What on earth did journalists originally ask Taipei’s incumbent mayor? That’s a question difficult enough to answer that some netizens decided to gamify it.
Taipei is preparing to vote in its mayoral election this November, and Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate and the city’s sitting mayor, has faced public criticism for “answering B in response to A” (問A答B) — in other words, dodging journalists’ questions or changing the subject. The game challenges users to guess the original question when prompted with Chiang’s answer.
Most of the questions featured were attempts to prompt Chiang’s response to challenges and criticisms from his opponent, Democratic Progressive Party candidate Puma Shen (沈伯洋). Players online joked that the game was as difficult as Taiwan’s high school entrance exam.
The coming mayoral elections are the KMT’s first public test after surviving the DPP-backed “Great Recall” last year, a failed campaign to oust 31 KMT legislators and potentially flip the legislature in the DPP’s favor. While one poll recently suggested that Shen was closing the gap on Chiang’s lead, a DPP victory is seen as highly unlikely.
Chiang’s campaign team is reportedly planning to extend the amount of time he spends answering journalists’ questions in an attempt to shake off criticism of his interactions with the media.
