Ko Wen-je discusses his Chances to be elected President, Cross-Strait Relations

The following is a translation of an article by Radio Taiwan International‘s Chinese service.

The article contains interesting quotes from an interview Ko Wen-je gave Next TV, but leaves out critical comments he reportedly made about Xi Jinping‘s Qin-Shi-Huang kind of actions.

Links within blockquotes added during translation.

Xi Jinping acting like Qin Shi Huang?

Main link:

No great chance to be elected president/ there are currently no cross-strait relations

Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je said in an interview aired on July 9 that concerning the 2024 presidential elections, he was “taking a preparatory look at the issue” but his own view of the odds for him wasn’t promising, there would be new politicians, and the situation would be different.

台北市長柯文哲於9日播出的專訪中表示，對於2024總統「照這樣準備」，但自評勝算很低，且到那時會有新的政治人物出現、也沒有連任問題，戰局會不同。

Ko’s interview was broadcast on July 9 by Next TV. Asked by host Chen Yalin about the participation issue in the 2024 presidential elections, Ko declared for the first time that “I am still looking at such preparations, preparing for the presidential elections, just choosing like that, does it work or doesn’t it.”

台北市長柯文哲於9日播出的壹電視專訪中，被主持人陳雅琳問及參選2024總統問題，他首度表態「我還是照這樣準備，準備選總統，就這樣去選，行或不行」。

The host followed up, asking “what is the chance that it would work?”, and Ko answered that if you lean on personal popularity to win, the mobilization abilities of the blue and green camps were both strong, and only if you lead by eight percent from the beginning, “if you ask me at this stage, the chances to get elected would be very low.” “When all media are playing the game like this, it can’t be easy.” Also, there would be new politicians by then, and there wouldn’t be re-election issues, which would make it a different campaign.

主持人追問「你覺得行的比例差不多多少」，柯文哲回應若要靠個人聲望贏，藍綠動員能力強，除非一開始就領先8%，「你問我現階段，選了贏的機會很低」，「所有的媒體這樣打，不容易啦」，且到那時都是新的政治人物、也沒有現在連任的問題，戰局會不同。

Ko Wen-je said that he was in a very calm mood now, with doing his work at the Taipei government, and if it [the presidential opportunities] was there, that would be fine, and otherwise, let it be. There was no need to care.

柯文哲表示現在心情都很輕鬆，正常在北市府開工，行就行、不行就算了，何必那麼在意。

Ko also said that at this stage, there were no cross-strait relations, only a Taiwan issue within the confrontation between China and America, with both China and America having their bottom lines. “Frankly speaking, my conduct and actions wouldn’t differ much from Ying-wen’s [President Tsai].”

柯文哲並表示，現階段沒有兩岸關係，只有中美對抗架構下的台灣問題，中美各有底線，「坦白講，我所作所為跟小英(蔡總統)的做法其實也差不多」。

Asked by the host about the Hong Kong national security law and the cross-strait situation, Ko Wen-je said that China has to reflect on how to deal with the people’s longings for democracy and freedom once arriving at a certain stage of economic development.

主持人問及對香港國安法及兩岸情勢問題，柯文哲表示中國必須思考當經濟發展到一個程度時，該如何處理人民對民主自由的渴望。

Asked what he had to say to China’s chairman Xi Jinping, Ko Wen-je said that [Xi] had better respect Taiwan. Democracy and freedom were the core of Taiwan’s politics, cherished by the Taiwanese, and, more importantly, the Taiwanese would want to retain it. Therefore, [Xi] needed to understand Taiwan’s current situation.

至於對中國國家主席習近平有何話說，柯文哲表示，他還是要尊重台灣。民主自由是台灣政治的核心；台灣人會珍惜它、更重要的是台灣人會去想要保有它，所以他必須了解台灣的現況。

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Updates / Related

Taipei to continue forum with Shanghai (click picture)

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This week in Taiwan’s Airspace: “the Democratic Progressive Party authorities colluded with external powers”

Probably this kind of plane – click photo for source

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, June 11 — Responding to media coverage concerning a U.S. C-40A transport plane flying over Taiwan on June 9, PRC State Council Office for Taiwan Affairs spokesperson Zhu Fenglian pointed out that American Air Force planes flying over Taiwan harms China’s sovereignty, security and development interests, violates international law and fundamental standards of international relations. It is illegal conduct and a serious provocative incident. We express our strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition against this.

