What's Soong's game?

Politics Taiwan Politics
21

Why can’t the KMT back out of the election to make way for Soong? Remember that Soong, as an independent, destroyed Lien Chan in the 2000 presidential election and was only a few percentage points away from the ROC presidency. IMO, the vast majority of voters who vote on the pan-Blue side would vote for either the PFP or KMT candidates, as long as it was the unity candidate. For now, everyone lines up behind the KMT because it’s clearly the most organized (and wealthy) organization.

Soong’s approval rating amongst the KMT isn’t great, and ranks him lower than the current KMT leadership (Ma/Wang). But Soong’s approval rating amongst the KMT is as high as CSB’s approval rating amongst the DPP.

Everyone knows that Ma is driving the pan-Blue train. Anything that happens on the pan-Blue side, and he will be held personally responsible. Even the after-effects of the SMT protests, for example, were placed squarely on his shoulders… Ma tried the “lift up his arms” and “don’t look at me” thing, and it didn’t resonate at all. Taipei will be the same story.

22

the kmt has been building up hau for months. now all of a sudden soong pops out of nowhere. pulling out would be a huge loss of face. if it had been negotiated, that would be another story.

soong’s time is past, he’s a two time loser already and is running on fumes.

some will look to blame ma but he can’t and won’t be held responsible for the acts of every renegade on the scene. smt protests were a different question as they occurred within his area of administrative responsibility as taipei mayor.

23

Soong is yesterday’s man and nothing more than a spoiler. So far the only thing Soong has acheived is putting the DPP in power. It’s not clear to me that he’s been able to get himself elected to anything - As others have said, his only ‘value’ is how much damage he can cause the KMT and he’s looking for a buy-off.

24

Talking about racist xenophobes . . .

Just spotted this at the bottom of a China Post piece on Li Ao’s latest contribution to Taiwanese democracy. A bullet really is far too good for Song.

HG

[quote]James Soong, PFP chairman “on leave” to run for mayor of Taipei, has made it clear that his party stands opposed to the arms deal until after Stephen Young, director of the American Institute in Taiwan, apologizes for what is considered “insulting” comments.

Watching Soong and PFP lawmakers disturbing this year’s National Day celebration, Young made spontaneous comments that they have to behave themselves.

Soong and his lawmakers had planned to declare Young a persona non grata.[/quote]

25

Now you see what a dement moron he is …

26

But we won’t see Hsieh talking bad about Soong. We will only see him talking bad about Hau (I would personally distribute some Lafayette shopping bags).

I would even personally give the pins…

About the theme of these elections - which seems to be the Tamsui river, who is more capable of cleaning it? My belief is none.

Cleaning a river is not simply cleaning the water. The things you need are so extense that it would take a complete change in Taipei city and Taipei County. Last year the EPA allready announced a 3 year plan and NT$1 Billion to clean it up (plan approved by Frank Hsieh), so any mayor coming now to say that they have a miraculous plan can be relying on this EPA budget. Anyway, I would like any of the candidates approach a real ecologist foundation and ask for help from specialists. Harsh measures will have to be taken, and many people will suffer from it, but as long as the Tamsui river is as it is, Taipei citizens will have health concerns. So, what to do?

I would say first concentrate on the source of the pollution - waste water, rain water and direct sources of pollution (discharge of polluents in the river directly).
Waste water has to be 100% directed to sewage treatment stations, and the plan of building 7 of these by the EPA is a good one, but it should have been done in the 90’s.
Stormwater is a more serious problem. Because most people doesn’t know, the water from rain can introduce in the river extremelly dangerous pollutants, and the fact that most constructions in this area are not green nor thought to be green, added to the fact that it rains like hell over here, only increases this problem. Also, the fact that there are more buildings than trees over here makes the quantity of stormwater going into rivers a lot bigger. To solve it, we will need a lot of change in the way people live, do things, build things and think things. One can start with “green rooftops”, where the water that falls into them is directly sent to the drainage system - this not only avoids pollution, because rooftops are water collection baskets that stand higher, and therefore avoid needless contact of the water with sources of pollution, but also reduces the noise produced by the rain itself (and we all know how noisy it can be). Other inteligent thing to add to the rooftops are plants, which absorve water by themselves, reducing the quantity of drain water. Second, permable pavement allows better drainage flux and control, lowers the risk of flood and also lowers the contact time of water with rubber and pollutants from the traffic. Third, riparian protection allong the costs of the Taipei city rivers, allowing for life to be able to develop there (and not fill the sides of the river with carparks). Increasing the number of trees here will reduce the ammount of water running into the rivers, allowing a better flood protection and lowering the pollution effects of stormwater.

