|
EDITORIAL: King’s
copycat act works this time
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has just
returned from a trip to the US where she had a series of appointments in her
capacity as the DPP’s presidential candidate. She was virtually shadowed by King
Pu-tsung (金溥聰), head of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) campaign team, who made
sure he was there at every stop, aping her every move. Former premier Su Tseng-chang
(蘇貞昌) got it right when he accused King of being up to no good and stopping at
nothing to prevent his rival from making any headway. Such is King’s strategy.
We saw a similar strategy during the 2008 presidential election. The DPP came up
with the idea of calling for a referendum on Taiwan’s entry into the UN, as a
way to bolster former premier Frank Hsieh’s (謝長廷) campaign. The Chinese
Nationalist Party (KMT), in an attempt to take the wind out of the DPP’s sails,
called for another referendum, on the Republic of China re-entering the UN. This
exercise in obfuscation worked well. The public had trouble distinguishing
between the two and ultimately lost interest. The result was that neither
managed to reach the threshold necessary for a referendum to be held.
King did not care about ridicule over a lack of originality or innovative ideas.
All he was interested in was holding the opponent back so Ma could maintain his
lead. Now that Ma is seeking re-election, his campaign manager is up to his old
tricks again. Ma, as president, was unable to go to the US to tail Tsai, so King
went in his stead.
Tsai met members of the US Congress in Washington; King was not far behind. Tsai
attended a seminar with think tank academics; King did the same. Tsai gave a
speech at Harvard University; King arranged to give a speech at Harvard. Tsai
met with overseas Taiwanese in Los Angeles. Guess what King did when he was
there? He made sure he was there at every turn, forcing her to share the
limelight.
King exploits his special status. It has long been known that he is Ma’s close
friend and confidant. It does not matter whether he is officially the
secretary-general of the KMT or holds no particular title, the whole political
world knows he is, to all intents and purposes, Ma’s alter-ego. He often sounds
more like Ma than Ma himself. It was King who turned the discourse to Ma’s visit
to China following his re-election and of the possibility of cross-strait peace
talks, forcing Tsai, who up to that point had avoided clarifying her position on
the cross-strait issue, into the debate. After they had crossed swords, one
claiming that Tsai’s “Taiwan consensus” lacked substance, the other that the
“1992 consensus” was a sham, there was little opportunity to develop the point
further with US officials and academics, to persuade them about the issue.
Many people were impressed by Tsai’s ideas and her level-headedness during her
US visit, but the overall impact she made was deadened by King’s immediate
refutations and attempts to sidetrack her. Meanwhile, Ma and his running mate,
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), had the run of the country, drumming up votes. King
has done pretty well.
His strategy is working for the time being, but it is based entirely on the
frontrunner frustrating the attempts of anyone behind from catching up. His
problem is that the public is none too impressed with Ma’s track record or his
policies. Once the campaign starts heating up and the legislative candidates
enter the fray, King’s strategy might not be so effective. King has successfully
put a spanner in the works of Tsai’s US trip. It is now up to Tsai to bring Ma
to account in Taiwan.
|
