Han Ferris wheel leaves Ko Chih-en spinning

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) has run into a problem for which she has only herself to blame.

On Saturday last week, Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) appeared at her campaign rally in Kaohsiung. While he might have been expected to warm up the crowd and rally some support for Ko, Han instead used his speaking time to make suggestions such as building “a great wall” between Kaohsiung and Tainan, supposedly cutting the two cities off.

He also reiterated a policy proposal to build a “Love Ferris Wheel” from his time as Kaohsiung mayor eight years ago. It was Ko, in the end, who was left to clean up the mess.

At the Double Ten National Day celebrations, Han called for differences to be reconciled and efforts to be united; just seven days later, he started talking about building a wall. Why would a city that is valued precisely because of the air and sea transport links connecting it with the rest of the world suddenly decide to isolate itself from its neighbor?

The next day, Ko attempted to explain that Han was simply emphasizing that Kaohsiung’s self-sufficiency and economic might were enough to bring surrounding areas such as Tainan and Pingtung into the fold, in line with the spirit of 2019’s “Great South” policy agenda.

However, cutting off cities and codevelopment are clearly two very different directions. If we are to buy Ko’s reasoning, Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇) must have also intended the Great Wall of China to be a collaborative project in nature.

As for the Love Ferris Wheel, Han’s fixation is unusually persistent. He was adamant about it being built during his time in office, and the city government even held investment briefings, looked for a site and discussed construction.

Eight years later, he is still bringing it up on someone else’s campaign trail; the Ferris wheel might only be turning in Han’s mind, and he certainly does not seem to be able to get off. Voters might have come out to hear how Ko would govern Kaohsiung, but they first had to endure a rehash of Han’s old dreams.

Ko said that Han was not actually suggesting that a Ferris wheel should be built, but that commercial districts should develop a distinctive character. Perhaps the city government’s efforts in 2019 were also in pursuit of a metaphor. From Han’s initial insistence to Ko’s abstraction of the issue, a development promise from eight years ago has now become a lesson in spin.

So, the Ferris wheel is metaphorical and great walls promote codevelopment. Is Ko running for mayor, or simply cleaning up after Han? She seems to be managing to not only edit his work, but imbue a deeper meaning into his words with her explanations.

When a candidate invites someone to campaign on their behalf, the hope is that the guest might help persuade voters. However, this was a case of Han making grand pronouncements and Ko dealing with the aftermath; Han’s ramblings had to be explained away before she could even get to her own policies.

For voters, what Han hoped to achieve might not be entirely clear to see, but the mess he left Ko to clean up certainly is.