Kuo Zhang
Kuo Zhang Ко Цанг 廓章 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader of the People's First Coalition | |
| In office 13 April NMR 2366 – 28 July NMR 2379 | |
| Preceded by | Shi Rou |
| Deputy for the 13th Legislative District in the Namorese Central Council | |
| In office NMR 2345 – NMR 2363 | |
| President | Chanin Chen Alicia Wolf Kaitlyn Khan |
| Deputy in the Minjianese Regional Assembly | |
| In office NMR 2340 – NMR 2345 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 9, NMR 2309 (age 70) File:Minjianflag.png Yucheng, Minjian AR |
| Nationality | Namorese |
| Political party |  Liberationists (NMR 2331 - NMR 2363) People's First (NMR 2364- present) |
| Spouse | Vei Jijun |
| Children | Kuo Mang |
| Alma mater | Xiangmen University |
Kuo Zhang (b. May 9, NMR 2309) is a Namorese politician and current leader of the People's First Coalition (PFC) an ultra-nationalist party in Namor. He is known both domestically and internationally as Namor's most influential nationalist, although some dispute this.
Kuo joined the Minjianese regional paramilitary and took part in the attempted suppression of the Moon Cake protests of NMR 2338. In NMR 2348, Kuo entered the Central Council as a Liberationist deputy for the 13th Legislative District, and continued to serve there until NMR 2363 when he was expelled from the Liberationist Party after making controversial remarks about Democratic Socialist presidential candidate Kaitlyn Khan. After spending a few years outside of the public eye, Kuo returned to politics in NMR 2366 when he was named chairman of the PFC. Since then, he has run for President-General twice (in NMR 2373 and NMR 2378) on behalf of the People's Firsts and garnered a lot of public attention for his words and actions, which have oftentimes been labelled as divisive.
In July 24, NMR 2379, Kuo was wounded by a knife-wielding assailant during a rally ahead of the EC membership referendum. Although he survived, he resigned from the chairmanship in July 29.
Early Life
An ethnic Minjianese, Kuo was born in May 9, NMR 2309 in Yucheng, Minjian.
Kuo joined the Young Liberationists at the age of 18. Once having completed his service at the Young Liberationists, Kuo joined the Liberationist Party. On the same year he joined the Young Liberationists, he attended Xiangmen University where he earned a degree in journalism and a minor in criminal justice. This helped him join the Minjianese regional paramilitary, where he eventually rose through the ranks and became a captain.
Paramilitary career
As a member of the regional paramilitary, Kuo was among those called up by Minjian President Jin Ming-Neng to disperse protesters demanding constitutional reforms. While some in the paramilitary refused to follow Jin's orders and joined the ranks of the protesters, Kuo stayed loyal to the government as he agreed with Jin that the protesters were causing a disturbance and that their removal was warranted. He made public his thoughts by publishing an anonymous opinion piece on the Xiangmen Daily, in which he called the protesters "brats defying the law" and added that a peaceful dispersion would be "too merciful." The piece was very controversial, and while some praised Kuo for standing on the side of law and order after it was revealed that he had written the piece, others accused him of being a lapdog of President Jin and demanded his resignation from the Minjianese paramilitary. Kuo resigned from the paramilitary following the rise of Hsiao Xin-Huei.
Political career
Regional Assembly
Kuo's political career began in NMR 2340, when he ran for Regional Assembly on the Liberationist ticket. Once entering the Regional Assembly, Kuo aligned himself with the Liberationists' conservative caucus and voted against many of Hsiao Xin-Huei's reform proposals.
Central Council
In NMR 2345, Kuo ran for Central Council and became a deputy for the 13th Legislative District.
During the hotly contested NMR 2348 election which the Democratic Socialists accused the Liberationists of rigging at the last minute, Kuo responded by calling the DemSocs a "bandit party that won't stop until it gets what it wants" and submitted a proposal to ban the party. The bill failed to pass the Cadre on Societal Well-Being and was condemned by the DemSocs as being unconstitutional.
