Lai Ching-te’s Japan Tour: Could “Warmth Seeking Trip” Add Points?

 Lai Ching-te’s Japan Tour: Could “Warmth Seeking Trip” Add Points?

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

May 13, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

Lai Ching-te, as a self-styled "pragmatic Taiwan independence worker", visited Japan at the invitation of the Taiwan Association in Japan, seeking the support of countrymen who are pro-Taiwan independence and met with a number of Japanese political figures. However, observing his performance along the way, to say that this trip will help bolster his popularity in the DPP primary would probably still be a question mark.

Despite the fact that Lai Ching-te's support ratings in domestic public opinion polls have gradually demonstrated a trend of "declining from being once high", some of his advantages have been overtaken by Tsai Ing-wen. However, this time, he surprisingly received a high-level and enthusiastic reception in Japan. From the Japanese perspective, the DPP government, labeled the "most pro-Japan", failed to lift the ban on nuclear-contaminated foodstuffs from Japan during the three years of the Tsai Ing-wen administration, instead, under the maneuverings of the KMT, an "anti-nuclear-contaminated foodstuffs plebiscite" was adopted last yearend, leaving the Japanese government quite embarrassed.

The high-level treatment bestowed on Lai Ching-te was not a "gratis gift"; Lai Ching-te truly said what the Japanese side had expected him to say: once elected, he only needs to adopt international foodstuff standards, and he "was confident that he could solve the problem of nuclear-contaminated foodstuff." Such an explicit stance sycophantic to Japan coming from Lai Ching-te was immediately caught by Tsai Ing-wen at its weak spot, saying “at least in the next two years, nothing can be done to contravene the matter resolved by the plebiscite.” This means that Lai Ching-te contravened the vox populi in the plebiscite.

Although Lai Ching-te met with a number of high-level figures in Japan this time, viewed from the perspective of interpersonal relationships, excessive reliance on the support of the Taiwan independence faction in the expatriate community in Japan would not necessarily help his electoral prospects. In particular, the boastful pomposity in Lai’s commitment to lift the ban on nuclear-contaminated foodstuff could have an effect of subtraction.

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