I could continue here, but for sure I made more clear then any candidate what needs to be done. Because, making promises everyone can make, but explaining how they will fullfill their promises is something different.

27

:bravo:

28

here is a little link for people who want to know a bit more of how things are/can be done:

http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/rooftops/rooftops.pdf

29

I just saw the news about the PFP allowing the anti-graft bills to pass to the agenda. This might mean that Soong may be playing a trump card here: The KMT assets for Hau’s head…

30

ESWn had a China Times poll today that pegged Hau at 42%, Hsieh at 20%, and Soong in the single digits. Further, Hau and Hsieh are both rising (Hau faster than Hsieh), while Soong is sliding. Soong not only cannot win, but I don’t think he’ll be able to split the Blues seriously either. The DPP candidate might benefit from Soong, except that it is that prize ass and southerner Frank Hsieh, and not someone who might be acceptable in the north. DPP mayor hopeful in the previous election, Lee Ying-yuan, never ran more than 20% in the polls but polled 37% of the vote, but I doubt that there is so much sleeper pro-DPP sentiment in overwhelmingly Blue Taipei this time around. If only the DPP had fielded a serious candidate…

The Shih Ming-te campaign, which I am becoming slowly convinced was a Soong show, knocked 16 points off Hau’s lead, but failed to do jack for Soong. Soong has to know his sell-by date may have already passed, and his leverage is fading. He obviously wants to be President…but how does the asset bill help him? He can’t wax the KMT assets, they benefit the Machine politicians like Wang who are his friends. So in addition to keeping his party alive, what is he angling for? There’s no way the KMT gives up Taipei, and certainly not the son of a prominent mainlander reactionary like Hau Pei-tsun, who gives every indication of being able to win in Taipei.

Soong’s strategy is not clear to me yet. Any ideas?

Michael

31

Well, with the flunk on the bill for the assets, it’s becoming shady what the PFP wants. If this was a warning to the KMT that any more advance from Ma over the PFP legislators will be met with anger, it also shows that the gun on Soong’s hand is with empty shells.

32

I think Soong didn’t realize he’d poll this poorly in Taipei. The last time he ran on his own ticket, after all, he was only 1-2% points from being president.

I think it’s a statement of fact that if the KMT candidate withdrew, Soong would win Taipei. Does Soong have enough leverage to make that happen? It seems unlikely so far, but politics in Taiwan is a fickle thing. There’s no reason for him to make a decision now; he can really wait until the last second before making any announcement.

33

What worries me most of all is the possibility that the Soong camp will find some dupe with a green background, have him take out Hau, and make sure he’s eliminated on the spot so he can’t reveal who put him up to it. Then there’ll be no-one in Soong’s way, and the pro-China people will have a field-day hurling accusations and abuse at Chen, the DPP and the Taiwanese as responsible for Taiwan’s terrible state of lawlessness, ethnic conflict, green terror, and so on, represented by this heinous crime.

Without any monkey business, Hau is almost certain to run out the clear winner of this election, whether or not Soong stays in to the end. I have a favourable impression of the man, believe he’ll be a good mayor, and am pretty sure that a high proportion of Taipei’s voters think likewise.

34

Not being cynical, but why? I don’t have much of any impression of him, except his dad appears to be guilty of one of the biggest scams in Taiwan’s history, he seems to have been sponging off his dad’s dubious perks, and now I have to pay good money for a stupid super-think plastic bag any time I can’t carry all my shopping in my hands, and I think that was due to Hau’s decision as head of EPA (or whatever the dept. is called.).

Also, I don’t think Ma did much for Taipei. Hasn’t Hau sort of said he will continue to do as good a job as Ma did?

35

Ma did nothing for Taipei. He was popular. He got out there and used every opportunity he could to make himself look good, but he didn’t improve the basics.

If I were Mayor the first thing I’d do is improve the look of the streets. I’d make sure departments coordinated well with one another instead of having the same road ripped up five times in a month to lay five different types of cable and drainage. I’d make sure the city council provided trash cans. I’d train the police in how to effectively operate traffic signals during peak hour. I’d work on banning ghost money burners or at best have a centralized one where the smoke is filtered. I’d clean up all the stray dogs and cats and work on the licensing system. I’d have the dogs put down quickly and not rotting in some pound. The same for the cats. I’d make it a bylaw that apartment buildings should be scrubbed and cleaned every six months, from the outside. Painted too if possible. I’d sack every person who’d ever laid a tile in Taiwan and his supervisor. I’d specifically ban the use of slippery, gripless, glossy tiles on pathways.

