My Take | Hong Kong crisis a big opportunity for US and Taiwan
- Taipei and Washington are already operating aggressively on the assumption of a second term for President Tsai Ing-wen, thanks to her clever exploitation of city unrest to boost her popularity
Early this year, Washington would have considered toning down its diplomatic rhetoric and even slowed down weapon sales to the island. That was after Tsai quit as chairwoman of the Democratic Progressive Party following catastrophic defeats in county and city elections the previous November.
Back then, the Kuomintang’s Han Kuo-yu emerged like a political rock star, having promised more money and business from the mainland, politics be damned. A Kuomintang president from next year will at least tone down the anti-China rhetoric and play a more neutral role between the US and the mainland.
Once a presidential front runner, Han was, however, ineptly slow to recognise the enormous implications of the unrest in Hong Kong for the island. Now, polls repeatedly show he is behind Tsai by double-digit percentage points.