Analysis: DPP's 'Cat Warrior' Hsiao Bi-Khim
Taiwan’s former envoy to the U.S. has made a name for herself as a “cat warrior" — a deliberate contrast to China’s combative “wolf warrior” diplomats. But can her candidacy lift the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s campaign? To find out, our reporter Sally Jensen spoke to Wen Liu, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica.
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00:00 So Xiaobi Kim is set to be Lai Ching-de's running mate
00:03 for the DPP candidacy in January.
00:06 Could you explain the representation of Xiaobi Kim
00:09 as a cat and Lai Ching-de as a dog
00:12 and why it's resonating in Taiwan at the moment?
00:16 - Yeah, I think the cat metaphor really is a continuation
00:20 of President Tsai Ing-wen's policy legacy.
00:23 So just a small story is that the cat
00:26 of Tsai Ing-wen called Xiangxiang
00:28 is in fact a rescue cat from Hualien
00:32 when Beijing Xiao served as the legislator
00:36 in 2012 in Hualien.
00:39 So it symbolized, I think, their personal relationship
00:43 but a continuation of this emphasis on equality
00:47 and sort of this like feminist empowerment
00:50 and female leadership in Taiwan.
00:52 - How does meme culture play into politics in Taiwan?
00:57 - I think during the COVID-19 time,
01:00 I mean, the government actually launched
01:02 a series of meme campaigns.
01:04 So famously from the Ministry of Health and Welfare,
01:08 the Zongcai, this little Shiba Inu dog meme,
01:13 that it really serves to sort of ease the political
01:16 and psychological tension
01:18 under this contested geopolitical time.
01:21 So similarly, a cat warrior symbol really serves to,
01:26 I think, symbolize, one, the kind of strong
01:31 but not aggressive attitude of Taiwan's diplomacy.
01:34 But second, just to build, I think,
01:38 relationships among Taiwanese people
01:40 during this really heated geopolitical time.
01:44 - But why would Lai need a character
01:47 like Xiao in his campaign?
01:50 - Yeah, I think she definitely is a huge plus
01:53 for Lai's campaign because Lai,
01:56 I think for the younger generation,
01:58 he's more of the old dog of the DPP,
02:02 which some of the young people might call Lao Lyu Nan,
02:05 right, like the all green male symbol.
02:08 But Xiao, I think, is a more kind of refreshing candidate.
02:11 And also she's the first one who proposed
02:14 the same-sex marriage bill in 2006, even though it failed,
02:18 but it really shows how she has this continuation
02:21 and emphasis on LGBTQ policy,
02:25 again, right, on female leadership in DPP.
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