released at the DPP's national congress, though Hsieh reportedly told
newspapers that he would defeat Ma Ying-jeou by cooperating with Su.
Among the DPP politicians, Hsieh has established a reputation of being a cat
with nine lives, having survived a number of political crises.
If losing the bid to run for Taipei mayor in 1994 was Hsieh's first
stumble, the 1996 vice-presidential election loss was his second. By the end of
1996, Hsieh faced his harshest trial when his firm belief in a local cult
leader, Sung Chi-li, who claimed to possess supernatural powers, was convicted
of fraud.
Hsieh's political prospects were almost derailed for good. Hsieh was accused of
having illegally received a NT$16 million (now about US$480,000) donation from
the cult for his vice-presidential campaign. Sung's case has yet to be closed.
Hsieh's wife reportedly acknowledged in court in 2002 that she and her husband
still believe in Sung's supernatural powers.
Sung told local television stations that he "envisaged Hsieh as the king" about
10 years ago. Hsieh, however, defends himself by arguing that his interest lay
in universal values.
How the case will damage Hsieh's presidential campaign remains to be seen, but
it did not prevent Hsieh from winning the Kaohsiung mayoral election in 1998,
when Chen Shui-bian lost his re-election bid in Taipei. During Hsieh's
eight-year mayoralty, his city won the bid to host the 2009 World Games, an
international event featuring non-Olympic sports, and he transformed Kaohsiung
from a grubby industrial city into a modern one by cleaning up its river and
air.
The turning point for Hsieh came when he succeeded in persuading accused rapist
and kidnapper Chen Jin-hsing, who was involved in the abduction of the family
of then-South African military attache McGill Alexander in suburban Taipei, to
surrender in 1997.
In January 2006, Hsieh's seemingly smooth political career tumbled again when
President Chen apparently forced him to resign from the post of prime minister
after the DPP's defeat in local commissioner and mayoral elections. His 10
months in the post were too short for Hsieh to prove his capability of leading
the cabinet.
But based on his numerous disagreements with Chen and the DPP, he is ready to
distinguish himself from the party's poor governance in the past seven years,
according to his former aide and incumbent legislator Kuan Bi-ling.
After spending months at Harvard University, at the DPP's urging, Hsieh agreed
to make a run for the 2006 Taipei mayoral election, though a victory for the
DPP was considered slim.
In the campaign, he vowed to make culture, disadvantaged minorities, the
environment, and Taiwan his priorities. Also, he planned to initiate a bid for
the 2020 Summer Olympic Games as a way to upgrade the city's infrastructure. He
managed his own campaign and explicitly declined Chen's assistance.
"His campaign manager didn't have to think of anything other than take
assignments, for every detail was in Hsieh's brain," said a DPP politician, who
declined to be identified.
Eventually, Hsieh lost the election but managed to garner 40.9% of the votes;
most political observers saw this as a victory for Hsieh as it boosted the
momentum for his presidential bid.
Hsieh's sabbatical from the local political scene gave him time to review the
problems Taiwan faces. He also took the time to learn the latest technological
developments, along with inline-skating, playing the ocarina, and managing a
personal weblog.
Aside from vowing to meld a coalition if he faces an opposition majority in the
legislature, Hsieh believes in creating mutual trust between Washington and
Taipei. He thinks that bidding for Taiwan's membership at the United Nations is
crucial, and that amending the constitution, with its current "one China"
orientation, is necessary.
How Hsieh would cooperate with his primary rivals given his "co-existence and
reconciliation" theory remains to be seen, but he definitely has to exert more
effort to prove his innocence against the widely held belief that he was guilty
of wrongdoing during his premiership amid ongoing investigations.
Should Hsieh be charged, the DPP will likely pressure him to withdraw from the
general election in an attempt to distinguish itself from the opposition KMT
and its standard-bearer Ma Ying-jeou, who has vowed to remain in the race even
if found guilty of corruption.
Shortly after Hsieh won the primary, Ma's aides described Hsieh as "easy to
attack but difficult to defeat", while Hsieh attacked Ma as "usually turning
non-crises into crises". Both sides will have 10 months to prove their
arguments.
Ting-I Tsai is a freelance journalist based in Taipei.
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