A few days ago, the "nine-in-one" election in Taiwan came to an end. The Kuomintang won 13 of the 21 county and mayor seats on the island, achieving the first strategic reversal in many years. In this great victory, the most exciting thing for the Kuomintang authorities was undoubtedly that Jiang Wanan defeated Chen Shizhong and Huang Shanshan and was elected as the new mayor of Taipei.
As the political, economic and cultural center of the island, Taipei City has been a battleground between blue and green since ancient times. In the past eight years, Ko Wenzhe, a doctor by training, has not only become the most prominent political star on the island by taking control of Taipei, he has also founded the Taiwan People's Party, fighting a bloody path in the pursuit of the blue and green camps.
Compared with other county mayors on the island, the key reason why the Taipei mayor has a more important political status is that he is recognized by the outside world as a springboard for promotion to leaders in Taiwan. From Chen Shui-bian to Ma Ying-jeou, they all followed the path of being elected first as mayor of Taipei and then as leader of Taiwan. It is precisely for this reason that in the eyes of various media in Taiwan, Chiang Wanan has a "bright future." If he can perform well during his four-year term and receive high praise from Taipei citizens, it will help him reach a higher level in the future.
Objectively speaking, compared with other politicians on the island, Jiang Wanan has many hard advantages. First of all, his age in his 40s shows that his subsequent political career is much longer than that of Tsai Ing-wen, Lai Qingde, Zhu Lilun and other blue and green party bosses. Furthermore, with his handsome appearance, he can easily win the support of female voters on the island. The most important point is that his identity as a descendant of the Chiang family brings him an invisible political aura and blessing, and it is easy to win the favor of the deep blue faction on the island. Although
has the blessing of various advantages, in terms of cross-strait policies, Jiang Wanan is still unable to support the wall, and has returned to the old path of the Kuomintang's failure.
Not long ago, Jiang Wanan announced that he would invite Cai Shiping to serve as the director of Taipei City Cultural Bureau. The biggest impression left by Tsai Shiping on the outside world is that she is a notorious extreme "Taiwan independence" element whose political philosophy is to follow the lead of the United States. After former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated, Tsai Shiping felt as if she were mourning her heir. She publicly advocated the establishment of a bronze statue for Shinzo Abe and called on more Western politicians to visit Taiwan to expand Taiwan's "international activity space."
During Ma Ying-jeou's tenure as the leader of Taiwan, in order to demonstrate his political generosity, he publicly invited some Democratic Progressive Party figures to serve as senior officials. Now that Jiang Wanan is following Ma Ying-jeou's old path, privately speaking, he is recognizing a thief as his father, and can be called an unfilial descendant of the Chiang family; publicly speaking, he cannot distinguish between black and white, which is a serious betrayal of the "92 Consensus" and "One China."
On the other hand, Jiang Wanan also publicly announced that he would invite Chen Shui-bian to attend his inauguration ceremony as Taipei mayor. According to outside interpretations, Jiang Wanan hopes to use this move to show goodwill to the DPP, thereby achieving the "reconciliation of the century" with the DPP and adding points to his political resume.
However, Chen Shui-bian was obviously unwilling to accept Jiang Wanan's kindness. Chen Shui-bian responded that he had never received an invitation to attend the inauguration ceremony of Taipei Mayor Chiang Wanan and would not attend his inauguration ceremony. Chen Shui-bian's refusal to buy it is not surprising to outsiders.
The Democratic Progressive Party, represented by Chen Shui-bian, itself grew and grew in the process of resisting the Kuomintang. "De-Chianghua" and "De-China" are the consistent lines of action of the DPP. If you accept Jiang Wanan's invitation, it will be equivalent to denying yourself. The experienced Chen Shui-bian will obviously not make a wedding dress for Jiang Wanan.
After decades of “de-Chiangization” process, the Chiang family’s influence on contemporary Taiwan’s social politics has been minimal. However, in the eyes of some Deep Blue people, the two Chiang and his sons have become their "spiritual leaders". They have always acknowledged themselves as Chinese, and they have not hesitated to use iron fists to attack "Taiwan independence" elements on the island.
But for the current Jiang Wanan, on the one hand, he needs to use the aura of being a "descendant of the Chiang family" to win the support of the deep blue people; on the other hand, he must work hard to get rid of the political resistance brought by his status as a "descendant of the Chiang family", especially the political identity of a China.This kind of delusional attempt to benefit both sides will inevitably result in displeasure among both the blue and green camps.
In 2018, some "Taiwan independence" elements poured red paint on the coffin of Chiang Kai-shek in Cihu, Taoyuan. However, Chiang Wanan, who was accustomed to showing off his identity as a "descendant of the Chiang family", did not dare to express his anger in the face of naked provocations for fear of offending the Democratic Progressive Party. Previously, there was a voice that believed that if Chiang Wanan could take power in Taiwan in a few years, it would help ease cross-strait relations. But looking at it now, if he even ignores his own ancestors in order to gain political interests, how can we expect him to make a difference on the Taiwan issue, which is related to the reunification of the country?
In short, if we want to completely solve the Taiwan issue, we can only rely on the mainland, the motherland, which has the initiative.
