Taiwan opposition KMT names mayor Hou Yu-ih as presidential candidate over Foxconn’s Terry Gou

TAIPEI – Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) has named New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih as its candidate for the January 2024 presidential election, set to be an unpredictable race closely watched by Beijing and Washington amid cross-strait tensions.

“Young people cannot see a future, so we must make a big breakthrough and let the political parties rotate again,” Mr Hou said on Wednesday afternoon while accepting the party’s nomination.

Mr Hou, 65, was picked over Foxconn Technology Group’s billionaire founder Terry Gou, 72, who had held a series of

large-scale campaign rallies

in recent weeks to seek the party’s nomination.

KMT chairman Eric Chu said Mr Hou was selected after taking stock of “scientific data and the opinions of local government heads and lawmakers”.

On Facebook, Mr Gou congratulated the mayor, and said he would do his best to support Mr Hou in winning the election to “take down the incompetent government”.

Also on Wednesday, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) officially confirmed its party chairman and founder Ko Wen-je, 63, as its presidential candidate.

This has been a long time coming for the former Taipei mayor, who

formed the party in 2019

in an attempt to shake up a political landscape long dominated by the island’s two main political parties, the Beijing-friendly KMT and the ruling independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Mr Hou and Dr Ko will take on Taiwan Vice-President William Lai, 63,

who

is the DPP’s candidate.

Taiwan has become the biggest flashpoint in the increasingly fraught relationship between China and the United States.

Beijing claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has in recent years intensified its military and diplomatic pressures on the island to isolate it internationally. This comes as Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen of the DPP has fostered closer relations between Taipei and Washington, which has been met with hostility from China.

All eyes are now on who the next Taiwan leader will be and how the person will guide the island’s foreign policy.

Ms Tsai, first elected in 2016 and

re-elected in 2020,

cannot contest again owing to term limits.

Analysts told The Straits Times they were not surprised that Mr Hou was the KMT’s final pick. 

“Compared with Terry Gou, I think Hou is seen as someone who has done more for the party and is loyal,” said Assistant Professor Ma Chun-wei from Taiwan’s Tamkang University.

“Technically, Gou is not even a KMT member right now.” 

Ahead of the last presidential election, Mr Gou had also sought KMT’s nomination, but quit the party in 2019 after the populist Han Kuo-yu

was picked over him.

The tech tycoon has not yet been officially approved to rejoin KMT. 

The soft-spoken Mr Hou, who has crafted an image of being efficient and down-to-earth, also has broader appeal, given Mr Gou’s brash style, experts said.

During Taiwan’s municipal elections in November 2022, Mr Hou’s popularity was evident as he was re-elected New Taipei mayor with a significant 450,000 more votes than the DPP’s Mr Lin Chia-lung. 

However, running for president so soon after securing the mayoral seat comes with a political risk, namely doubts about his commitment to his constituency.

This was what happened to Mr Han, who was

fielded by KMT as presidential candidate in 2020,

just months after he was elected Kaohsiung mayor in an upset victory.

Accused by Kaohsiung residents of abandoning his post to campaign for the island’s top job, he was

removed from office as mayor in a recall vote in June 2020.

Still, there is a marked difference between Mr Han and Mr Hou, said National Taiwan University political scientist Chen Shih-min.

“Hou Yu-ih has established his roots in New Taipei for years, whereas Han Kuo-yu was unknown at the time. I think residents would not be too surprised by Hou’s presidential ambitions,” said Dr Chen.

But he noted how Mr Hou will have to be clearer about his cross-strait policies in the months to come. 

“Hou is always very careful with his words, but that also means that people are not too sure about what he really thinks. He will definitely be asked to further clarify his stance on China and Taiwan,” added Dr Chen. 

Earlier in May, Mr Hou said he opposes Beijing’s “one country, two systems” proposal to reunify with Taiwan, and that he is against Taiwan independence.

However, he has so far skirted questions regarding

the 1992 consensus.

It is a tacit agreement that both sides of the Taiwan Strait are part of one China, though what that means has been subject to different interpretations. 

Based on this consensus, the two sides had friendly relations during the administration of KMT’s Mr Ma Ying-jeou from 2008 to 2016.

Since then, the consensus has been rejected, not just by the DPP but also by a vast majority of Taiwanese, according to a survey in October 2022 by Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council. 

Tamkang University’s Prof Ma said: “Being part of the KMT comes with baggage – its members will face public scrutiny on where they stand on these issues. But I believe the party will avoid going into too much detail in explaining the nuances of these terms and instead frame the election campaign as a choice between peace and war.”

As for the TPP’s Dr Ko, it is going to be a steep climb for him to the presidency as he lacks the financial and human resources of the larger parties, said Dr Chen.

Dr Ko is scheduled to hold a press conference on Saturday, where he will put forth some of his proposed policies in areas including national security.