Nauru loss puts DPP at diplomacy crossroads

Just as President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was assuming the chairmanship of the DPP, Beijing deliberately announced plans to establish diplomatic ties with Nauru, one of Taiwan's diplomatic allies. China's surprise offensive is creating variables which are prompting the DPP's core policymakers -- who have directed party policy toward the "New Middle Way," making it tilt toward China -- to reconsider their policies.

As we all know, even before Chen took office, a compromise on China had emerged within the DPP in everything from the party charter to China affairs policy-makers, to the president's close confidants, gradually crowding out the voice of pro-independence groups within the party. Even a look at the DPP's new power structure reveals that people who truly reject China are few and far between among the party's core policymakers. Worries are beginning to emerge in pro-independence groups over the DPP's shedding of its pro-independence colors.

There is one variable, however. In their over-zealousness, the Chinese authorities have supped so fast that they may now have broken their own rice bowl. Their move may have dealt a head-on blow to the DPP's core policymakers, who had been pandering to China as if they've taken pro-China Ecstasy pills. This has given pro-independence factions a golden opportunity to voice their objections with party headquarters and to instill some wisdom into people's minds.

But can a brief awakening stop Beijing's long-term "united front" offensive against the DPP? Their voices drowned out by pro-China elements, will the pro-independence factions find the space to remonstrate? This is not just a matter of internal concern for the DPP, but a major issue that will have a fundamental impact on cross-strait relations.

The DPP is now fully unified and in step with the government. It goes without saying that the attitudes of its policymakers will affect policymaking.

The party's pro-independence factions are important custodians of policy on cross-strait relations. They are also seen by pro-unification groups as trouble-makers within the DPP. Though a key minority, they could become a majority as far as this particular variable is concerned.

Trong Chai is a DPP legislator. Translated by Francis Huang