Exclusive interview with Shen Boyang: Said that Chiang Wanan had a culture of "not admitting mistakes" in his administration and promised to do his best for 8 years after being elected

The 2026 Taipei mayoral election continues to heat up. An exclusive interview with Democratic Progressive Party Taipei mayoral candidate Shen Boyang by veteran media person Li Siduan was released yesterday. During the approximately one-hour interview, Li Siduan asked many sharp questions one by one, and Shen Boyang also answered them in detail one by one. Regarding the current gap between him and the mayor Chiang Wanan who is seeking re-election, Shen Boyang said that with the close combat, there are more opportunities to discuss municipal affairs, and he will receive more frequent calls from the city. Regarding the issue of public response, he also bluntly stated that a key issue in Chiang Kai-shek's government is the culture of not admitting mistakes. He also said that if you compare the governance styles of Ke and Chiang Kai-shek, you will appreciate the first half of Ke Wenzhe's first term because as soon as Ke took office, he turned his political opinions into execution and implemented many new policies. However, the focus later disappeared. When asked by Li Siduan whether he would do his best to serve for eight years if elected, Shen Boyang also promised, "Of course!"

First, Li Siduan asked Shen Boyang, "Do you feel that the current election atmosphere is becoming more and more favorable to you?" Shen Boyang responded that at the beginning, he did face the problem of popularity. As the popularity increases, the support will become higher. However, this bonus will soon reach a bottleneck, so in the process of slowly catching up, the further behind, the harder it becomes to catch up.

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In response to Li Siduan's question, "How close have we caught up? Are there any real internal figures?" Shen Boyang said that he is currently waiting for external polls, and one is expected to be announced on September 22. As for the internal poll, it is conducted once a month, and it has been a while since the last time it was conducted.

Li Siduan also asked if the gap between the two sides reached the single-digit target, Shen Boyang said that the first goal is to catch up to 10% to 15%, and this goal has been achieved. The next step is to enter single digits. Shen Boyang emphasized that there will be no change in what he was doing. But once it reaches single digits, the opponent's confrontation will definitely increase.

Shen Boyang also mentioned that Jiang Wanan's current strategic choice is "completely reasonable" because when you are very far ahead, there is no need to warm up the opponent, so cold treatment is a normal choice.

Regarding Li Siduan's question, "Do you also understand that it may not be entirely beneficial at this stage to heat up the election campaign? When the two armies are in close combat, even a gap of one or two is very critical." Shen Boyang emphasized that he thought this was an opportunity. If there was a close fight, there would be more opportunities to discuss municipal affairs. He also emphasized that recently he has received more and more feedback from citizens, and even letters of complaint from citizens.

Secondly, Li Siduan asked Shen Boyang, "Why do you think citizens can't find channels to report problems? Taipei City also has 1999, and it can also go through city councilors and district chiefs. Why do we encounter this phenomenon?"

Shen Boyang bluntly said that this matter is very strange. Recently, citizens often complain that "I called 1999, but I didn't get a good reply, or it was delayed and unresolved." Although AI was used to analyze data before, at first we could only see the projects but not the content, so we later made an app to allow citizens to write their own opinions, and then to take stock of whether these problems were caused by civil servants encountering difficulties, lack of manpower, or lack of budget allocation?

Li Siduan asked if he thought there was something wrong with the Taipei City Government's handling of citizens' dissatisfaction?

Shen Boyang responded that first of all, some issues are cross-bureau and require coordination by people at the deputy mayor level, but it is impossible for every issue to be coordinated by the deputy mayor. Second, they also captured the council inquiry data in the past few years, compared the Ke City Government and the Chiang City Government, and found that the frequency of members reporting that "the matter was discussed last time but was not resolved" has become higher. In addition to manpower issues, a "no-admittance" culture is becoming more and more common.

Shen Boyang said that if managers or bureau heads feel that "admitting mistakes and correcting policies" is a daily routine, then they can just make corrections if they find that it is ineffective; but if they admit mistakes, they will be scolded and get into trouble. Everyone conceals the true situation when reporting, which shows the problem of the city government's internal management culture.

Li Siduan also asked Shen Boyang, "Who do you admire more about the governance styles of Ke Wenzhe and Jiang Wanan?" Shen Boyang responded that if you only compare these two people, you will appreciate the first half of Ke Wenzhe's first term more. As soon as Ke took office, he turned his political opinions into execution, such as demolition projects, promoting traffic data analysis, food safety tracking (even the central government had not done it at the time), as well as open platforms, deliberative democracy, and promotion of public security, etc., which were all great.

In response to Li Siduan's question, what went wrong with the Ke Municipal Government in the second half? Shen Boyang said that after entering his second term, he had more personal relationships and interests. In addition, he began to consider forming a party and developing to a higher level, and his focus was somewhat lost. Shen Boyang also mentioned that the bottom-up professional opinions conflicted with Ke Wenzhe's will, which also caused some of his right-hand assistants and professionals to leave.

As for Chiang Wanan's governance style, Shen Boyang described it as preferring "governing by doing nothing" and focusing on "not making mistakes." When governance is based on "making no mistakes", it will tend to be conservative, and people below will also follow suit.

Li Siduan described Jiang Wanan's pursuit of making no mistakes and perfection, while Ke Wenzhe wanted to innovate but later got distracted. He asked Shen Boyang, if elected, how can you ensure that you will not be distracted or out of shape?

Shen Boyang said that he is a person who "works as a monk for a day and hits the clock for a day." He has strong execution ability but knows his role well. If you were the mayor of Taipei, you would focus on municipal affairs. It is impossible to be the mayor and still think about the next step. He also mentioned that he is a university professor, and participating in politics is a "public service." I am seconded and will devote what I have learned to my work.

Li Siduan also asked if he is willing to promise that once elected, he will work hard for eight years and not be disturbed by other things. Shen Boyang immediately responded, "Of course! 100%."