Source: Global Times
[Global Times Special Correspondent Chen Lifei] Editor's note: According to Taiwan's "China Times" report on the 10th, former "Minister of Transportation" Lin Jialong agreed to serve as mayor of New Taipei after three serious talks with Tsai Ing-wen. Public opinion has been speculating that New Taipei City will stage a "Hou Long War" between the current mayor Hou Youyi and Lin Jialong. New Taipei is the original Taipei County. It has a population of 4.01 million and is the largest voting base in Taiwan. The results of its mayoral election will have an important impact on the 2024 election, so this showdown has also attracted the attention of all Taiwan.
Criminal Police Captain
Taiwan China Times Electronic News 10 said on the 10th that the showdown between New Taipei City Mayor Hou Youyi and Lin Jialong is about to begin. On the 9th, Lin Jialong, who has repeatedly stated that he will not elect the mayor of New Taipei City, said on Facebook that his birthplace of Wanhua spans Taipei and New Taipei, emphasizing that "Taipei+ will further develop into New Taipei+ and Greater Taipei+”, the team is ready. Hou Youyi also changed his past attitude of avoiding talking about elections, and continued to insinuate Lin Jialong, saying that New Taipei citizens are not second-class citizens in the eyes of political parties, and no one or political party is allowed to use New Taipei as an election bargaining chip. New Taipei "needs people who put their hearts here." . The "Hou Long War" is about to break out.
The latest poll by the "Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation" shows that among the mayors of the "six municipalities", Hou Youyi's epidemic prevention performance is the most recognized, with 35.2% of public support, followed by Taipei Mayor Ke Wenzhe, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Qimai ranked third. Taiwan media analysis believes that Hou Youyi's high popularity is related to his two major characteristics.
One is "warm and tough". Hou Youyi was born in Chiayi County in June 1957. His father was a soldier and started selling pork after he retired. Hou Youyi played baseball very well when he was a child. After graduating from Chiayi Middle School, he was admitted to medical school, Kaohsiung Normal College, and Central Police Academy. His family wanted him to go into medicine, but after Hou Youyi read the book "Ten Great Detectives", I discovered that the top-ranked protagonist was a detective who knew gekko skills, so I chose the police academy and received my doctorate in 2005. He and his wife Ren Meiling had three daughters and one son. In May 1992, their son Hou Naiwei was killed in a car fire incident at Health Care Kindergarten.
In 1990, Hou Youyi served as the deputy captain of the Criminal Police Brigade of the Taipei City Government Police Station. At that time, shortly after the lifting of martial law in Taiwan, public security deteriorated. Hou Youyi rounded up key shooting suspects many times. He investigated the NT$100 million kidnapping case of Shin Kong Young Master Wu Dongliang that shocked society, and personally arrested the main culprit Hu Guanbao. In 1992, he served as the commander of the first "Dragon Hunting Project" and rounded up Chen Xinfa, the leading shooter nicknamed "Yilan Dragon" who had committed more than 50 kidnappings and murders. At that time, he fired about 2,000 bullets, which eventually caused an explosion in the apartment. Chen Xinfa He and his gang members were burned to death in the house. This also set a record for the most number of shots fired in a shootout between police and gangsters in Taiwan. In 1994, Hou Youyi served as the supervisor of the Criminal Police Department of the "Police Department of the Ministry of the Interior" and participated in the investigation of the " Thousand Island Lake Incident" that occurred in mainland China.
In 1997, the "Bai Xiaoyan murder case" occurred on the island. Fierce gun battles broke out many times while Hou Youyi was chasing the murderer. The last thug broke into the official residence of Zhuo Maoqi, the South African military attaché in Taiwan, and took hostages. Hou Youyi entered the official residence alone to deal with the thugs, and successfully brought out Zhuo Maoqi and his daughter who were injured by gunshots. The photo of him leaving the scene wearing a steel helmet holding Zhuo Maoqi's daughter made his image of a "warm and strong man" deeply rooted in people's hearts. In the end, Chen Jinxing, the principal criminal in the "Bai Xiaoyan murder case", also surrendered. Later, Hou Youyi arrested the number one criminal Zhang Ximing in a shootout in Taichung County in the third "Dragon Hunting Project".
Crossing blue and green
Hou Youyi’s second major characteristic is that he “crosses blue and green” and belongs to the “atypical Kuomintang”. The "319 shooting" broke out in 2004, which had a major impact on the results of the "general election" that year. Hou Youyi was the "criminal director" at the time. After investigation, it was determined that the shooter in the case was Chen Yixiong who committed suicide in fear of crime. The Kuomintang was quite dissatisfied. In January 2006, Hou Youyi was promoted by Chen Shui-bian to the position of "Police Commissioner" at the age of less than 50 years old. Therefore, the media often called him "Inspector Hou". In 2008, he was transferred to the position of President of the Central Police University. On February 28, 2018, Hou Youyi announced his candidacy for mayor of New Taipei City and was elected defeating Su Zhenchang in the same year."This is a different path in my life," he said. "China Times" stated that the KMT's social image and public opinion favorability are hovering at a low ebb, but Hou Youyi can win the favor of the middle and light green supporters, so his support is outstanding among KMT politicians. The media is therefore optimistic that he will seize the leadership of Taiwan in 2024.
