Prospective candidates visit the country’s temples on the first day of the lunar new year. Vice President Lai Ching-te emerges as the favorite of the ruling party. The leader of the pro-Beijing Kuomintang is Hou Yu-ih, the mayor of New Taipei. Also featured is Terry Guo, founder of the high-tech giant Foxconn.
Taipei () – With the Year of the Rabbit, which began yesterday, the race for the presidential elections for 2024 begins to take shape, when the second term of President Tsai Ing-wen, leader of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ends. .
In traditional visits to the country’s temples for the Lunar New Year holiday, potential presidential candidates took the opportunity to position themselves in the race.
At Qingan Temple in Keelung, Vice President Lai Ching-te said the government’s priority is to improve the economy, which has been in recession since late 2022 due to falling global demand, especially for microchips. Last week Lai took over the leadership of the DPP, an appointment that makes him the favorite in the internal race for the presidential candidacy. Among his key points is also strengthening the island’s military capabilities under pressure from China.
Eric Chu, chairman of the nationalist and pro-Beijing Kuomintang, went to the Longshan Shrine in the capital. However, in polls for the main opposition party’s primary, Chu ranks only third (7.9%), behind New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih and tycoon Terry Gou.
The latter is the founder and former head of Foxconn, the world’s largest iPhone assembler, with huge interests in mainland China. While visiting the Cihui and Jieyun temples in New Taipei, Gou told reporters present that he had “asked the gods” whether he should run in the 2024 elections.
The businessman added words that may seem like an electoral manifesto, stressing that the population expects a leader capable of maintaining peace and strengthening the economy.
The Kuomintang is the most communicative force with Beijing, which, on the contrary, accuses Tsai and her party of independence goals. For China, Taiwan is a “rogue province” to be reconquered even by force if necessary.
In November, the DPP suffered a crushing defeat in local elections. The same thing happened before the 2020 presidential election, which, however, resulted in Tsai’s reconfirmation. The question of relations with Beijing weighs heavily on the national vote, and the Kuomintang is often accused of being too biased towards communist China’s positions.
