct at the time, he was following orders to execute the arrest warrant and was also trying to save lives.
Hou set another record for a New Taipei City mayoral election last year for winning by the biggest margin when he defeated DPP candidate Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) by more than 450,000 votes to secure re-election.
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