Letters | Three lessons for Beijing on Taiwan policy from Han Kuo-yu’s downfall

The removal of Han Kuo-yu as Kaohsiung mayor highlights the failure of Beijing’s Taiwan policy. Apart from Hong Kong’s situation and Han’s own political miscalculations, Beijing is partly responsible of Han’s downfall. There are three lessons Beijing can learn.

First, hearts and minds are not for sale. Beijing tried and failed to win Taiwanese over with Han’s mainland visit last year. Han’s Hong Kong liaison office tour and trade deals with mainland companies ignored the 79 per cent of Taiwanese who oppose “one country, two systems” and the cross-strait “comprador culture”.

Second, the Kuomintang is no longer representative of Taiwan. With Han’s failure to win the presidential election and keep his mayoral post, the KMT’s political fortunes have dwindled. Although the KMT won 15 counties in 2018 and pledged to strengthen cross-strait ties, Beijing’s city-to-city exchange strategy eventually failed. In rethinking their stance on the 1992 Consensus, KMT leaders are already starting to distance themselves from the Communist Party.

If China wants a stable agreement with Taiwan, the KMT, hit hard by the “sunflower movement” and Han’s recall, is not a rational choice.

Last but not least, fury begets fury. Bellowing at Taiwan does not intimidate Taiwanese people, but fuels resentment towards mainland China. Beijing might have gained confidence from Han’s landslide victory in 2018 and decided to push “one country, two systems” for Taiwan, but this played out in favour of Tsai Ing-wen’s re-election as Taiwan’s president.