On August 28, Gou officially announced that he would participate in the 2024 general election in Taiwan by independent candidacy, which caused an uproar in Taiwan, with the Kuomintang expressing deep regret over Gou's "spoiler", while the Blue Camp (Kuomintang) media launched a fierce attack on Gou.
As for the DPP on the side, it put on a posture of watching the drama, and also demanded that DPP members "not get involved, do not comment, do not participate, and do not ridicule" Gou's independent candidacy. With Gou's joining, the election situation on the island has undergone great changes, and Democratic Progressive Party candidate Lai Qingde's support rate ranks first, as if he has the possibility of winning the election.
Lai Qingde
At this time, the Kuomintang personnel could not sit still and flew to the mainland on a special plane, releasing a different signal. If the DPP continues to be elected, does it mean that military unification is not far away?
1. Election situation on the island
Gou's independent candidacy immediately caused cynicism from the Blue Camp media and all walks of life in Taiwan, and Gou revealed that after he wanted to participate in the 2024 election, his support rate has always been the bottom of the candidates, which is somewhat inconsistent with the banner of "mainstream public opinion" held high by Gou.
Originally, Gou was in the camp of the Kuomintang to jointly oppose the DPP, but based on the intention of "removing the DPP", the KMT opened up to Gou, who was not a member of the party, and still included him in the list of candidates. But it's a pity that between Gou Taiming and Hou Youyi, Hou Youyi won.
After the results of the call were released, as the loser, Gou Taiming once posted that he would keep his promise and do his best to support Hou Youyi in winning the election. But it is clear that Gou has reversed his promise and continues to run as an independent, and wants to compete with other candidates again.
This immediately aroused the anger of the Kuomintang, because Gou Taiming was originally a member of the Blue Battalion, and after he ran independently, he would divide a part of the votes of the Blue Battalion, which would lead to Hou Youyi and others not getting a majority of votes, let alone "removing the DPP".
Originally, the support rate of Ke Wenzhe and Hou Youyi was not as good as that of Lai Qingde of the DPP, and Gou Taiming came to "disrupt the situation" again, and the original three-legged situation became a four-way mahjong, but it was possible for the DPP to "lie down and win". After the DPP has held the political situation for seven years, although Taiwan has become riddled with ills, the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become increasingly tense.
However, under the demagoguery of the Taiwan authorities for seven years, the DPP's support rate still ranked first. Therefore, for other parties, if they want to defeat the DPP, they must integrate the "non-green alliance" and jointly oppose the DPP. In short, no matter who is Ke Wenzhe, Hou Youyi, and Gou Taiming in office, they cannot let Lai Qingde take the position.
But now Gou's "backstab" is clearly unwilling. Gou Taiming is already a successful businessman, why not keep his wealth to live a peaceful life, and also "abandon business and politics" to come to this troubled water?
In fact, as early as 2019, Gou Taiming announced that he would run for the 2020 Taiwan regional leadership election, but he fell in the Kuomintang primary. Gou's reason for running for the first time was very funny, "Mazu dreams, want me to do good things to the people", and in 2023, Gou's reason for running again has become "I don't want my children to live in a hail of bullets".
But after all, Gou was just a businessman in the past, and there was no party behind him, and the only means he could use was to throw money. Gou said that if he can be elected, he will double Taiwan's economy because "Taiwan's Ah Ming is the only one who understands finance." Compared with other politicians running for election, Gou, a businessman, still has an understanding of economic development.
In the current situation where Lai Qingde is significantly ahead, Ke Wenzhe and Hou Youyi are difficult to catch up, even if Gou Taiming is added, it is just a "running along". If Gou can really make a difference, then he should restrain himself from the brink, but whether it is for his own political ambitions or his unwillingness to accept defeat, Gou is likely to stick to the end.
Hou Youyi
What are the odds of Hou Youyi and Ke Wenzhe, who are riveted to jointly deal with the DPP, be victorious? In order to "remove the DPP," Hou Youyi can be said to be busy soliciting votes, and the best way to impress the Taiwan people is to maintain cross-strait peace.
Since they want to "resist reunification with force," they only need to shout for cross-strait peace, and perhaps they can win the support of many people who want peace. Therefore, Hou Youyi frequently visited some influential Blue Camp figures, and also visited Ma Ying-jeou, hoping to gain the support of the "big guy".
However, Hou Youyi, like other Kuomintang figures before him, always talked about adhering to the "consensus of '92," but in fact he did not make substantive efforts for cross-strait reunification at all.
From Hou Youyi's mouth, we found that there are three versions of the '92 consensus, namely the "'92 consensus" of one country, two systems, the "'92 consensus" stigmatized by Tsai Ing-wen, and the "consensus of '92" supported by Hou Youyi, which is in line with the constitutional provisions of the Taiwan region. Hou Youyi said that he absolutely supports the "consensus of '92" that conforms to the constitutional provisions of the Taiwan region and opposes the first two "consensus of '92."