Kuo caused controversy during the NMR 2353 election when he called Namorese voters "dumb sheep" and charged that a majority wanted to vote for frontrunner Alicia Wolf simply because of her sex and ethnicity. Kuo's criticism of Wolf continued after the election and Wolf's inauguration; in a speech to Young Liberationists in Minjian, Kuo called Wolf "an unstable leader" due to her history of engaging in political activism. He joined other Liberationists in opposing Wolf's efforts to begin rapprochement with Luziyca, specifically her historic visit to Bethlehem. Following the June 28 Attacks, Kuo suggested that the attacks were a consequence of Wolf's attempt to "get along with Luziyca to court Otekian terrorists."
Kaitlyn Khan comments
Kuo made several controversial remarks about Democratic Socialist candidate Kaitlyn Khan ahead of the NMR 2363 presidential election. In an interview with PTH, Kuo alleged that Khan "has no real policies to show the Namorese people...all she has is her sex and her woman card, and by selling herself off as a woman she hopes to win sympathy votes, especially those coming from women and feminists." Kuo proceeded to claim that "people like Khan are ineligible to become President-General because if history shows anything, it's that women base their judgements upon emotions, not facts. If you cry too much, you can't sign a bill into law and assume you're being reasonable."
Kuo's comments were condemned by fellow Liberationists as well as the ruling Democratic Socialists as sexist. Khan's campaign said "if Kuo's comments show anything, it's that he is less capable of running the country than Vice President Khan ever will be." According to some analysts, Kuo's comments increased support for Khan while decreasing support for the Liberationists such that Txo Antelope did not win more votes than either Khan or New Democratic candidate Deng Mianbao. In response to the backlash, Kuo announced his withdrawal from the legislative election and his name was removed from the list of Liberationist candidates in the 13th Legislative District.
After the election, Kuo was expelled from the Liberationist Party, with the Party Central Committee citing his "inconsistency with party ideology."
People's First Coalition
In NMR 2364, Kuo Zhang met with People's First Coalition chairman Shi Rou and announced his entry to the PFC. Kuo explained his decision to join the PFC during the meeting:
Right now, it seems there is little to no hope for Namor's future. I thought this country is doomed, but then I saw the People's Firsts - a party of patriots truly committed to saving the future for our children and grandchildren. You know, this party puts country first and politics second. It is a very no-nonsense, down to earth party. That amazed me.
Kuo quickly made his way up the PFC's leadership; a year after he joined the party, he was named Vice Chairman of the party. In NMR 2366, Shi Rou stepped down from the position of chairman and was succeeded by Kuo.
Chairmanship
Under Kuo, the People's Firsts rapidly expanded. During the NMR 2368 election, Kuo abandoned Shi Rou's policy of not endorsing any of the major parties and endorsed the New Democrats and its presidential candidate Fu Wen, whom he called a "bright person compared to Kaitlyn Khan." With Fu ahead in the polls, there was speculation of the New Democrats including People's Firsts in the new government, but Kuo rejected this, saying "For now, we are satisfied with Fu Wen, but we will stay in the CenCo Hall to monitor both the government and opposition."
Relations between Kuo and the New Democrats deteriorated into Fu's first term, and worsened as Fu made diplomatic overtures to Luziyca and met with Breuvi Shjoraski, moves which Kuo denounced as "treacherous." After a spokesperson for the NDP called the PFC's foreign policy "bellicose and dangerous," Kuo said "our honeymoon with the New Democrats is over" and confirmed his intention to run on behalf of the party in the next election. As promised, Kuo launched his first presidential candidacy in the NMR 2373 election, running against both Fu and Liberationist candidate Antelope Shohai. Kuo lost the election and won nearly 5% of the popular vote, although the remarks he had made during the presidential debates boosted his familiarity both nationally and globally.
