Taipei Mayor Chiang Wanan led the city government team to hold a municipal press conference this morning (8th), announcing that after Huida successfully settled in Taipei, it will plan to relocate Songshan Airport. It is expected that the 300 hectares of land vacated will be turned into a "Taipei AI Park" to build residences and parks. In this regard, former Executive Yuan political commissar Zhang Jingsen said that Chiang Wanan is a mediocre mayor. Mediocrity is not a problem when there is no competition, but when an acceptable replacement candidate actually emerges and even gradually becomes a possible option, citizens will start to ask: "Why must Chiang Wanan be allowed to serve for another four years?" To be honest, Zhang Jingsen can't think of a very convincing answer.
Zhang Jingsen said in a Facebook post that as early as November 2 last year, he wrote: "Is Jiang Wanan that strong? Not necessarily." The evaluation of his municipal performance at that time was "the municipal government is lackluster." He even said: "Taipei City is full of talents, and there are more than 100 people better than Jiang Wanan." This statement was not only ridiculed by the blue camp media, but even the green camp itself did not believe it. At that time, the candidates named by the Green Camp were afraid of fighting one by one. On December 8, Zhang Jingsen posted again: "When I said that Jiang Wanan is really not that strong, I meant it." The main reason is still the same: after becoming mayor for one term, the halo has faded, and everyone has truly seen that his abilities are actually "average." Now that the election campaign has been underway for a few months, the situation has indeed begun to change.
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Zhang Jingsen pointed out that Shen Boyang's first success was to gradually get rid of the "radical, extreme, only anti-Chinese and Taiwanese" image that the Blue Camp had created for him after the general recall. He did not rush forward according to the script set by his opponents, but instead steadily talked about municipal affairs and policies. It is not yet known whether the voters in the middle will vote for him; but at least they are willing to get to know him again. His originally high hatred value has obviously dropped significantly.
Second, the morale of the green camp has obviously improved. If Shen Boyang can make the green camp highly cohesive and increase the turnout, I think it is not impossible to get the basic base to about 45%. The next step is to expand to the middle voters and even the Baiying voters. On the other hand, the Kuomintang has recently begun to launch attacks and consolidate the deep blue. Luo Zhiqiang, Xu Qiaoxin, Wang Hongwei, and Yin Wei have all come out to attack. When an incumbent starts vigorously attacking challengers, it itself shows a sense of crisis.
Zhang Jingsen continued that these people may be able to consolidate the base of the blue camp, but the more these faces appear, it may not be beneficial to Chiang Wanan’s efforts to win over the middle voters. We have already seen the offensive and defensive positions change, the battlefield situation has changed significantly, and Chiang Wanan’s momentum has also obviously weakened. A few months ago, everyone was already talking about Chiang Wanan’s presidential layout in 2028, as if the re-election of the mayor of Taipei was just a formality. Now that momentum has disappeared. The first thing he must prove is not whether he can be elected president, but: "Can he hold on to Taipei?" Look at Chiang Wanan himself. At the beginning of the election campaign, he looked like an old god and ignored the challengers. Now there are less smiles, more anxiety, and more aggression.
Zhang Jingsen analyzed that the expressions are certainly not polls, but the change in the entire campaign behavior shows that he has clearly felt the pressure. The real test is yet to come. The challenger talks about vision, and the re-elector must talk about political performance. What Shen Boyang wants to answer is, where will he take Taipei? So he can bring out new dishes every day, but Jiang Wanan has to answer, what has changed in Taipei after four years of being the boss? To be honest, I couldn't think of it last year, and I still can't think of it now. Some people may say Huida. It is certainly a good thing that Huida finally settled in Taipei, but Huida chose Beishike by itself, and the Taipei City Government almost couldn't take it.
Zhang Jingsen added, if this is already Jiang Wanan’s most important political achievement worth talking about, then we still have to ask: What next? Jiang Wanan is not a bad mayor, he is just a mediocre mayor. Mediocrity is not a problem when there is no competition, but when an acceptable alternative truly emerges and even gradually becomes a possible option, citizens will start to ask, "Why must Jiang Wanan be allowed to serve for another four years?" To be honest, I can't think of a very convincing answer.
Zhang Jingsen bluntly said that the real trouble now is how Jiang Wanan himself answers this question? If this issue begins to form in the minds of voters in the next month, the words I said last year will truly become Jiang Wanan’s biggest crisis: "There is nothing wrong with changing the position."
