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 outgoing 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 the press following this election and expressed his gratitude to supporters and You.
“I bear great responsibility on my shoulders. The people are expecting a fresh start and reform at the Legislative Yuan, which will solidly bring happiness to Taiwanese. That’s my responsibility.” Han said in Mandarin.
He also mentioned the contribution of outgoing speaker You: “You Si-kun has served as president of the Legislative Yuan during the past years. He has worked hard and made contributions. And he contributed a lot to the democratic [development] of Taiwan over the past 40 years.”
You resigned as a legislator after the election result was confirmed.
Han 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, he 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.
Han will be inaugurated as head of the Legislative Yuan at 5pm on Thursday.
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 defeated them in the Civil War and took control of the mainland. Beijing has since claimed democratic Taiwan as one of its provinces, threatening to unify it by force if necessary.
See also: Explainer – Is Taiwan a country? The self-ruled island’s disputed status
Additional reporting: Irene Chan.
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