Han Kuo-yu Debunks the Myth of Chen Chu’s Kaohsiung Governance

  Han Kuo-yu Debunks the Myth of Chen Chu’s Kaohsiung Governance

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

October 3, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

One of the most eye-catching phenomena in this year-end local elections is the Kaohsiung whirlwind of Han Kuo-yu, dubbed the "Korean vogue." (His name Han in Chinese characters is both a common family name in China and the name in Chinese for the country Korea.) Han Kuo-yu, on whom nobody had pinned high hopes, volunteered and then was drafted to enter the Kaohsiung mayoral race; nevertheless, he surprisingly dissolved the Blue camp’s permafrost in Kaohsiung, not only debunking the myth of the DPP’s twenty-year governance in that city, but also step by stel fast moving to threaten the DPP’s candidate Chen Chi-mai. Viewed from the mud-slinging and counterattacks by a DPP exacerbated with rage, the "Han Kuo-yu effect" is heating up and spreading to other counties and cities.

Chen Chu ruled Kaohsiung for 12 years; in the past, under the operation of massive publicity and product placement advertising, she always enjoyed the halo of a "five-star mayor." Precisely because of this, the KMT’s elite, whether young generals or old marshals, no one dared to don their armor to challenge the DPP; Han Kuo-yu, in a situation with no logistics or troop support, decided to accept the challenge against all odds. However, the invictus myth of Chen Chu in Kaohsiung has been debunked by Han Kuo-yu’s simple phrase “both old and poor,” referring to the city; such was the reality of the “Emperor’s New Clothes.” Continuing on this key note, Han Kuo-yu again appealed to the "north-moving youth" from Kaohsiung (located in southern Taiwan), eliciting an echo with the younger generation and rocking the foundation of the Green camp in Kaohsiung.

Last year, from "the second largest city in Taiwan," Kaohsiung City's status was overtaken by Taichung City, revealing the cruel reality of Kaohsiung's decline. In fact, this only refers to the rise and fall within the island of Taiwan; if contrasted with overseas, the problem of Kaohsiung’s decline is even more alarming. In the cross-Strait competition, one regresses with no progress; this is an inevitable conclusion. In the DPP’s political logic, this has all been covered up with no reference in any conversation.

In the past eight years, Kaohsiung’s population has only increased by 33 people, while the “north-moving population” has been estimated to reach 300,000. After 20 years of the DPP’s governance, it has piled up a debt of NT$250 billion, leaving a serious exodus of industries and the youth who find it not easy to secure employment. A city with a dimming halo seemingly has no strength to confront the "both old and poor" reality.

Han Kuo-yu has revealed the reality of the “Emperor’s New Clothes”; from now on let us see whether the people of Kaohsiung face the reality of their "both old and poor" city. As an economic metropolis, Kaohsiung once blazed a trail; as an important political town, Kaohsiung’s halo has dimmed. Now, isn’t it the DPP that owes the people of Kaohsiung?

Attachment : none