Han Kuo-Yu

Inflated Crowd Counts for Han Kuo-yu’s Inauguration Reflective of Poor Fact-checking By Taiwanese Media

Brian Hioe
News reports earlier this month that Han Kuo-yu’s inauguration was attended by 800,000 people once again prove how easily Taiwanese news is duped by false reporting. Namely, despite how unlikely it would be for the inauguration of Han Kuo-yu to be attended by 800,000 individuals, this is what was claimed by a number of Taiwanese media outlets including UDN, SET, China Times, and TTV... Read More
EnglishJanuary 2019Politics0 Comments 08 min read

Ma Ying-Jeou Versus Wang Jinpyng, Part Two?

Brian Hioe
The "September Political Struggle" between former president Ma Ying-Jeou and former majority speaker Wang Jinpyng is again back in the news, with Wang and Ma publicly trading barbs after the release of a new book by Ma detailing his presidential administration and defending past actions. The reemergence of these tensions perhaps points to the major splits within the KMT at present... Read More
EnglishJanuary 2019Politics0 Comments 05 min read

Increased City-Level Exchanges with China Possible in the Future, Even from DPP Mayors

Brian Hioe
It seems highly likely that KMT city mayors will pursue a strategy of carrying out city-level exchanges with China going forward, a model originally pioneered by Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je that Kaohsiung mayor-elect Han Kuo-yu has also taken up. However, some DPP mayors may also be tempted to do the same, as observed in the example of Tainan mayor-elect Huang Wei-che expressing public interest in visiting China much like Ko or Han... Read More
December 2018EnglishPolitics0 Comments 06 min read

KMT Likely to Push for City-Based Exchanges With China Based on Precedent Set by Ko

Brian Hioe
International views of 2018 local elections in Taiwan, unsurprisingly, have in many cases skewed towards the assessment that China may have been the ultimate victor in nine-in-one elections. The KMT is very likely to leverage on this fact in the near future, to try and push for a new round of efforts to facilitate exchanges with China by way of the city-based exchange model pioneered by Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je. This would be a means of circumventing the central authority of the Tsai administration... Read More
#22EnglishNovember 2018Politics0 Comments 07 min read

Will The DPP Lose Its Control Of Taiwan’s Six Special Municipalities?

Brian Hioe
With mayorship of all of Taiwan’s six special municipalities up for the vote in 2018 local elections, the DPP looks like it may have a tough time holding onto its current political dominance in four out of the six municipalities. Some take the view that DPP losses in these municipalities will allow the KMT to rebuild momentum, which is why DPP losses could be worrying... Read More
#22EnglishNovember 2018Politics0 Comments 08 min read

Han’s Weaknesses Show After Mayoral Debate, But A Han Victory Still Possible

Brian Hioe
The two Kaohsiung mayoral debates that took place on November 10th and yesterday, on November 19th, raise a number of questions going forward. In particular, KMT mayoral candidate Han Kuo-yu did not perform as well as one would have expected in either debate and so it is to be seen whether the debate will negatively affect his election chances. On the other hand, it is also highly possible that Han voters will simply disregard Han’s debate performance... Read More
#22EnglishNovember 2018Politics0 Comments 020 min read