Strange women, lying in ponds, distributing presidential candidacy advice is no basis for a system of government.
On a more serious note, can any readers from ROC or anyone who's more in touch with the situation there give an insight into whether he stands a chance given (a) the sea goddess angle, and (b) the apparently PRC-friendly platform?
She is widely known and revered in all of Taiwan. When you go to a Taiwanese family and say "Mazhu bao yo" (Mazu bless you) - it's generally well received even if the people don't believe in Taoism or natural / personified deities.
The idea that Gou says "Mazu wanted me to do it" is more like saying to a Catholic that Mother Teresa inspired you to visit India and start a non-profit agency to help the people there.
Hopefully the analogy holds for people who are not familiar with the culture there.
However, generally a lack of vocal endorsement of a particular religion is seen as a plus for candidates since it's not directly controversial, except for with religious voters who can't possibly fathom how someone could disagree with them on the topic.
My observation:
1. Mazu is big in Taiwan.
2. DPP didn't have any political achievement in the past three years.
3. Taiwan has been stagnated for the past two decades due to ideology politics.
So yes Guo stands a (big?) chance.
In your opinion, how much of an advantage is gained from the announcement being clearly aligned with Mazu? Thanks.
On the other hand, candidates don't have to use the same strategy or excuse to gather support.
No doubt about (1)
If you disagree, you'd better refute me with facts. Tell us what achievements (political, economical) DPP had in the past three years; show us the growth in the past two decades.
(I learned the term 22k not too long ago)
This is the GDP for Taiwan is recent years, clearly an ascending trend: https://tradingeconomics.com/taiwan/gdp
As for political achievements, things like (1)having a female president (2)openly supports LGBTQ rights (3)Taiwan's recognition from other like-minded democratic counties has never been stronger since 1979. If these are not political achievements, I don't know what is.
As for 22k, low income for young generation is a real (global) issue, which DPP is fighting hard to solve. Having a pro-China, conservation populist figure like Gou is only going the worsen the problem of distribution of wealth.
Also even though Mazu is super big in Taiwan, Taiwanese are generally seeing this only as a political declaration. (Religion in Taiwan is more of a spiritual guidance than an actual superior being that dictates people lives.)
This should be an useful reference: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/04/ta...
Sure, you could naïvely buy into the whole reunification thing, but it’s not like Beijing wouldn’t assert complete control. Just look at Hong Kong, or the fact that the mainland has a couple of orders of magnitude more of... everything.
If Gou has real support from the KMT -- no easy thing, considering he hasn't been heavily active in local politics AFAIK -- he might get some wind in his sails, particularly if he sticks with the practical themes relating to cross-strait trade and economic growth. He understands that very, very well.
If he doesn't have the right political network in place, though, he's going to piss off a lot of KMT people and likely to relegated to the margins -- or siphon off a lot of blue supporters for an indie run, which will lead to the same type of situation the U.S. Republican party had back in the 90s with Ross Perot.