Former Taiwan premier Chang San-cheng joins KMT ticket as vice-presidential candidate for 2020
- Han Kuo-yu, Kuomintang’s choice for top job, says he picked veteran leader as running mate because of their shared values
- Analysts say Chang is a smart choice who will help make the populist Han more palatable to conservative voters
Taiwanese presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu announced on Monday that former premier Chang San-cheng would be his vice-presidential running mate on the opposition Kuomintang’s ticket for the island’s election in January.
Han, the populist mayor of the southern city of Kaohsiung, said Chang – one of his campaign’s national policy advisers – was the “first choice” because of their shared values and their views on economic policy. The selection of Chang may also reflect hesitation among more established KMT names to add their names to the ballot.
Analysts said the choice of running mate would improve Han’s image among voters. The men leading the mainland-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) ticket will challenge incumbent Tsai Ing-wen from the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the January 11 poll.
Mark Harrison, a Taiwan specialist at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, said Han’s choice of running mate reflected the difficult balance between “his appeal as a populist and the electoral need to present a serious and viable candidacy”.
“For Han, his choice of an experienced politician like Chang San-cheng signals an effort to bring his campaign back to the centre somewhat and perhaps present himself less as a political disrupter and more as a KMT candidate conservative voters can live with,” he said.