The Phenomena of "Han in the South and Ko in the North" Give the Blue and Green Camps a Loud Admonition with a Club

  The Phenomena of "Han in the South and Ko in the North" Give the Blue and Green Camps a Loud Admonition with a Club

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

October 16, 2018

Translation of an Excerpt

The most eye-catching phenomena in this year's election campaigns are undoubtedly the ones of "Han in the south and Ko in the north"; in a situation where we witness "the rise of laymen politicians," the aging political parties exhibited lifeless politics. Ko Wen-je’s popularity conversely climbed on account of “the parting of Ko and the Green,” with supporters clamoring “run for President”; this phenomenon is ironclad evidence that the DPP has not won popular support, while Han Kuo-yu singlehandedly made a strong showing in the Green camp stronghold of Kaohsiung; the aura of "one man beating a party" has also embarrassed the KMT.

Compared with four years ago, Ko Wen-je's "layman" charisma has not been as attractive as before. His governance record during his term as mayor of Taipei City in fact has nothing to show off: the difficult problem of the Taipei Dome has still been abandoned there, the transportation mess in the Neihu Science Park still lacks prospects for a breakthrough, and the capital city has not seen the rise of new public construction. Under these circumstances, Ko Wen-je's popularity is still being galvanized for two major reasons: one is his advocacy of "the two sides of the Strait are like family," testifying to the narrowness of President Tsai's cross-Strait policy; the second is he has an agile while free personal style, not being constricted by traditional, bad practices of political parties or officialdom.

Then look at the sudden rise of Han Kuo-yu in Kaohsiung. He used the comment "old and ugly" Kaohsiung to debunk the myth of the Green camp’s rule for 20 years, utilizing this to appeal to the "youth moving north" to return home for casting their ballots in order to change Kaohsiung's supposedly predetermined destiny. In just a few short months, his aura approached his Green camp opponent Chen Chi-mai; not

only that, recently his Internet volume surpassed Ko Wen-je. Han Kuo-yu’s rise is probably the most noteworthy phenomenon in this year’s electoral campaigns. At present, the KMT’s party assets have completely been frozen; lacking funds and interpersonal connections as support, Han Kuo-yu singlehandedly went south to Kaohsiung for battle, relying, surprisingly, on his sincerity and public speaking talent to plant a Blue flower in the Green camp stronghold, which eventually bloomed; calling it a “miracle” is not far-fetched.

The phenomena of "Han in the south and Ko in the north," spoken plainly, are precisely the characteristic of the decline of Taiwan's party politics. Voters, who have lost their passion, conversely cast their eyes on candidates with no political bondage or lighter hues of political parties.

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