From this point, it can be seen that such as Hou Youyi and his ilk are still unwilling to let Taiwan return to the motherland's "secret independence." In fact, apart from those who resolutely advocate the reunification of the motherland, various factions in Taiwan's political arena, although they have different views, all stand the same on the issue of cross-strait reunification, that is, oppose.
It's just that the green camp is openly opposed, while the blue camp is secretly opposed. The three "consensus of '92" mentioned by Hou Youyi are simply absurd; there will always be only one "consensus of '92"; the mainland and Taiwan belong to the same China, and this China can only be the People's Republic of China.
Second, the chaos in Taiwan
If Hou Youyi and Ke Wenzhe want to defeat Lai Qingde, they must cater to the public opinion on the island, truly seek peace for the island of Taiwan, and restore cross-strait relations to normal, but even if they come to power, they are just another copy of the DPP; they still flatter the United States and Japan, have no feeling for the mainland, and continue to drag down the issue of cross-strait reunification.
They will neither truly promote the peaceful reunification of the two sides of the strait, nor will they seek the welfare of the Taiwan people; politicians are politicians, and their interests are the same. And Lai Qingde's ability to obtain a majority of support shows how far public opinion on the island of Taiwan has become miasmatic.
Lai Qingde, like Tsai Ing-wen, is a stubborn "Taiwan independence" element, and some time ago he also performed a trick of "transiting the United States," but after he came to the United States, he was snubbed by his "master" the United States. In order to win the election, Lai Qingde relented a bit, changed his blatant "resisting China and defending Taiwan" to "peacefully protecting Taiwan", and did not dare to say all kinds of extreme fallacies.
Under the DPP's years of manipulation and demagogy, its support rate has not decreased but increased, but has created great conditions for Lai Qingde, if Lai Qingde can successfully take office, I believe what he has done is more extreme than Tsai Ing-wen, because with the change of the situation, cross-strait relations have become more and more tense, and the United States cannot wait to arm Taiwan Island and interfere in the mainland's internal affairs.
In order to prevent the outbreak of war in the Taiwan Strait, it can only be seen whether the Kuomintang can win the 2024 general election. At this moment, Kuomintang personnel came to the mainland on a special plane and launched exchange activities. What are they doing this for?
Xia Liyan
After Gou announced his independent candidacy on 28 August, Kuomintang Vice Chairman Xia Liyan hurriedly led a delegation to visit the mainland in the afternoon, which was Xia Liyan's third public visit to the mainland since his visit to the mainland in February and June this year. Xia Liyan attended activities such as "Taiwan businessmen and young people coming to Jinlai" in Shanxi and the "27th Lutai Economic and Trade Fair" in Shandong.
It is an indisputable fact that Taiwan's economic development is inseparable from the mainland, and in order to promote cross-strait exchanges and peaceful reunification, the mainland has reduced tariffs against Taiwan by a total of US$8.52 billion by the end of 2022. The mainland has become Taiwan's largest commodity export market and largest source of trade surplus.
To put it bluntly, we let Taiwan make money from the mainland market through economic and trade exchanges, so as to develop Taiwan's economy. This process is also deepening Taiwan's dependence on the mainland, but the Taiwan authorities vainly want to engage in "economic decoupling" from the mainland; not only do they not appreciate our policy of favoring Taiwan for many years, but they also turn to the United States and become a lackey of the United States.
Jiang Wan'an
After Xia Liyan's visit to the mainland, on August 29, Taipei Mayor Jiang Wan'an also led a delegation to Shanghai to participate in the annual "Twin Cities Forum" between Shanghai and Taipei.
It can be seen from this that for some "people who understand" who can see the situation clearly, only improving cross-strait relations and strengthening cross-strait exchanges is the only way out for Taiwan. The delusional attempt to "resist reunification with force" will only ruin Taiwan's development achievements over the past few decades. When some people continue to deliberately provoke war, it will inevitably break out.
The DPP is the culprit that is pushing the coming war in the Taiwan Strait, and those who are "secret independence" are accomplices around the DPP. What is Secret Independence? Anyone who does not promote cross-strait reunification but only wants to maintain the status quo in the Taiwan Strait is a secret independence, and no matter how fantastical they say, it cannot change their essence.
During the period when the Kuomintang controlled Taiwan, it was obstructing cross-strait reunification. From the two Chiang Kai-shek to the subsequent Kuomintang leaders, they are all helping the growth of "Taiwan independence." Taiwan has become what it is today, and these people cannot be blamed. If the DPP is a real villain, then the KMT is a hypocrite, it deceives its feelings and asks for benefits, it only wants to make profits from the mainland, and it does nothing.
The DPP is an unabashed Kuomintang, and the two are originally the same thing, and the DPP was precisely bred by the KMT. Looking back at the history of the mainland and Taiwan over the past few decades, Chiang Kai-shek's insistence on sticking to Taiwan and defecting to the United States has laid the root cause for today's situation.
When the hope of peaceful reunification is gone, our only choice is military unification. How to create a new world without shattering an old world? History has proved countless times that the old forces will always be on the reactionary side until they are destroyed.