Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
語言:
English
Photo Credit: George Hsieh/Facebook
KEELUNG MAYOR GEORGE HSIEH faces a recall vote, which has been scheduled for October 17th. However, the results of the recall vote may ultimately boil down to local political factors.
In the aftermath of the Bluebird Movement protests earlier this year, there was a demand for recall campaigns against KMT politicians. Though the Hsieh recall campaign, in fact, predated the outbreak of the Bluebird Movement protests, some calls were that the energy of the movement be redirected toward recalling Hsieh.
Nevertheless, part of the hope was that recall campaigns against KMT or TPP legislators could potentially tip the balance in favor of the DPP, seeing as the pan-Blue camp has a narrow lead over the DPP in the legislature. The Hsieh recall campaign would not help with this, seeing as Hsieh is the mayor of Keelung, rather than a legislator.
To this extent, the first of a wave of recall campaigns is likely to have the most political momentum behind it. If the Hsieh recall does not succeed, then, it is to be seen if this affects the momentum of other recall campaigns. Or expending too much resources on the Hsieh recall campaign could have a dampening effect on other recalls.
In particular, the DPP city council caucus called for Hsieh’s recall in light of several scandals, framed as abuse of power. This mostly pertained to Keelung’s E-Plaza shopping center, the largest mall in Keelung. While under Hsieh’s direction the mall is to become EAST COAST by BREEZE, as acquired by the Breeze Center chain of shopping malls.
NET became a part-owner of the E-Plaza shopping center in 2016, investing in the renovation and construction of its mall. Yet the Hsieh administration has taken the view that there was a breach of contract due to a fraud scandal that NET’s parent company became involved in.
George Hsieh (right) with New Taipei mayor Hou You-yi (left). Photo credit: George Hsieh/Facebook
NET has framed this as violating previous agreements, in changing an Operate and Transfer agreement to a Renovate, Operate and Transfer agreement without any legal basis. To this extent, NET took out newspaper ads accusing the Keelung city government of wrongdoing.
A raid conducted at night by police on NET was especially controversial. This was criticized as a case of the Hsieh administration attempting to strong-arm the company. Likewise, Hsieh has been accused of failing to be transparent about his mayoral administration’s negotiations with Breeze, with relevant documents having gone missing, and online comments by netizens in support of NET deleted.
Nevertheless, the large issues at stake may have less to do with NET or the E-Plaza shopping center, per se, but the power of the Hsieh family in Keelung. Hsieh hails from a political family that has long dominated local politics in Keelung. George Hsieh’s father, Hsieh Hsiu-ping, served roles in the Keelung government, as city councilor, a member of the National Assembly, and on the Taiwan Provincial Assembly. Hsiu Hsiu-ping had, in turn, succeeded his father Hsieh Qingyun, who served on the Keelung city council and in the National Assembly.
The Hsieh family is seen as constituting a local KMT faction in Keelung. To this extent, while Keelung’s Second Credit Cooperative had been originally founded in 1922, with the dominant shareholders being the Yen family of Keelung, it came under the control of the Hsieh family in the 1960s and 1970s during a time of restructuring.
Such entrenched ties in the area have sometimes led to allegations of corruption. During the 2022 local elections, DPP candidate Tsai Shih-ying, accused Hsieh of money laundering. Specifically, Tsai accused Hsieh of establishing shell companies overseas for money laundering purposes, so as to hide his wealth. Tsai has also alleged Hsieh of assisting in money laundering, due to links with individuals who later faced such charges, such as former Reliance Securities Company chair Lin Kuan-pai.
This proved similar to blowback against other powerful KMT political families in recent memory, then, as with the Yen family in Taichung, long known as a political dynasty located at the intersection of organized religion, gangster activity, and electoral politics. Yet it is another question entirely whether the Keelung public will turn against the Hsieh family. Certainly, outrage against Hsieh is nowhere on the scale of that against then-Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu in the wake of the 2020 elections, such as led to Han’s recall as mayor by overwhelming margins.