新华社北京6月11日电 针对有媒体报道6月9日1架美军C-40A运输机飞越台湾，国台办发言人朱凤莲11日应询指出，美军机飞越台湾，损害我主权、安全、发展利益，违反国际法和国际关系基本准则，是一起非法行径和严重挑衅事件。我们对此表示强烈不满和坚决反对。

Zhu Fenglian said that the Democratic Progressive Party authorities colluded with external powers to assault Chinese sovereignty and security, break peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait, and bringing calamity to the security and well-being of the people on the island. We express strong condemnation of this. We have the determination, the will, and the ability to resolutely defend national sovereignty, security, and development interests. We solemnly warn the Democratic Progressive Party authorities of misjudging the situation. They must not underestimate the strong will and resolute determination of the entire Chinese people to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and they must immediately stop the above-mentioned conduct.

朱凤莲表示，民进党当局勾结外部势力侵犯中国主权安全，破坏台海和平稳定，祸患岛内民众安全福祉。我们对此表示强烈谴责。我们有决心、有意志、有能力坚决维护国家主权、安全、发展利益。我们严正警告民进党当局不要误判形势，不要低估全体中国人民维护国家主权和领土完整的坚强意志和坚定决心，立即停止上述行径。

Statement by Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense, quoted by Reuters:

the Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF), as Taiwan’s air force is formally known, deployed fighters to repel Chinese Su-30 Flanker fighters. The PLAAF fighters were given verbal warnings to leave Taiwan’s air defense identification zone.

The incident followed a transit of Taiwanese air space, with permission, by a U.S. C-40A Clipper military personnel transport aircraft — a variant of the civilian Boeing 737. […]

The Military News Agency quoted underneath is part of Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense:

Military News Agency reporter Tsai Fang-yun, Taipei, June 9 – The Ministry of Defense said today that in the morning, a number of  Chinese Communist Party Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jet flights were detected as briefly entering Taiwan’s southwesterly airspace in the morning. In addition to radio warnings, our patrolling fighters controlled the entire process and took active measures to dispel them.

國防部今日表示，上午偵獲中共蘇愷30戰機多架次，短暫進入臺灣西南空域，除廣播告警外，我空中偵巡戰機全程掌握並採積極驅離應處。

The Ministry of Defense emphasized that by use of combined intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations, it is in full control of the Taiwan Strait, peripheral waters, and airspace. It takes an active role in firmly protecting homeland security and urges compatriots to be at ease.

國防部強調，國軍運用聯合情監偵作為，對於臺海周邊海、空域狀況，均能充分掌握，並採積極應處作為，確維國土安全，籲請國人放心。

Also, responding to media coverage about “a U.S. C-40A transport plane flying through Taiwanese airspace”, the Ministry of Defense points out that the American plane entered our airspace in accordance with procedures and request, and did not land at any of our airports [during passage]. The military is in full control, and everything is currently normal.

此外，針對媒體報導「美軍C-40A運輸機飛越台灣領空 」，國防部指出，美機進入我空域，係按程序完成申請，期間並未降落我任何機場，國軍都能充分掌握，目前均正常。

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President Tsai Ing-wen begins her Second Term, Inaugural Speech in full

in Chinese

in English

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Related

A second term, Jan 13, 2020
“We uphold our principles”, Jan 2, 2019
First Double-Ten speech, Oct 11, 2016
Economy with new bones, May 20, 2016
She’s back, April 15, 2015

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Related / Updates

Domestic in Focus, J. A. Cohen, May 21, 2020

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US support for Taiwan’s diplomatic alliances “uncompromisingly opposed” by FMPRC

The following is a translation of a newslet from China News Service (CNS, 中国新闻),the country’s second-largest newsagency after Xinhua.

