President Tsai’s first state visit to Taiwan’s Caribbean allies was overshadowed by lengthy stopovers in New York City and Denver, where Taiwan’s democracy was the main feature, setting the scene for the 2020 elections—which Tsai and others claim will be a battle for values and Taiwan’s future direction.
Populist politics started in 2014 Taipei mayor election by the non-party affiliated Ko Wen-je. Han Kuo-yu in his Kaohsiung mayor election in 2018 further amplified and dramatized such populist swing within KMT. Such populist political culture even penetrated into the wider society in creating an aggressive and hostile collective political mood against political establishment and liberal tolerance.
The Chinese ban on individual travel to Taiwan will see its largest impact felt not within Taiwan, but within the minds of the people of China.
Mr. Chou says the KMT’s China approach works, because “China hasn’t cracked down on Hong Kong yet.” Is this true? Or just a sick joke? We’ll find out soon.
The Kuomintang announced on July 15 that Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu will represent it in the 2020 presidential election. It continued Han’s meteoric rise, which has been helped by an extremely loyal core of supporters. So who are these loyal Han fans?