However, this also made Hou Youyi controversial within the Kuomintang, and was sometimes even called "blue skinned and green bones". In 2010, at the invitation of the then New Taipei City Mayor Zhu Lilun , he served as deputy mayor. Later, in order to run for mayor of New Taipei City, Hou Youyi went through the party membership procedures in the second half of 2013 and officially became a member of the Kuomintang. In February 2018, Jin Jieshou and other dark blue figures made a big move to publish advertisements, publicly criticizing Hou Youyi's role in the "319 shooting". During the 2020 "general election", Hou Youyi was questioned a lot in the blue camp because of his cold attitude towards the KMT candidate Han Guoyu . Some people even criticized him as "an undercover agent of the Democratic Progressive Party in the KMT." After Han Kuo-yu lost the election, some Korean fans listed "war criminals", and Hou Youyi was one of them.
In December last year, the "four major referendums" failed. Some people believed that this was related to Hou Youyi's failure to publicly support the KMT's ideas. Hualien "legislator" Fu Kunqi even posted a post on Facebook calling on the Kuomintang to bid farewell to the "blue skin and green bones" in order to regain morale, which was considered to be meaningful. Some members of the Democratic Progressive Party took the opportunity to express that "Hou Youyi has a good relationship with us" and intended to sow discord between him and Panlan.
In addition, Hou Youyi rarely talked about the "1992 Consensus" in public, which also caused concern. However, Ye Yulan, a "legislator" of the Kuomintang who has a close relationship with Hou Youyi, once said that there is no doubt that Hou Youyi has a clear stance against "Taiwan independence". He himself once revealed that when he was the "Police Commissioner", both sides of the Taiwan Strait jointly fought crime and had close exchanges. When he visited the mainland in the past, he also said that he was a true "Shanghai son-in-law" and said that he had learned a lot from his Shanghainese father-in-law. Regarding cross-strait exchanges, before he took office as the mayor of New Taipei City, he said that he would open his mind and use a positive attitude to create exchanges in all aspects of economy, tourism and tourism between cities, so that everyone can prosper together.
Lin Baochun, a retired professor at Taiwan University, said that Hou Youyi ignored the most important point. No matter how respectful and cautious he was, in the eyes of the bloodthirsty Democratic Progressive Party, he was definitely "not of my race, and his heart must be different." There are still endless ways to exploit gaps, and they will never let go of what they regard as their biggest enemy. "Cut the throat until it is severed." This is the highest principle pursued by the DPP. How could it be soft-hearted because of Hou Youyi's non-stick political style? As long as any flaw can be found, the Democratic Progressive Party, which controls most of the media, will attack it fiercely and ruthlessly with overwhelming force.
May Be "Conspired"
Compared with Hou Youyi, Lin Jialong, who was born in February 1964, does not seem to have that rich experience. He is currently the "Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs" of Taiwan, and has served as the "Minister of Transportation", the mayor of Taichung, and the "Deputy Secretary-General of the Presidential Office". His wife, Liao Wanru, is the niece of Chimei Group founder Xu Wenlong. The daughter of Liao Jinxiang, the former chairman of Industrial . On April 2, 2021, a major derailment accident occurred on Taiwan Railways " Taroko No. ". Lin Jialong was controversial for not resigning quickly.
Niu Zexun, a full-time professor and director of the Department of Advertising at the Chinese Culture University in Taiwan, analyzed on July 9 that Lin Jialong’s move to become mayor of New Taipei City had deep political calculations. First, he can protect Chen Shizhong, the "Minister of Health and Welfare" who is a possible candidate for Taipei mayor but has no election campaign experience. Especially when Chen's aura as "the master of epidemic prevention" has faded, he is already unable to fight independently, so the New Taipei candidate Only if you have the ability to cheer for him can you compete with the Kuomintang candidate Jiang Wanan in terms of momentum. Secondly, the Democratic Progressive Party knew that it was almost impossible to defeat Hou Youyi, so it retreated and tried to fight for "glory in spite of defeat" and at the same time restrain Hou's influence from spreading unlimitedly to northern counties and cities. Lin Jialong became the "best option of last resort". choose".
As for Lin Jialong, of course he wants to increase his leverage in negotiations with the Democratic Progressive Party Central Committee, so he first bids to run for mayor of Taipei. Even if the goal may not be achieved, it is impossible to return empty-handed when the Democratic Progressive Party needs him.
Taiwanese media reminded that although Hou Youyi has always been the most popular political figure in the blue camp, he is currently facing the test of the "En En Case". Enen was a two-year-old child who died due to delays in being diagnosed and sent to the hospital. The incident has been brewing for more than a month. Under the behind-the-scenes manipulation of the DPP, Hou Youyi's image has been damaged to a certain extent. As Taiwan’s largest vote base, the Kuomintang is not resting lightly.