No wonder Sung’s catch cry is Think Positive, woe befall him should he Think Properly.

36

You got my vote! :bravo:

HG

37

You just don’t understand Chinese culture.

Some of your proposal are a bit silly–like the one to provide trash cans so that people can have a place to dump for free.

Private contractors are the ones tearing up the streets.

No one can make anybody do anything in Taiwan bureaucracy unless it is the big man, and he can’t do watch everyone all the time (coordinating departments).

Burning paper money is just part of religious life here. Banning it is not an option.

Your suggestion about tiles is good–except they are already illegal. Enforcement (as always) is the problem.

38

Not being cynical, but why? I don’t have much of any impression of him, except his dad appears to be guilty of one of the biggest scams in Taiwan’s history, he seems to have been sponging off his dad’s dubious perks, and now I have to pay good money for a stupid super-think plastic bag any time I can’t carry all my shopping in my hands, and I think that was due to Hau’s decision as head of EPA (or whatever the dept. is called.).[/quote]

In the first place, I certainly wouldn’t hold him responsible for the sins of his father any more than I’d hold anyone else responsible for the sins of theirs.

I believe he did a good job at the EPA. He struck me as being very hard working and sincere about doing the best job possible while steering well clear of politicking. He also took the job and stuck to it despite getting a lot of flack from every side – from the pan-blues for joining the DPP cabinet, and from the pan-greens for not being one of them. And I thoroughly approved and still approve of the plastic bag policy, though as I said at the time, a charge of NT$5 or more per bag, to be allocated to some kind of environmental clean-up fund, would have fitted the bill even better.

39

But the blues hold CSB responsible for the sins of his son-in-law who was known to Chen for a much shorter time. Did you opine against that?

Personally, I would not vote for Hau because of his dad’s near-obvious guilt in the Lafayette scandal, which was a terrible move for Taiwan. It will be a long time before South Korea shows any military support for Taiwan again, and it’s not like building military bridges with the French ever did anyone any good. I do believe somewhat in the old like father, like son adage. We get our values from our parents more than from any other source.

I would see Frank Hsieh in a much better light. Kaohsiung did become a significantly nicer city during his tenure. He’s got a track record of effectiveness, while Hau is a gamble. Sure, Hau may be a clean guy, but I wouldn’t vote on that chance, not when there is a better choice.

I also like Hsieh’s Olympic idea. Applying to host the games has to start sometime. It usually takes three tries or more to win the nod, so why not get Taipei started. I think Hsieh would do a lot to increase participation in team sports. That would be good, since it will be necessary if the new Taipei Dome is ever to pay for itself, not to mention the new plan for an even bigger dome.

40

What I don’t like about this thread is that the Taipei City mayoral vote has become centered on Soong, when he is not even close to being a serious candidate from early numbers. What I do like is that we are learning a lot about the issues at hand.
Omni has us expecting Hau to be assassinated by a Soong plot. Sorry, man, Soong picks on the weak. That’s how he survives. He snuffs out guys getting too close to him. He’s not the sort to finagle a political conspiracy. By the way, nothing he does is not unknown to his enemies in the DPP, who run the military and the security arm of the government now. Omni’s idea was cool, but impossible beyond belief.
We don’t talk about Hau because Hau has little to offer except: “I’ll be like Ma and preoccupy myself with stability. I won’t lead because the KMT party will tell me what to do, when and how. I’ll get everything ready for the presidential election and clinch my corner for Ma. Thank god I’m not stuck with getting blue votes out of KS!”
Any A-Ma in Taibei with children and grandkids will vote for him and tell her children and their spouses to vote blue, or they won’t get their portion of the Lafayette money she’s got holed up in investments and trust. A-ma knows how they voted because she just “knows.” [Remember the time I called you after you lost your first bf and the first thing I said was “What’s wrong”?]
Hsieh has to convince the voters that, well, they don’t need stability. That a dynamic and big-spending city will bring in lots of big contractors from unexpected circles waiting for Taibei to be less “Chinese” and more “global.” Who knows? Halliburton would find helping Taibei prepare for an Olympic bid a dream job compared to Iraq if forced to leave.
Hau just has to say: When Ma needs to make deals for jets from his new airport in Taoyuan, he’ll get a sweet deal on preorders from the Airbus plant in Tianjin and not have to pay Boeing’s overblown prices, by being kind to China. When Ma is president, he’ll know how to handle the Arms bill (to bar against the off chance a rogue coup of Chinese generals gets some funny ideas about Taiwan) … something that might just help you secure your grandchildren’s first apartment down payments, just like Lafayette did for your kids.