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1.媒體來源:The Economist

2.記者署名:The Economist

3.完整新聞標題:
Han’s down
A China-friendly politician is humiliated in Taiwan
親中政客在台灣被羞辱
Events in Hong Kong have made voters wary of anything that smacks of closer
ties
在香港發生的事讓選民害怕任何親中事物

4.完整新聞內文:
https://imgur.com/lByVWHZ
Jun 13th 2020
TAIPEI
“Kaohsiung people are writing their own history” and “God bless Taiwan”
read the yellow bandannas worn by many in the crowd that had gathered in the
southern port city of Kaohsiung on June 6th, to wait for the results of a
vote to recall their China-friendly mayor, Han Kuo-yu (pictured). On hearing
that he would be sacked, they burst into loud applause.


Almost 1m residents, 97% of those who went to the polls, voted against the
mayor, the first recall of a senior politician in Taiwan’s history. Mr Han
was once the golden boy of the opposition Kuomintang (kmt), having wrested
control of Kaohsiung from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (dpp) in
2018 for the first time in a generation. Encouraged by his strong showing in
a dpp stronghold, the kmt chose him as its candidate to take on Tsai Ing-wen,
the incumbent, in January’s presidential poll. Many expected the folksy Mr
Han to defeat the dour Ms Tsai. Instead, the would-be toppler has himself
been toppled.


This reversal of fortune reflects a sea-change in Taiwanese politics over the
past two years. Mr Han became mayor by promising wealth through stronger
economic ties with China. That struck a chord with voters disillusioned with
Ms Tsai’s handling of the torpid economy. But as the presidential race got
under way last year, so did protests in Hong Kong in favour of greater
democracy and autonomy from China. Ms Tsai switched the focus of her campaign
from the economy to protecting Taiwan from the menace of China, which claims
Taiwan as part of its territory and threatens to retake it by force. She
portrayed Mr Han’s desire for closer ties with China as a threat to Taiwan’
s independence, and won hands down.


Mr Han did not help his cause by holding private meetings at the offices of
the Chinese government in Hong Kong and Macau. He also once described Taiwan
and China as partners in an arranged marriage that had fallen madly in love.
But pursuing less tetchy relations with China, the policy of the kmt for
decades, is becoming ever less marketable. Fan Shih-ping of National Taiwan
Normal University thinks China’s recent imposition on Hong Kong of a
national-security law that could be used to suppress dissent may help explain
the resounding slap Kaohsiung’s voters gave Mr Han. The kmt’s chairman,
Johnny Chiang, has been trying to tone down the party’s pro-China image.
When the results were announced, he reiterated that the kmt opposes
communism; its members had always put Taiwan first, he said.


Several more mundane factors contributed to Mr Han’s downfall. Many
Kaohsiung residents disapproved of him for breaking a promise not to run for
president and were infuriated when he took a leave of absence to focus on his
campaign after only ten months as mayor. The impression that he was
neglecting his day job was reinforced in November when he missed the city
council’s review of the municipal budget, prompting fisticuffs in the
council chamber. Mr Han also failed to lure a Disney theme park to the city—
one of his more ambitious campaign pledges.


There will now be a fresh election for mayor. Mr Han is not eligible to
compete, and the kmt has not yet selected a candidate to run in his stead.
But whenever it does, its choice is certain to sound much warier of China. ■
高雄市長將進行補選，韓國瑜是沒資格參加的，而國民黨目前也尚未推出人選，但無論何
時，國民黨的選擇一定會使人對中國更加警惕。

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the
headline "Han’s down"

5.完整新聞連結 (或短網址):
https://tinyurl.com/ycnln5wc

6.備註:
國際都在關注

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