Three leading Taipei mayoral candidates continue to trade barbs in the aftermath of debate

Three leading Taipei mayoral candidates continue to trade barbs in the aftermath of debate

2022-11-06

With less than three weeks to go before the local elections, the three leading candidates in the running for Taipei mayor faced off in a debate over the weekend. In particular, the KMT’s mayoral candidate Chiang Wan-an and the DPP’s Chen Shih-chung traded barbs over Chen’s management of the COVID pandemic. On Sunday, Chiang’s status as an American lawyer was placed under a cloud, after a local scholar came out and said that Chiang’s American license to practice law had been suspended three times in a row. Chiang for his part said he had never been blacklisted as a lawyer, and that he was simply late in paying his fees and not doing other necessary documentation on time.

The DPP’s Taipei mayoral candidate Chen Shih-chung was seen pitching with President Tsai Ing-wen on a baseball diamond. It was the fourth time for the two to appear together in a week.

Tsai Ing-wen
President
Taiwan is just like a baseball team. The central government and local governments each have their own defensive positions. We must unite as one, cover for each other, and be good teammates. Currently, the election campaigning is really getting heated; it’s really neck-and-neck. All of Chen Shih-chung’s Team No. 12 must together help him canvass for votes so that Chen Shih-chung can get elected.

Tsai hopes that Chen, a former health minister, can enter the Taipei mayor’s office, but his opponents--one from the KMT and an independent--are putting up a good fight. On Saturday, the three butted heads in a debate, where the KMT’s Chiang Wan-an asked Chen seven more questions about epidemic prevention, causing Chen to describe him as someone pretending to be uncomprehending. Meanwhile, independent Huang Shan-shan took the chance to lambaste Chen as arrogant.

Chen Shih-chung
DPP Taipei mayoral candidate
I talked about this so many times, then we also did a Q&A. It was only then that I said Chiang “wants to give the impression he doesn’t understand.” Then of course, this seems that he really doesn’t understand. In the future, I will take other opportunities to explain it once again. “The Greens and Communists are one family” is a new phrase he’s invented. However, he’s never signed a pledge that says he won’t capitulate to China, so I don’t think he’s right.

In addition, the KMT’s Chiang kept referring to his experience as a Silicon Valley lawyer during the debate, but Weng Ta-jui, a Taiwan-born scholar in America, said while Chiang indeed is qualified to act as a lawyer in California, the name on his license is another surname his family used earlier, and it had been suspended three times in a row. If his business was going well there, he would not likely have allowed his license to practice law be suspended. If his law firm in Silicon Valley was merely a shell company, then Chiang had nothing to boast about.

Chiang Wan-an
KMT Taipei mayoral candidate
I was never struck off the list as a punishment. The reasons why I was delisted were because I was quite busy during my time as a lawmaker, so I paid my fees late. Second, owing to the situation with the pandemic, when they later requested I give them my fingerprint as identification, I completed it relatively late. Now I have given them all the relevant supporting documents, so my license to practice law is valid, and I can conduct professional business.

Huang Shan-shan
Independent Taipei mayoral candidate
My own license to practice law has never been suspended, so I don’t know what his problem is.

As election day draws closer, such bickering is only going to get more tense.