“An Act to express United States support
for Taiwan’s diplomatic alliances
around the world”

Main link: China’s foreign ministry reacts to America’s signing of legislation concerning Taiwan, strongly urges America to correct mistake (中国外交部回应美方签署涉台法案：强烈敦促美方纠正错误)

CNS, Beijing, March 27 — (Huang Yuqin reporting)  Countering America signing the negative bill concerning Taiwan, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on a regular press conference on Friday that China strongly urged America to correct its mistake and not to implement that legislation, and not to obstruct any country’s development of ties with China. Otherwise, it would inevitably be met with a resolute Chinese counterattack.

中新社北京3月27日电 (黄钰钦)针对美方签署涉台消极法案，中国外交部发言人耿爽27日在例行记者会上表示，中方强烈敦促美方纠正错误，不得实施该法，不得阻挠各国同中国发展关系。否则，必将遭到中方坚决反击。

A reporter asked, the American president signed the “Taiwan Friendship International Protection and Strengthening Initiative” bill [into legislation]. How does China comment on this?

有记者提问，美国总统签署了“台湾友邦国际保护及加强倡议法案”。中方对此有何评论？

Geng Shuang replied that America’s so-called “Taipei bill” seriously violated the one-China principle and the rules of the Sino-American Three Communiqués, goes against international law and the fundamental standards of international relations, and interfered in domestic Chinese politics. China expressed intense resentment and uncompromising opposition against this.

耿爽回应称，美方所谓“2019年台北法案”严重违反一个中国原则和中美三个联合公报规定，违背国际法和国际关系基本准则，干涉中国内政。中方对此表示强烈不满和坚决反对。

He pointed out that worldwide, 180 countries had established diplomatic relations with China, with America having established diplomatic relations with China on the basis of the one-China policy as early as 41 years ago. The above-mentioned bill demands the obstruction of other countries sovereign countries’ developing normal national relations. This is undisguised hegemonial logic.

他指出，世界上已有180个国家同中国建交，美国自己早在41年前就在一个中国原则基础上同中国建交，上述法案却要求阻挠其他主权国家同中国发展正常国家关系，这是赤裸裸的霸权主义逻辑。

Geng Shuang emphasized that the Taiwan issue concerns China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and China’s core interests. China’s government and people determination and volition to defend their core interests is rock-solid. We strongly urge America to correct its mistake and not to implement that legislation, and not to obstruct any country’s development of ties with China. Otherwise, it would inevitably be met with a resolute Chinese counterattack. (end)

耿爽强调，台湾问题事关中国主权和领土完整，事关中国核心利益。中国政府和人民捍卫核心利益的决心和意志坚如磐石。我们强烈敦促美方纠正错误，不得实施该法，不得阻挠各国同中国发展关系。否则，必将遭到中方坚决反击。(完)

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Related

Led by Nancy Pelosi, J. Smith, Mar 27, 2020
Senate and House bill, Jan 3, 2020
China’s rising aggression, Jan 28, 2017

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Taiwan’s Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法): an Attempt to Translate

A word of warning: this is a try to get an understanding of Taiwan’s anti-infiltration law – it seems that there is no English translation of it online yet. However, I am no lawyer, my language skills are far from perfect, and this attempt to translate the Chinese-language original is nothing the reader should rely on.

The same is true for links within blockquotes – they may or may not be accurate either.

Your input will be most welcome. Here goes —

Published on 109-01-15¹⁾

公(發)布日期：109-01-15

Content:

Presidential Decree Hua-Tzung 1-Yi No. 10900004161
中華民國一百零九年一月十五日總統華總一義字第 10900004161 號令

Enacted and promulgated full text of twelve articles, to be in effect from day of promulgation.
制定公布全文 12 條；並自公布日施行

Article 1
第 1 條
To guard against infiltration and meddling by enemy forces from outside our borders, to ensure national security and social stability, to protect the Republic of China’s sovereignty and its free democratic constitutional order, this law is specifically formulated.
為防範境外敵對勢力之滲透干預，確保國家安全及社會安定，維護中華民國主權及自由民主憲政秩序，特制定本法。