In NMR 2378, Kuo ran again, this time with more popularity than he had in NMR 2368 due to growing public discontent with the outgoing Fu administration. Polls from February to March showed Kuo trailing behind Antelope Shohai but surpassing Huan An of the New Democrats; a February 24 poll administered by the Liberator showed 19.1% of respondents supporting Kuo while only 9.6% supported Huan. Ultimately, Kuo finished third in the election with 17.2% of the vote - a 12.23% increase from NMR 2373.
Political views
Kuo's political views have been summarized as being radically nationalistic. Kuo has called such a label "accurate," saying that "When people are called 'radical nationalists' that's usually a bad thing, but I pride myself in being a radical nationalist. You don't see radical nationalists a lot anymore." However, many self-proclaimed Namorese nationalists have distanced themselves from Kuo.
Climate change
Kuo has acknowledged climate change to be "an issue" but has also questioned the severity of climate change and the scientific consensus that human activity causes it. During the NMR 2378 presidential debate, he said:
Climate change is an issue, but there is reason to suspect that those who talk about it all day are portraying the problem as worse than it really is. The science shows that the climate has been changing since the inception of this planet. Because of the tilt and obliquity of the planet, there was a time when this world was covered in ice. In the past several thousands of years, we've been receding out of the ice age, hence global warming, but ultimately we will return to another ice age. I mean, it's a pattern, one that cannot simply be altered or reversed by human activity. When I'm President-General, I will organize a commission to investigate the actual extent to which climate change affects not just Namor, but the whole world. Only then can we get a real understanding of how really serious it is...[and scientists are] also certain that this has been going on before the first humans appeared, so how can you attribute a natural trend to humans?
Kuo has also suggested that "the climate change narrative" is part of a plot to "reduce our productivity and economic growth" by encouraging Namor to reduce its carbon emissions, in an interview with The Liberator.
Irredentist claims
One aspect of Kuo's political views that has received much attention internationally is his support for irredentist territorial claims that Namor never had or doesn't have. This includes calls by Kuo for Namor to annex the countries of Katranjiev, Chorea and Roubao.
In NMR 2368, Kuo published a bill online which proposes that Namor force Roubao to hold a referendum on becoming an autonomous republic of Namor. In a subsequent explanation, Kuo said he believes Namorese sovereignty in Roubao will "make Roubao safer" by making the Namorese government completely committed to the defense of Roubao from Jahistic Unolian military aggression. Because Kuo was not in the Central Council, his bill was never put up for discussion; however, once news of the proposal reached Roubao, the government dismissed it as "a frivolous idea by a fringe politician." The pro-Unolian National Unification Front of Roubao held a press conference solely to condemn Kuo's bill, calling it "the true face of Namorese social-imperialism."
In the NMR 2373 election, Kuo called for a Namorese annexation of Katranjiev, believing that not only does Namor have historical rights to Katranjiev, but an annexation is necessary to prevent Luziyca from continuing to use Katranjiev as a "base" to "contain" Namor. The call was immediately condemned by the Katranjian and Namorese governments. Months before the election, Kuo had claimed that the independence of Riro is "a possible step one" of a Namorese plan to annex all of Katranjiev. The administration of Kaitlyn Khan called Kuo's claim "preposterous...Kuo is not a member of the government and he has no idea what the government is and isn't up to."
Namo-Luziycan relations
Kuo is an outspoken opponent to improved Namo-Luziycan relations. He has been identified as "the strongest challenger to détente, more so than the mainstream left" by the Mojing Sibo.
As an author, Kuo has written multiple books on Namo-Luziycan relations, most of which are critical of rapprochement. His controversial NMR 2354 bestseller, Slavs, Namor and the New World Order, Kuo argued that rapprochement with Namor is part of "a long-term Luziycan strategy to dominate the Namorese market, colonize Namor and bring South Velkia under the control of a Slavic order based in Bethlehem."