Photo: IC

 














Lu Hsiu-lien, the former vice regional leader of the island of Taiwan, announced on Monday that she will join the race for the 2020 Taiwan regional leadership election as an independent candidate, which shows the internal strife among Taiwan secessionists, experts said. 

According to a report from Taiwan's Central News Agency, Lu was advised to run by the radical-secessionism party Formosa Alliance and other small parties on the island. 

At a press conference held by Formosa Alliance on Tuesday, Lu stated that Taiwan suffers when people elect the wrong leader, adding that in the 2020 election, many people in Taiwan will vote with a sense of anxiety. 

Analysts believe Lu was hinting at Taiwan's "diplomatic separation" with the Solomon Islands on Monday and other problems since the current leader of Taiwan island Tsai Ing-wen took over in 2016. 

"Lu has almost no chance of winning the election in 2020. Her participation is mainly for promoting her idea of Taiwan secessionism and increasing the sense of political presence," Yang Lixian, a research fellow at the Beijing-based Research Center of Cross-Straits Relations, told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

Lu's announcement that she will take part in the Taiwan region leader's race came at almost the same time as the Taiwan business tycoon Terry Gou announced his withdrawal from the election. 

Gou was defeated by KMT party candidate Han Kuo-yu in the party's primary poll by nearly 20 percent. 

Observers said that the two incidents are a positive signal for Han's election to some extent, as Gou's withdrawal will strengthen the KMT's solidarity while Lu's run for regional leadership reflects the discord among the green camp. 

Yu Keli, director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Taiwan Studies in Beijing, told the Global Times on Tuesday that Lu's candidacy will have a negative impact for Tsai, who was also named as a candidate for the 2020 leader's election. 

It reflects the split in the green camp, and the huge disappointment toward Tsai from the green camp, Yu noted.