Article 2
第 2 條
Definition of this law’s wording:
本法用詞定義如下：
1, Enemy forces from outside our borders: refers to countries, political entities or groups at war or in military confrontation with our country.
一、境外敵對勢力：指與我國交戰或武力對峙之國家、政治實體或團體。
This also applies to countries, political entities or groups which advocate the use of non-peaceful means to harm our country’s sovereignty.
主張採取非和平手段危害我國主權之國家、政治實體或團體，亦同。
2, Sources of infiltration:
二、滲透來源：
(1) Enemy forces governments outside our borders and their affiliated organizations, institutions or dispatched persons.
（一）境外敵對勢力之政府及所屬組織、機構或其派遣之人。
(2) Enemy forces political parties or other organizations, groups or dispatched persons making demands for political goals.
（二）境外敵對勢力之政黨或其他訴求政治目的之組織、團體或其派遣之人。
(3) All organizations, institutions and groups which are established or essentially controlled by the organizations, institutions and groups [mentioned] in the two previous items.
（三）前二目各組織、機構、團體所設立或實質控制之各類組織、機構、團體或其派遣之人。

Article 3
第 3 條
No one must receive instructions, be entrusted or receive financial support, be donated to, or have funds provided for referendum-related activities²⁾, from or by infiltration sources.
任何人不得受滲透來源之指示、委託或資助，捐贈政治獻金，或捐贈經費供從事公民投票案之相關活動。
Offenders against these rules will be sentenced to prison terms up to five years and up to 10 million NT$.
違反前項規定者，處五年以下有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金。

Article 4
第 4 條
No one must receive instructions, be entrusted or receive financial support from or by infiltration sources, for activities covered by article 43 of the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act, or article 45 of the Civil Servants Election And Recall Act.
任何人不得受滲透來源之指示、委託或資助，為總統副總統選舉罷免法第四十三條或公職人員選舉罷免法第四十五條各款行為。
Offenders against the aforementioned rules will be sentenced to prison terms up to five years and up to 10 million NT$.
違反前項規定者，處五年以下有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金。

Article 5
第 5 條
No one must receive instructions, be entrusted or receive financial support from or by infiltration forces to carry out activities as under article two of the Lobbying Act.
任何人不得受滲透來源之指示、委託或資助，進行遊說法第二條所定之遊說行為。
Offenders against the aforementioned rules will be sentenced to fines of more than 500,000, and up to five million NT$.
違反前項規定者，處新臺幣五十萬元以上五百萬元以下罰鍰。
Offenders against the first rule³⁾, lobbying on issues concerning defense, diplomacy and mainland affairs and national security or state secrets, will be sentenced to up to three years in prison and a NT$ 5 million fine.
違反第一項規定，就國防、外交及大陸事務涉及國家安全或國家機密進行遊說者，處三年以下有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣五百萬元以下罰金。
Fines concerning the second rule are in correspondence with article 19 of the Lobbying Act.
第二項所定之罰鍰，由遊說法第二十九條規定之機關處罰之。

Article 6
第 6 條
Any person receiving instructions, being entrusted or receiving financial support from or by infiltration sources to contravene Criminal Code article 149 to 153, or the Assembly and Parade Act’s articles 31 shall have his sentence increased by one half.
任何人受滲透來源之指示、委託或資助，而犯刑法第一百四十九條至第一百五十三條或集會遊行法第三十一條之罪者，加重其刑至二分之一。

Article 7
第 7 條
Offenders who receive instructions, being entrusted or receiving financial support from or by infiltration forces and contravene Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act Chapter 5 or Civil Servants Election And Recall Act Chapter 5, shall have their sentences increased by one half.
受滲透來源之指示、委託或資助，而犯總統副總統選舉罷免法第五章、公職人員選舉罷免法第五章或公民投票法第五章之罪者，加重其刑至二分之一。

