Source: Direct News
Can Gao Hongan successfully take office?
On December 15, Taipei’s local judiciary launched an eight-pronged search for Hsinchu mayor-elect Gao Hongan, a member of the People’s Party, on the grounds that he was involved in the fraud of assistant fees, including the legislative body Gao Hongan's office, Gao Hongan's residence, Gao Hongan's parents' residence in Neihu, Taipei City, and other locations, and interviewed four defendants including Gao Hongan, Gao's former assistant Li Zhongting (also Gao's boyfriend), office director Chen Huanyu, and staff member Wang Yuwen. During this period, six or seven judicial officers searched Gao's office for more than two hours and finally took away a box of materials.
At around 8 p.m., Wang Yuwen and three other people were sent to the Taipei District Prosecutor’s Office one after another. At around 12 o'clock in the middle of the night, Gao Hongan was sent to the Beijing Inspection Bureau by investigation bureau personnel. Gao Hongan did not say a word when asked by the media. After an all-night investigation, Gao Hongan was released on bail with NT$600,000 (exactly the amount involved in the case, approximately 136,000 yuan) at 5:10 the next day. It was rumored that the so-called part-time assistant of her boyfriend Li Zhongting was asked to return without security, indicating that there is no problem with this department.
Gao Hongan is Guo Taiming's favorite general, and he is appointed as the non-districting representative of the People's Party. When she was a member of the Democratic Party, she required each of her assistants to donate part of their salary to the office provident fund for collective activities. However, during Gao Hongan's campaign, it was reported that part of the provident fund may have been misappropriated by Gao for his own use, which triggered the so-called judicial issue. It happened that Gao was elected mayor of Hsinchu, and they rushed to investigate her before she took office. The intention to prevent her from being sworn in was also very obvious. In the case of
, Gao Hongan's practice of asking staff to donate to provident funds was indeed objectionable, which aroused widespread dissatisfaction among her assistants. It was also the most passive part of her election. But in the end, it's not that big of a deal. After all, Gao did not directly pretend to receive assistant fees, thereby causing corruption. Despite such a high-profile investigation, no one mentioned the shady projects in Hsinchu that cost hundreds of millions of Taiwan dollars. They seriously did not comply with the proportional principle of and , and also caused public dissatisfaction.
A large number of netizens are worried that Gao Zhen will not be able to take office as a result, and the DPP will gain in the final by-election. After all, during the entire campaign, the DPP devoted its entire party efforts to mobilizing the "Information Policy Council", legislative bodies, inspection and inspection units to attack Gao Hong'an. The unprecedented pursuit and killing actions are still vivid in our minds, but instead prompted the people of Hsinchu to elect Gao Hong'an with a high vote to express their dissatisfaction with the DPP. However, the DPP did not stop there. Instead, it intensified its political pursuit. When Gao was released from the Beijing Prosecutor's Office, a Democratic Progressive Party flag was hoisted on top of the Beijing Prosecutor's Office building that day. It was full of symbolism and irony, and was destined to make it impossible to eliminate the political consequences of this case.
Shi Mingde, former chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party, said that according to Article 74 of the island’s Basic Law: except for current crimes, public opinion representatives may not be arrested or detained without the permission of the legislative body. Therefore, he called on the DPP and the courts to please be cautious every step of the way! Rep. Lai Shibao, a member of the KMT, said, "Gao Hong'an has not yet taken office after the election, and the inspection unit acted so quickly. You said there was no political cooperation, but no one believed it. Moreover, the head of the legislative body, You Xikun, is also a member of the Democratic Progressive Party, so the cooperation was very fast." You Xikun pretended to be crazy and shied away from the secretary-general of the legislative body, Lin Zhijia, saying that he did not know the details of the matter, although he also approved in the document that it would be "handled according to law."
DPP caucus chief Ke Jianming
Hsinchu is the home base of DPP caucus chief Ke Jianming. Ke’s interests in Hsinchu are intricate and shady, so Ke was the main motivator in attacking Gao Hongan during the election campaign. Curzon said that Gao should not be too happy about being elected, because being elected does not mean that he will take office. Later, Gao was released on bail, which shows that Gao's problem was not serious enough to be dismissed. According to the island's judicial inertia, Gao's case will most likely enter a lengthy legal dispute. The core is that Gao Hong'an's appointment will not be affected at all. So another reporter deliberately asked Ke Jianming whether it would affect Gao Hongan's appointment. Ke couldn't hide his "disappointment" and said, "This is an idiot question."
