Ko Wen-Je

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

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...

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

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...

How Should We Interpret Ko Wen-Je’s Narrow Election Victory?

Ko Wen-je barely clinched the Taipei mayorship yesterday night, winning by several thousand votes over KMT candidate Ting Shou-chung. According to the Central Election Commission (CEC), Ko won with 580,820 votes, while Ting lost with 577,566 votes. This puts Ko just over 3,300 votes ahead of Ting, a narrow victory by any means. How should we interpret this narrow win?...

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

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...