Kaohsiung’s populist former mayor, Han Kuo-yu, has been elected as Taiwan’s legislative speaker.
The 66-year-old opposition Kuomintang (KMT) nominee won 54 votes, whilst the incumbent speaker, You Si-kun of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) received 51 votes on Thursday. The Taiwan People’s Party – the island’s third-largest – did not partake in the vote.
A political outsider, Han became mayor of Kaohsiung in November 2018, before defeating powerful insiders to run as the KMT’s presidential candidate. But his unsuccessful bid, and promises to make citizens “filthy rich,” failed, leading voters to recall him as mayor in June 2020.
The former university lecturer and business manager met Hong Kong’s then-leader Carrie Lam in 2019, as well as China’s then-top official in the city Wang Zhimin.
In recent months, Han vowed to increase defence spending as part of a strategy of “deterrence, dialogue and de-escalation” with Beijing, which claims the island as its own.
Control of Legislative Yuan
Last month, William Lai secured a historic third-term for the DPP in the leadership election, but failed to maintain control of the Legislative Yuan.
Lai vowed to continue the foreign and domestic policies put forward by his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen. Ties with mainland China soured under Tsai, who favoured securing the island’s position on the global stage and maintaining relations with the US.
The Republic of China (ROC) government has ruled Taiwan since 1945 after Japan was defeated in World War II, ending 50 years of occupation. The ROC authorities fully retreated to the island in 1949 as the communist People’s Republic of China (PRC) defeated them in the Civil War and took control of the mainland. Beijing has since claimed Taiwan is one of its provinces and has threatened to unify it by force if necessary, despite never ruling the island.
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