Article 8
第 8 條
Legal persons, groups or other institutions in contravention of articles 3 to 7, will have the persons in charge be punished, and these legal persons, groups or institutions will be fined with amounts as stipulated by the respective articles.
法人、團體或其他機構違反第三條至第七條規定者，處罰其行為負責人；對該法人、團體或其他機構，並科以各條所定之罰金或處以罰鍰。

Article 9
第 9 條
Infiltration sources handling activities as of articles 3 to 7 or which instruct, entrust or financially support others to contravene articles 3 to 7 will be cut off based on the respective articles.
滲透來源從事第三條至第七條之行為，或指示、委託或資助他人從事違反第三條至第七條之行為，依各該條規定處斷之。
This also applies to any person receiving infiltration sources’ instructions, who are entrusted or financially aided by them, or who pass such instructions, missions or financial aids on to others.
任何人受滲透來源指示、委託或資助而再轉指示、委託或資助者，亦同。

Article 10
第 10 條
Offenders who turn themselves in or who confess during investigations or court hearings, shall have their punishment reduced. Those who turn themselves in and prevent major damage to national security or interests shall be exempted from punishment.
犯本法之罪自首或於偵查或審判中自白者，得減輕或免除其刑；自首並因而防止國家安全或利益受到重大危害情事者，免除其刑。

Article 11
第 11 條
All levels of government organs with cases contravening articles 3 to 9 should actively transfer their cases to, or inform, the prosecutors office, or police and justice administration, for investigation.
各級政府機關知有違反第三條至第九條之情事者，應主動移送或函送檢察機關或司法警察機關偵辦。

Article 12
第 12 條
This law comes into effect on the day of its promulgation.
本法自公布日施行。

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Notes

1) Year 109, i. e. 1911 (the year of the Wuchang Uprising): 1911 + 109 = 2020.
2) I’m not sure if this is about referendums, or about other votes, too.
³⁾ Apparently the two rules following each other within the Lobbying Act, Article 2.
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Related

Anti-infiltration Act, Wiki, last edit March 3

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Double-Ten 2019: Tsai’s speech, Han’s white paper

–

1. President’s speech

President Tsai Ing-wen’s national day speech is available

• • in Chinese and
  • in English

Among other issues, she rejected the “one country, two systems” concept advocated by Beijing.

Former president Ma Ying-jeou (2008 – 2016) and former vice president Lü Hsiu-lien (Anette Lü, 2000 – 2008) attended the event.

–

Han Kuo Yu’s white paper

KMT presidential candidate (and Kaohsiung mayor) Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) gave a speech at a flag-raising ceremony in Kaohsiung on October 9.

Han has also announced a white paper concerning relations with mainland China. The KMT’s “92 consensus” (九二共識) is believed to feature prominently in Han’s policies (as it has in former president Ma Ying-jeou’s), and the paper is also excpected to state “the defense of the Republic of China’s sovereignty”, “under the precondition of “one China with different interpretations” (一中各表).

While the “92 consensus” has long been disputed in Taiwan anyway (including the question if Beijing actually ever recognized such a consensus, or if it has been a KMT fantasy all along), Beijing’s more recent demands – “one country, two systems” to include Taiwan – mean that either way, a KMT president would be at odds with Beijing, just as is the current Tsai administration.

The KMT’s last Chance: Waste Separation in Shanghai

Main Link: Anyone may criticize the KMT, but not former “honorary member” Terry Gou (王丰：谁都有资格批评国民党，但前“荣誉党员”郭台铭没有)

Wang Feng (王丰), born 1956 in Taichung, Taiwan, to a mother from Jiangsu and a father from Hubei, is president of the China Times Group. He is also an occasional interviewee of Guanchazhe, an online news and commentary portal based in Shanghai. The China Times has been owned by Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), a China-leaning businessman, since 2008. While Taiwan’s pan-green political camp detests the paper and doubts its integrity, in turn, Wang Feng, defending the paper in July this year against accusations that it had been taking “phone calls” from China’s “Taiwan Affairs Office” (TAO), criticized the accusers, saying that freedom, democracy and human rights were Taiwan’s hard-won values, and that a pluralistic and democratic society was the only thing Taiwan had over China.

