Tsai Names Rising Star in Taiwan as Premier Ahead of 2018 Vote

by Dramelin 10:00 PM 0 comments

President Tsai Ing-wen named a popular southern Taiwan mayor to lead her government, as she seeks to rebuild support ahead of next year’s local elections.
Tsai on Tuesday appointed Tainan Mayor William Lai to take over as premier, a day after Lin Chuan announced his resignation.
Lai will be tasked with reorganizing the cabinet after a series of bruising policy fights to push through key pieces of Tsai’s agenda.
Tsai’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s is preparing for its first electoral test at the end of next year, when all 23 cities and counties hold leadership elections.
A cabinet reshuffle will give Tsai’s party the opportunity to put aside disputes surrounding her government’s labor and pension reforms and focus on containing risks, including an approval rating that has sunk below 30 percent.
“The Tsai administration is looking past early economic policy initiatives to larger geopolitical issues,” Peter Kurz, Citigroup Inc.
’s head of Taiwan research, wrote in a note ahead of Lai’s appointment.
Her concerns include China’s own reshuffle next month, after which President Xi Jinping might have “enhanced powers and more time to focus on China-Taiwan relations,” Kurz said.
  China Tension Xi has sought to isolate Tsai over her refusal to publicly endorse the idea that Taiwan is part of China.
The government in Beijing, which considers Taiwan a province, has also curbed tourist trips, pushed foreign countries to deport Taiwanese criminal suspects to the mainland and blocked the island from participating in international bodies.
Lai is a medical doctor-turned-politician who has since 2010 run Tainan, a southern stronghold for the pro-independence DPP.
His local popularity -- a TVBS poll conducted late last year put his approval rating at 55 percent -- has prompted local observers to mention him as a possible presidential contender.
While Lai has recently spoken about having an “affinity toward China,” his past support of Taiwanese independence may reassure DPP faithful without further provoking Beijing.
Relations across the Taiwan Strait are the president’s responsibility, not the premier’s.
The current cabinet was expected to resign en masse in the coming days to give Lai the freedom to assemble his own government.