Sunday, May 02, 2010

2010 Election: Early Harvest

Out and about and capturing candidates as they woo voters in local areas. Outside of Dongshih a DPP candidate wishes voters a safe drive and hopes things go their way.

In Taiping a female candidate all in pink, probably from the KMT (no party affiliation listed) hang over an old sign for a DPP female candidate.

Heard over the grapevine: it will likely to be Frank Hsieh as the DPP candidate for the new Taichung municipality. It is highly improbable that any DPP candidate can defeat Jason Hu, the popular mayor, especially as new projects such as rail line restructing, the metro, and bike paths along the rivers, are going in as the election approaches, stimulating the local economy and creating more money flows into local patronage networks. The DPP's reasoning is that if they put a big name in Taichung, it will attract resources to the party, while forcing the KMT to divert resources to Taichung that could be used in the key races in Shinbei (the City Formerly Known As Taipei County) and Taipei City. It's good strategy, even if victory is unlikely.

But Frank Hsieh?

In Guishan DPP candidates implore voters to pick them. The DPP surprised everyone by winning the township chief post here in what was generally thought to be a Blue area.

The referendum on ECFA that the DPP and TSU are pushing will never be permitted to take place, I've heard from well-placed observers. Nevertheless, note that pan-Green pressure has forced the government to retreat to claims that it never opposed the referendum. Further, by keeping the pressure on, the DPP is forcing ECFA to have fewer destructive concessions. I should note that the DPP is also creating conditions whereby when the Party comes back to power, it can repudiate ECFA by claiming that it is an illegitimate treaty created by a cabal of pro-China loons that has no public support.

Also in Guishan, the DPP team.

This sign for a candidate for city council, with no party affiliation given....

...was replaced by this sign, which says the candidate is from the DPP.

KMT candidate. Note that.....

...in most of the pictures I have taken so far, the candidates are in ties, at least.

A candidate looks spiffy with a map in the background.

In Hsinshe, same candidate as the first pic.

Separated at birth? Karl hangs out under a sign for a candidate who cries that farmer's bellies cannot go hungry.

A KMT candidate overlooks Songchu Rd in Taichung.

In Tanzi in Taichung County.

In Dongshih, a major fruit-growing area, this candidate's poster emphasizes that she works for agriculture and is closest to Taiwan's farmers.
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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

The ECFA dealing is done despite the song and dance about "negotiations". This month some local beneficiaries of ECFA in organized crime have already commenced several large projects ECFA was designed to promote, signaling they have received an affirmative on ECFA. It appears organized crime and their legal offshoots are the prime backers of ECFA and the prime beneficiaries, as well as the politicians who receive a share of the harvest. (I am sorry I can not elaborate on this).

Much of the plan seems to involve flooding the country's low skilled markets with cheaper Chinese labor. These markets include entertainment, hotels, restaurants and tourism--organized crime dominated industries.

These jobs are primarily occupied by young people who often held the factory jobs in the prior generations.

The KMT elites seem to think all young people live lives of privilege and Chinese labor is needed to fill these positions.

Michael Turton said...

Yes, the people flooding is an old Chinese tactic, and if you look you see it everywhere. Next comes the amnesty. "We should make them residents on the path to citizenship! They are our brothers."

Anonymous said...

Not to forget the construction labor. Lots of illegal Chinese in construction. Much of Taichung's new city hall is being built by illegal Chinese. You can see them walking the street.

D said...

Fun set of pictures.

Anonymous said...

Frank Hsieh makes sense. In the event that Jason Hu loses, the local networks know that they'll have an equally corrupt mayor to deal with. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Anonymous said...

The metro? Last I heard, they weren't going to build a metro in Taichung. Wasn't the plan turned down?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 9:16 implies gangsters are already benefiting from pre-ECFA "projects" with government nods; however, I don't see how organized crime benefits from any formal and tacit ECFA arrangements under these circumstances, since they are apparently outside the law, hence outside the control of the government.

Rather, aren't gangsters benefiting from "blind-eye" corrupt politicians and access to Chinese who now can enter the country more easily because of so-called tourism and easy air connections across the Straits?

If I read Anon's 'inside' info correctly, then Ma Ying-Jeou is directly implicated in organized crime activity. Can the man who says he wants to clean up government instead be a puppet of gang bosses?

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:16

The KMT elite are in cahoots with organized crime as they are also KMT colleagues in the LY. Look who the ECFA cheerleader is in Taiwan-- Yen Ching-biao.

Organized crime is often used to fund legal enterprise.

Several projects broke ground over the past month that will benefit from ECFA and are aimed at an influx of Chinese into Taiwan.

Deal is done.