Source: Straits Shinkansen
A few days ago, the Taiwan Railway 'Taroko' 408 train had the most serious derailment accident in history, causing 49 deaths and 218 minor and serious injuries. This tragic accident has pushed Lin Jialong, director of Taiwan's transportation department, onto the cusp of public opinion. Soon after the accident, Lin Jialong asked for his resignation at the first time, but Su Zhenchang, the head of the Taiwan Bank, did not approve it for a long time, and the Green Camp also continued to stage a consolation drama until the 15th of this month. So, how many political prospects does Lin Jialong, whose reputation was frustrated by the Taiwan Railway accident, still have? What kind of factional struggle is involved in his stay?
Lin Jialong and his people
Lin Jialong, 57, is a "political star" of the Democratic Progressive Party. In his early years, Lin Jialong was very prominent in his studies, and he took three master's degrees and one doctorate from National Taiwan University and Yale University in the United States.
During his studies at NTU, Lin Jialong served as the president of the "Mainland Studies Society" of NTU. In 1990, Lin Jialong, Together with Luo Wenjia, Guo Zhengliang, Ma Yongcheng and others, jointly launched the so-called "Wild Lily Student Movement".
Lin Jialong's political career began in 2000 as an "advisory member" of the Taiwan Security Conference, where he recruited talents for Chen Shui-bian, then the leader of the Taiwan region, and single-handedly built the "Taiwan Think Tank" of the Green Camp. In 2002, Lin Jialong joined the Democratic Progressive Party under the high-standard treatment of Chen Shui-bian personally serving as the introducer to the party. Since then, he has been recruited by You Xikun's administrative team to serve as the spokesperson of Taiwan's administrative organs and the head of the news department, and his popularity has soared rapidly.
In 2005, Lin Jialong was drafted into the DEMOCRATIC Progressive Party's Taichung mayoral election, where he lost to Kuomintang rival Hu Zhiqiang. After the defeat, his family moved to Taichung to take root, according to Lin Jialong's words, he squatted in Taichung to "grind a sword for ten years", and finally won the 2014 Taichung mayoral election.
However, after being elected mayor of Taichung, Lin Jialong's political achievements were not outstanding, but he repeatedly uttered amazing remarks, especially the phrase "the birthplace of human civilization is in Taiwan", which caused an uproar in public opinion. In 2018, Lin Jialong tried to win the mayor of Taichung for re-election, but his mediocre political achievements and the "Korean Wave" that swept across Taiwan quickly defeated him. Lin Jialong once said that he "will not leave Taichung after being killed", but after losing Taichung, he turned around and was promoted to the head of Taiwan's transportation department under the operation of Tsai Ing-wen.
As a member of the DPP's "Alliance of the Losers" that year, Lin Jialong was promoted to a high level, and immediately installed the close associates of the city government in the front desk to hold important posts in Taiwan's transportation department. Taiwan media observed that at this time, Taiwan's transportation department has become a "dragon family class" without professionalism, so that the railway, land transport, aviation, and even road construction on the island are full of loopholes:
In 2019, the Nanfang'ao Bridge collapsed, killing six people and injuring twelve;
Two months later, Far Eastern Airlines suddenly went out of business without warning, leaving thousands of people unemployed and suffering from unpaid wages;
Affected by the epidemic in 2020, many travel agencies in Taiwan have reported a wave of closures, but Lin Jialong has said amazingly that "just shuffled", which has been criticized by the industry.
Despite the frequent accidents, Lin Jialong sat very steadily in the seat of the head of Taiwan's transportation department. Until April 2 this year, the Taiwan Railway "Taroko" train had a major casualty accident, which pushed Lin Jialong to the cusp of the storm again. In the face of the most tragic accident in the past seventy years of Taiwan Railway, Lin Jialong's posture was very low, from the first day of the accident, he rushed to the scene to direct and dispatch, and constantly said that he would bear all political responsibilities.
On April 4, Taiwan media revealed that Lin Jialong had verbally asked Tsai Ing-wen and Su Zhenchang to resign. However, in the face of the blue camp's continuous investigation, the green camp staged a high-profile consolation drama of "eighteen send-offs". Finally, on the 15th, the Taiwan administrative organs issued the news of resignation, and Lin Jialong decided to leave office on the 20th of this month. According to the latest news from Taiwan media on the 19th, Lin Jialong's successor is Wang Guocai, former deputy director of Taiwan's transportation department.
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