Reporters without Borders (RSF) criticized the China Times Media Group for filing a lawsuit against the Financial Times’ correspondent Kathrin Hille (who had apparently reported about the alleged link to the “TAO” first), calling the legal action abusive. There doesn’t seem to be any news online about if and how the group’s legal proceedings have continued since.

That wasn’t an issue in Wang Feng’s most recent interview with Guanchazhe (published on Saturday) either. It centers around Foxconn founder Terry Gou‘s (郭台銘) withdrawal from the KMT, which had made him an honorary member only in April.

Based on opinion polling, Gou lost the KMT primaries to Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) in July this year.

Han Kuo-yu is now the KMT’s nominee, and therefore the KMT’s official challenger of incumbent president Tsai Ing-wen (DPP),  in Taiwan’s presidential elections, scheduled for January 11, 2020. However, his chances to emerge as Taiwan’s next president have faltered, not least since the beginning of large-scale demonstrations in Hong Kong, against a (now apparently scrapped) extradition law draft by the special administrative zone’s government. The Hong Kong events seem to have raised the Taiwanese public’s awareness of what the “one-country-two-system” approach, advocated by China’s party and state leader Xi Jinping as a “model” for Taiwan, would mean in practice, and an apparent unpreparedness by Han Kuo-yu to criticize Beijing has added to his problems on the campaign trail.

Criticizing Beijing, of course, is nothing Wang Feng would do either, nor would it be something Guanchazhe could publish anyway. If the KMT (rather than Taiwan in general) has any advantage over China in Wang’s book, it wouldn’t be “pluralistic and democratic Society” (as stated in his announcement to sue the Financial Times and the Taiwanese media who had referred to the FT’s Coverage), but the KMT’s potential skills in managing waste separation in, say, Shanghai (比如国民党的环保能力非常强，现在上海在搞垃圾分类，国民党可以派人来当顾问，帮大陆做得更方便、更干净). In such fields, the KMT should enter a competition with the Chinese Communist Party, Wang said, not so much in terms of votes (obviously), but in helping Taiwanese compatriots to leave a favorable Impression on mainland compatriots” (争取人心，不是去争取选票，而是要争取大陆同胞对台湾同胞的好感), and in making peoples’ lives easier.

The “big picture” Wang drafts for the KMT in the interview might be summed up as think global, act in China, suggesting that solving China’s (environmental) problems would contribute to solving the world’s problems. His interview can also be seen as part of Guanchazhe’s efforts to prepare the Chinese public (or the share of it that cares) for a (no longer unlikely) re-election of Tsai Ing-wen as Taiwan’s president.

Terry Wang, apparently a very sensitive man when his own professional integrity, or that of his paper, is called into question, doesn’t mince his words about Terry Gou. As a man who had portrayed himself as a principled man who believed in Mazu and Guan Gong, Gou hadn’t done himself a favor by withdrawing  from the KMT, “neither in terms of business nor politically” (换言之，他现今的脱党举动会在他未来不管是企业还是从政的道路上，布下一个非常不好的变数，而所谓的变数就是让人对他的诚信产生根本的否定), Wang says. He also cites Gou’s management style at Foxconn as an example as to how void his recent criticism of the KMT actually were. After all, if Gou – contrary to the KMT old guards – was indeed a modernizer, he could have democratized Foxconn (郭台铭不“迂腐陈旧”，难道鸿海敢搞企业民主、开明治理吗).

As for the state of the KMT’s unity, Wang suggests a numerical game to predict how the Party would fare:

There is a precondition for the KMT being united, and it is that their candidate must be in a safe zone of winning the elections, or moving close to losing. In such situations, there is a likelihood for unity. If Han Kuo-yu’s support rate isn’t more than 30 percent, but 20 percent or lower, the KMT may split.

