Who Maliciously Manipulates “Replacing Han Kuo-yu”? KMT Should Get to the Bottom of the Matter

 Who Maliciously Manipulates “Replacing Han Kuo-yu”? KMT Should Get to the Bottom of the Matter

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

September 5, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

Terry Gou is at the ready to enter the presidential race; at this juncture, suddenly a rumor was circulating that KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih in early August dispatched a "secret emissary" to the Mainland to talk with the Mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office about "replacing Han Kuo-yu." Despite the fact that the principal Chang Hsien-yao and the KMT both have come out to sternly deny the rumor, and that the KMT has also indicated that it would take the case to court, the motive behind releasing such a message at this sensitive moment is indeed intriguing.

In fact, leaving the denial of the principal aside, merely judging from the rationality of the rumor, we know that this rumor could hardly be true. First, in the rumor, it was in early August that the "secret emissary" was dispatched; at that time, Ko Wen-je had just founded the Taiwan People's Party, and the alliance of Terry Gou, Ko Wen-je, and Wang Jin-pyng merely existed in the newspapers. In the opinion polls at the time, Han Kuo-yu still edged out Tsai Ing-wen in a case of a one-on-one duel; in a three-way race, Han and Tsai were neck and neck, while Terry Gou was quite a distance from the leading group. Just imagine, with this background, what motive did the KMT have to initiate "replacing Han" at that time?

Secondly, current cross-Strait relations are sensitive; Wu Den-yih’s political experiences have never been slanting toward the Mainland, even deliberately keeping a distance, so much so that even the KMT-CCP Forum has been repeatedly delayed. For this reason, to say that the KMT reports to the other side of the Strait about its internal confidential matters is beyond imagination.

Thirdly, the price of last time’s "replacing Hung Hsiu-chu" was extremely disastrous; should the KMT repeat the same mistake, it would be stupidity of the first order.

Lastly, the loyalty of "Han fans" supporting Han Kuo-yu is extremely high, having combativeness. Should "Han Kuo-yu be replaced", the voters would inevitably turn their ire on the KMT and Terry Gou; even if Terry Gou should be nominated as the official presidential candidate, it would never be possible that these votes shift to Terry Gou and could even jeopardize the Blue camp’s electoral prospects in the legislative elections.

If the Gou-Ko-Wang alliance had employed such a heavy hand, using tactics to manipulate "replacing Han Kuo-yu " to pad its standing, thinking nothing of even destroying the KMT, we believe that nobody would identify with the move. If it were the political operation of the Green camp, then that would be "smearing Han Kuo-yu" and "destroying Han Kuo-yu" to the extreme. For this reason, the KMT should get to the bottom of the matter to show solidarity.

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