Taiwan’s KMT to get presidential primaries moving, as mayor Han Kuo-yu hints at joining race

Taiwan’s opposition party Kuomintang said it would get its primaries process moving, after a further sign the popular Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu might join the race for the 2020 presidential election.

The decision came after Han and KMT chairman Wu Den-yih met in Taipei on Tuesday to discuss the mayor’s willingness to run for the top job against President Tsai Ing-wen, of the ruling independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, KMT officials said.

“It’s right to say that Mayor Han is not opposed to being enlisted to join the other KMT politicians competing in the party’s primaries, as indicated in the last point of his statement,” said Angel Hung, deputy spokeswoman for the mainland-friendly KMT.

“We will go ahead with our plan to draft the primary regulations [to kick-start the process] that reflect the views of the aspirants,” she said, when asked to clarify whether Han had indicated he would run for president.

Earlier on Tuesday, Han told reporters after meeting Wu that he would not actively seek to join the primaries, but left the door open by saying he would take part if enlisted.

“As the mayor of Kaohsiung, I have expectations [to fulfil] from my electorate and wouldn’t be able to attend the primaries,” he said.

“But I respect whatever … the party central or the central standing committee requires me to do.”

Han’s remarks echoed what he said a week ago, that he was unable to join the primaries but was willing to take on the responsibility for developing and safeguarding Taiwan.

Speculation has been building over whether Han will be enlisted to challenge the billionaire chairman of Foxconn, Terry Gou, for the party’s candidacy. Gou announced his bid to run on the KMT ticket in next year’s presidential poll earlier this month.

Opinion polls have put Han – who won Kaohsiung, a DPP stronghold in southern Taiwan, in a landslide in the November elections – ahead of all other presidential hopefuls, including Gou and Tsai, with about 40 per cent support. Tsai is at 23 per cent, trailing Gou at 35 per cent.

Local media reports have said 61-year-old Han, who had not held a government post before he became mayor of Kaohsiung, originally had no intention of running for president. But persistent calls from supporters and his strong lead in the opinion polls could change his mind.

Many of Han’s supporters, including KMT lawmakers, have called on the party to enlist the mayor to run for president and skip the primaries process altogether – a move Gou has strongly opposed.

All aspirants must “go through the KMT primaries under an open, fair and transparent mechanism and must be given time to express their views on national policies”, Gou said on Tuesday, on the sidelines of a KMT seminar for presidential hopefuls to discuss how to manage the self-ruled island.

So far, in addition to Gou, former New Taipei mayor Eric Chu, former legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng, and former Taipei county magistrate Chou Hsi-wei have expressed interest in running on the KMT ticket for the presidential poll.

All of them except Wang attended the seminar in Taipei, where they gave their views on how to improve Taiwan’s economy and government efficiency.