国民党的团结必须有一个大前提，就是候选人是在胜选的安全区域，或接近落选的危险边缘，这样他们才有团结的可能性。如果韩国瑜今天不是30%多的支持度，而是20%多或更低，那么国民党就会是分裂的。我刚还在想，国民党的这些人跟战国七雄很相似，他们心中永远有个战国心态，就是“老子弱的时候，就臣服于强者；老子强的时候，又蠢蠢欲动想分裂”。

According to Radio Taiwan International‘s (RTI) German service on September 12, Gou may register as an independent candidate until September 17. He is widely expected to run for president as an independent now. That, however, could force him to state his positions, much more explicitly than up to now, reckons Frozen Garlic, a blogger who has focused on the topic of Taiwan’s elections for more than nine years. Even though Gou had mostly served platitudes during a visit to Chiayi city council earlier this month (and before withdrawing his KMT honorary Membership),

[e]very time Gou speaks, he gives Tsai [DPP] and Han [KMT] an opening to question him and force him to defend his positions and the implications of those positions.

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Related

“We uphold our principles,” Jan 2, 2019

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Updates/Related

Gou bows out, RTI, Sept 17, 2019

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You want to defend Democracy, Mr. Rasmussen? Introduce a dedicated Property Tax

In an op-ed for The Guardian, former NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen calls on Europe to

stand up for Taiwan’s self-determination and treat it as a fully-fledged member of the alliance of democracies. In a globally interdependent world, failure to defend our values in east Asia and beyond will eventually lead to the erosion of those same values at home.

The headline – (Now Europe must defend Taiwan) – is more spectacular than Rasmussen’s actual text, where the man who led the West’s military alliance from summer 2009 to fall 2014 doesn’t exactly call for a formal military alliance with Taiwan. As far as military cooperation is concerned, his op-ed remains vague.

It does, however, make tangible demands, by citing American measures in support of Taiwan as examples for Europe, or by accusing European governments of allowing China to bully them into accept its version of Taiwan’s status. Rasmussen also encourages the European Union’s incoming leadership to start practical measures to strengthen Taiwan’s position economically.

Op-eds like these are icebreakers – this one doesn‘t touch on “taboo” issues, at least not yet. And it remains to be seen if Rasmussen is up to a stronger European voice and economic policy in Taiwan‘s favor, or to full military cooperation. If the latter is the case, the EU would have a long way to go – it is anything but a “Pacific player”.

In 2014, Rasmussen wrote an op-ed for the Telegraph which was built in a similar way. Back then, he drew on Russia‘s annexation of Crimea and demanded to “invest in defence of democracy.” Now, he is drawing on the obvious crash of China‘s “one-country-two-systems” policy in Hong Kong.

Is Rasmussen‘s op-ed good news? Basically, yes. Taiwan needs support indeed, and supporters don‘t need to be likeable, as long as their support is sustainable. But Rasmussen’s suggestion that perhaps it had been “naive to believe that this erosion of Hong Kong’s democracy was not inevitable” is cute. I don‘t think that Michael Heseltine, the UK’s trade minister back then, gave democracy in Hong Kong much thought when he had his arguments with  Chris Patten.

What seems to become apparent is a rift within Europe. China, obviously, would love to see an ever-more integrated European Union, provided that such a union would collectively sing the correct tune on Beijing‘s policies, and on Taiwan. In western Europe, bigger countries seem to be less concerned about China‘s – or Russia‘s, for that matter – role in Europe than smaller ones, especially the Netherlands, and Denmark. In eastern Europe, things may evolve differently.

Even if sympathetic with, or loyal to Taiwan, Europe‘s ordinary citizens need to be careful when it comes to utterances like Rasmussen‘s. For decades, China has counted as a huge business opportunity, and western companies were only too happy to throw their technology at it. That was in the interest of investors, but not necessarily in the interest of the European workforce. Now, who exactly is expected to invest in the defense of democracy? There isn’t only a rift between countries – there’s one between income groups, too.

As Rasmussen said, in a globally interdependent world, failure to defend our values in east Asia and beyond will eventually lead to the erosion of those same values at home. But the defense of democracy still starts at home.

If the EU – or single countries of it – want to strengthen Europe’s global military role, I have some words of advice for their  leaders, too. Introduce a meaningful property tax to just that end – one that is going to tax you. Show that you are serious about defending democracy.

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Related

Rising aggression against Taiwan, Jan 28, 2017

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