00:00The ruling Democratic Progressive Party has nominated lawmaker Puma Shen to run for Taipei mayor.
00:07He grew up in this city in Taipei. He was studying in this city. He was also working in this
00:14city. He was very familiar with this city. His feelings were very, very深刻.
00:21Shen, who was in his early 40s, is one of the youngest people the DPP has ever nominated to run
00:26for Taipei mayor.
00:27A lawyer by trade, Shen co-founded the Kuma Academy, one of Taiwan's biggest civil defense organizations.
00:33The academy educates the public on topics like first aid and fighting disinformation.
00:37Shen has been outspoken about the need to raise awareness of the threat Taiwan faces from China.
00:42But he says as a candidate for Taipei mayor, he will focus on issues that affect the city.
00:59For more on Puma Shen and his nomination, Leslie Liao spoke with Brian Hu, the founder of New Bloom magazine.
01:06All right, Brian, who is Puma Shen? And why do you think the DPP nominated him to run in the
01:12Taipei City mayoral race?
01:14Puma Shen is presently one of the DPP's best known legislators. He originated from civil society.
01:20He's known as an expert on disinformation and Chinese united front activity.
01:25And he is the founder of two important organizations, the Doublethink Lab, which researches disinformation,
01:31and also the Kuma Academy, which is Taiwan's best known civil defense organization.
01:36And so from that background, he became a legislator and he is very focused on the issue of Chinese influence
01:41in Taiwan.
01:42Now, what does he bring to the table as a candidate for the capital?
01:46So it's an interesting choice to pick him as the Taipei mayoral candidate because he is nearing the end of
01:52his term as the legislator.
01:54But then there's a question of what you do with these very young politicians that are much younger than usual.
01:59Though he's around 43, at last I checked.
02:01And so I think it is a sign the DPP does hope to keep him around and active in politics
02:06in some way.
02:07And so this is a move up in that sense.
02:09But it is another question entirely, can he win Taipei, because Mayor Jiang Banan of the KMT is very strong.
02:16There are a lot of Taipei voters, actually, who are concerned about Chinese influence.
02:20He has not actually had to fight a campaign race.
02:23And it will make him much stronger if he's able to do that in the future, because that is how
02:27you gain power within a political party, whether that is DPP or KMT.
02:31And so I think it really does depend on how much of a fight he puts up.
02:34And that will determine his political future.
02:36Going into Shun's campaign, what kind of advantages do you think he has and what kind of challenges do you
02:42think he faces?
02:43I think his advantages are more or less his disadvantages because of the fact that he is running in Taipei,
02:48which is, of course, historically very blue.
02:50Young people who are progressive, he also does have a background as a former chair of the Taiwan Association for
02:55Human Rights, may support him.
02:58Also, those who are very concerned about the threat from China.
03:01You do see the rise of civil defense groups in Taipei, for example.
03:04But then the city is also dominated by much older voters who, in fact, can be rather pro-KMT and,
03:09in fact, even maybe pro-China.
03:11And for them, Shen will be a liability.
03:14I think perhaps the KMT is likely to go after, for example, that Shen's father does business in China.
03:19And this is something that they really have attacked to say the DPP is hypocritical.
03:22They talk a lot about the China issue, but they also have links to China.
03:26And so Shen's father was sanctioned.
03:29That was Brian Hugh, founder of New Bloom Magazine.