Lai Ching-te registered to run for the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party
On the morning of December 14, Lai Ching-te, who was infected with new crown , entrusted former head of the island cultural department Zheng Lijun to go to the DPP party department to register to run for the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party. Zheng is the head of the cultural department appointed by Lai Ching-te during his past tenure as head of the administrative department. When Lai Ching-te resigned because of his defeat in 2018, Zheng expressed his willingness to advance and retreat with Lai Ching-te. However, because he was comforted by Su Zhenchang, he resigned until 2020, so the two had a certain intersection.
Zheng Lijun had a close relationship with Tsai Ing-wen and was considered a best friend, so Lai Ching-te asked Zheng Lijun to register on his behalf, which also sent a signal of Lai and Tsai Ing-wen's reconciliation. When Zheng Lijun was in the cultural department, he promoted the "transformation" of Taipei Chung-zheng Memorial Hall, which was regarded as promoting "de-Chenghua" and aroused the dissatisfaction of the Blue Camp people. During an event, Zheng Zheng was toasted. Lijun was slapped by a senior artist Zheng Huizhong. After the incident, Zheng Lijun stated at a press conference that the "transformation" of the Memorial Hall should not be simplified to "de-Chenghua". She believes that "transformation justice" is not to tear the ethnic group apart. Zheng Lijun is a woman, with a relatively gentle political stance and a wealthy family. Therefore, the media speculated that when Lai Ching-te elects a leader in Taiwan in the future, he would invite Zheng Lijun as his deputy. But Zheng expressed that he would not consider the election now.
Zheng Lijun (Left) Lai Ching-teh
Lai Ching-teh made four claims this time, mostly involving the review and reconstruction of the DPP itself, which mentioned the need to "strive for peace", which was questioned by the opinion leader of the blue camp Zhao Shaokang. Zhao Shaokang believes that if "Taiwan independence golden grandson" and Lai Ching-teh who claims to be "pragmatic Taiwan independence worker" are the leaders of Taiwan, how can cross-strait relations not be tense?
However, Lai proposed "strive for peace" and also It is not "groundless". In this review of the defeat of the DPP, it was vaguely admitted that creating tensions in cross-strait relations will no longer bring them election dividends. Without talking about real war, just extending military service has caused them to lose many young votes. On December 15, Zheng Wencan, the head of the DPP's defeated election review, said that the DPP's cross-strait discourse needs to be adjusted so that the people understand that Tsai Ing-wen's governance is to pursue cross-strait peace and stability, and to increase voters' trust in governance.
In fact To put it bluntly, the illusion of "anti-China and Taiwan protection" created by the DPP has been bankrupt. The people on the island realize that they are just fighting against the mainland and not "protecting Taiwan", but will even harm Taiwan. In the future, Lai Ching-te will run for election on behalf of the DPP. The most urgent task is to downplay his "Taiwan independence" color, and even find a new cross-strait discourse to alleviate the tense relationship between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, which will also help increase his chances of being elected.
After Lai Ching-te runs for the chairman of the DPP, another thing is also However, it happened suddenly, and he had to face the so-called "net army" that the DPP party agency beat him up two years ago. The media coincidentally exposed the dialogue records and member list of the "net army" group for the 2020 Taiwan leader election on the 14th. In addition to the flanking editor, there are also Tsai Ing-wen's office deputy secretary-general Huang Chongyan, Democratic Progressive Party deputy secretary-general Lin Heming, former party chairman special assistant Hong Yaonan, public opinion representatives Lin Chuyin, Wang Dingyu and others. The meaning of liquidation is self-evident.
Recently, not only public opinion on the island, but also within the DPP, there is a huge voice to review these "network troops", which has caused some of the DPP's past flanking "network troops" to be resentful. Some people say they want to let go regardless of future elections, and they even do not rule out counterattack.
Former Deputy Secretary-General of the DPP Li Junyi said on the show on the 15th that the DPP's "network troops" have no loyalty, "all for the personal voice and for the personal interests. "What really worried him was whether Lai Ching-te had the ability to integrate the Democratic Progressive Party under Tsai Ing-wen's "rule" situation.
Lai Ching-te seems full of confidence, but in fact the trouble has just begun.
Author丨Xu Yi, Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Special Editor
