In which Hau throws shade at Ko, and other developments

Pastoral scenery

The Taipei Times reported on the ongoing KMT-CCP lovefest at the Straits Forum in Xiamen, China this week. It seems former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin, son of far right premier Hau Pei-tsun who challenged Lee Teng-hui for control of the party and the government back in the day, decided to throw stones at current Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je....

Reiterating the importance of the so-called “1992 consensus” and anti-independence efforts as the foundation of cross-strait cooperation, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday said he hoped that both sides of the Taiwan Strait can go from “feeling as close as one family” (一家親) to “becoming actual family members” (一家人).

Readers will recall that the phrase "一家親" was used by Ko to describe the peoples on both sides of the Strait -- a loose but still familial relationship. Hau regurgitated Communist propaganda -- all sense of historical irony in the KMT has been lost in a blaze of ethnic solidarity -- by correcting Ko's formulation back to the CCP's preferred version of "one family".

This might have been wise in the presence of the CCP, but this phrase was precisely the one that peeved Deep Greens in Taipei because they felt it was too close to the CCP. Now Hau has gone and relocated that phrase back to the left of the KMT, rejecting it via mockery as too weak. Let's hope disgruntled purist greens wake up.

Asia Times reported that Hau is a popular leader:

Despite the backlash over his comments in Taiwan, Hau is widely tipped as a possible candidate who could kick out incumbent leader Tsai Ing-wen in the 2020 presidential election and erase memories of the KMT’s ignominious defeat in 2016. Beijing has also been placing high hopes on the KMT to nominate popular figures like Hau.

Somewhere there probably is an alternate universe where Hau is a popular figure.

Meanwhile former President Ma was out saying that Tsai needs to accept the fictional 1992 Consensus, another move to remind voters of what the KMT stands for. Note that when Hau was in Xiamen he did not use the "two interpretations" codicil, because Beijing has never accepted that. This has been known for years, Beijing has instructed its own media never to use it, and Ma had it rejected by Xi while Hau didn't even bring it up at Xiamen -- despite these facts, the western media will soon once again report that there are two interpretations.

In Taipei DPP Mayoral candidate Pasuya Yao, who has no chance to win the election, was busy using public money to buy private votes, as Solidarity tweeted:

DPP mayoral candidate Pasuya Yao 姚文智 proposal of NT$3000/month rent subsidy for single youths and NT$5000/month for young married households (for up to 10,000 households chosen by lottery) draws fusillade of ridicule of netizens

Yao promises an endless supply of ideas like this. But his function, in addition to providing amusement for me, is to soak up deep green votes that might have gone to the KMT's Ting as protest votes, and get out DPP votes for the City Council positions. He is meant to lose.
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