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Taiwan
ChinaDiplomacy

Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu wins KMT ticket to challenge Tsai Ing-wen for Taiwan presidency

  • Convincing win in Kuomintang primaries over Foxconn founder Terry Gou Tai-ming and three other candidates
  • But analysts say the political crisis in Hong Kong over the extradition bill may cloud Han’s prospects in the January election

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Han Kuo-yu raises his hands after winning the Kuomintang nomination to run for Taiwan’s presidential election on Monday. Photo: AP
Lawrence Chungin Taipei

Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu has won the Kuomintang nomination to run for the Taiwan presidency after two months of bitterly contested primaries that have threatened to divide the main opposition party.

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But his prospects in January’s election have been clouded by the political crisis in Hong Kong over the now-suspended extradition bill, according to analysts. Known for his pro-Beijing stance, the populist mayor will need to convince voters he truly opposes the bill that has triggered a wave of mass protests in Hong Kong, and that he will not accept the “one country, two systems” model for reunification suggested by Beijing, they said.

Han, who has been mayor for only seven months, defeated Foxconn’s billionaire founder Terry Gou Tai-ming and three other contenders to emerge on Monday as the winner of the race, determined by public opinion surveys carried out in the past seven days.

He was backed by 44.8 per cent, ahead of Gou in second place with 27.7 per cent, KMT vice-chairman Tseng Yung-chuan announced.

Former New Taipei mayor Eric Chu Li-luan was third with 17.9 per cent, followed by former Taipei county magistrate Chou Hsi-wei on 6 per cent and the Kuomintang’s (KMT’s) Chang Ya-chung, president of the Sun Yat-sen School, on 3.5 per cent.

Tseng told a news conference in Taipei the result would be sent to the KMT central standing committee to confirm Han’s nomination as its candidate.

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