Local Views of New Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu's Performance

UNCLAS TAIPEI 000741 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR AIT/W, EAP/TC, INR/EAP FROM AIT KAOHSIUNG BRANCH OFFICE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV TW SUBJECT: Local Views of New Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu's Performance REF: 2006 TAIPEI 4168 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED ¶1. (SBU) Summary. The Kaohsiung City Mayor Chen Chu (DPP) has served at her new post for three months as of March 25. Up to now, City Government employees and the public are generally neutral toward their new mayor. While many KMT City Council members privately hold a negative opinion of Chen Chu, an opinion exacerbated by the recent controversial removal of the Chiang Kai-shek statue, the dynamics of her public relationship with the Kaohsiung City Council will only become clear once the official City Council sessions start on March 30. End summary. ¶2. (U) The most notable event of Mayor Chen Chu's tenure so far has been the removal of Chiang Kai-shek's statue from the Kaohsiung Culture Center, which occurred on March 13. The local media described the removal as "shabby and sneaky" as there had been no public discussion, nor any consensus reached within the City Council. During the removal, some pan-blue elected officials, Legislators, City Councilors and their supporters made a show of trying to stop the removal but were blocked and dispersed by a contingent of 500 police officers. ¶3. (SBU) A Kuomintang (KMT) official told AIT/K that they believed that the controversial action was recommended to President Chen by the Southern Taiwan Society (a group that advocates Taiwan independence, see reftel) during the President's last visit to Kaohsiung. Many people interpreted the removal as an effort to please local Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters. However, many people and most local media did not agree with the secretive and hasty way the city government carried out the statue's SIPDIS removal. ¶4. (SBU) This KMT official went on to say that since the removal of the statue defaced government property and was done without the approval of the City Council, the KMT would urge its City Councilors to protest (note: the Speaker of City Council Chuan Chi-wang is a KMT member). As a result of the removal, the City Council held a two-day supplemental session on March 26 and 27 to look into whether the city government had violated any regulations by removing the statue. The DPP Councilors attending the session wore T-shirts emblazoned with "justice for the 228 Incident victims" to show their support for the city government. Mayor Chen stated in the session that the removal of the statue was not intended to cause ethnic conflict but to look after the interests of all groups while pursuing transitional justice and fair treatment for all ethnic communities. ¶5. (SBU) One DPP official told AIT/K that Mayor Chen probably was trying to impress people with her quick and decisive way of doing things. And in fact, many DPP supporters did applaud her for this accomplishment after having been in office for only three months. Jason Hu, Director of Kaohsiung's Economic Development Office, however, told AIT/K that Chen Chu generally feels overwhelmed by all her duties. Apparently, he said, Chen Chu anticipated having less pressure in this job than in her previous position as chairperson of the Council of Labor Affairs, but she may now be growing worried about getting in over her head given the broad scope of her duties here along with the possibility of a deteriorating relationship with the City Council. Comment -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Mayor Chen has kept a low profile during her first three months in office, even when facing the City Council. In a recent speech, she emphasized that she has been striving hard to craft policies to boost Kaohsiung's economic development. Her statement indicated that she understands that boosting the economy, not political action, is her major task if she wants to increase her support in Kaohsiung City. THIELE WANG