The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), in an apparent attempt to absorb its ally's call for renaming the country and enacting a new constitution, pledged last week to use "Taiwan" in the names of government agencies within two years. As the legislative election enters its final stage, the party's ally, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), led by former president Lee Teng-hui (
The TSU, the more left-wing and Taiwan-centered fundamentalist party, has the enacting of a new constitution and a new name for Taiwan as its main appeal to voters. The DPP, under the guidance of Chen's May 20 inauguration speech, has stuck with a more incremental constitutional re-engineering process in accordance with current game rules.
As the campaign becomes more of an internal finger-pointing by the pan-green camp, the DPP's ability to distinguish its major campaign appeal from the TSU's constitutes its most difficult job. The pie is not large enough to share at the level of grass roots and individual constituencies; sometimes there is no clear line between friend and foe. Taiwan's unique voting system means candidates even compete with contenders from their own party. That sparks intra-party friction, not to mention tight competition with party allies.
The fact that the TSU draws most of its support from southern Taiwan makes the TSU-DPP collaboration even more difficult. It is natural for the smaller TSU to choose a more extreme path to expand support. As the TSU's more independence-driven appeals have shattered the DPP's grassroots voter base, Chen has had no choice but to incorporate a new tactic to enlarge the middle ground and to absorb the TSU's manipulation of the issues concerning a new constitution and renaming the country.
To minimize the TSU's effect, Chen has stressed that he is the defender of Taiwan's identity. He has also highlighted that Taiwan's identity is not tantamount to changing the country's official national title until a majority consensus has been reached by the public. By portraying himself as a "balancer" among pluralist forces in democratic Taiwan, Chen aims to convince voters that compared with the pan-blue camp's slogans of "safeguarding the ROC" and the TSU's "building a new nation," only the DPP can lead the country in a peaceful, stable and prosperous direction.
Chen must do it carefully, without sabotaging DPP-TSU cooperation after the election. Chen must find a balance in building a cooperative and competitive partnership with the TSU, while ensuring a majority of pan-green seats after the Dec. 11 elections. Compared with their counterparts, pan-green supporters enjoy a chance of consolidating a majority in the Legislative Yuan. Nevertheless, questions related to election strategies, each party's campaign appeals and vote distribution will inevitably cause friction within the green camp.
Pre-electoral rhetoric within the green camp is simply a product of Taiwan's unique electoral system. What matters are the results of the legislative poll. Were the pan-green camp to become a de facto majority in the legislature, it would vindicate the intensification of Taiwan consciousness coupled with the March presidential election. With the TSU representing Taiwan-independence fundamentalists, the DPP may move to the middle of the political spectrum and lead national development in a more gradual and peaceful way.
The interests of voters will be best served by a pan-green majority, primarily because it is conducive to promoting good governance, legislative efficiency, stable and institutionalized party competition and, most important, a unified country under the theme of "Taiwan First."
Liu Kuan-teh is a Taipei-based political commentator.
On Sept. 3 in Tiananmen Square, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) rolled out a parade of new weapons in PLA service that threaten Taiwan — some of that Taiwan is addressing with added and new military investments and some of which it cannot, having to rely on the initiative of allies like the United States. The CCP’s goal of replacing US leadership on the global stage was advanced by the military parade, but also by China hosting in Tianjin an August 31-Sept. 1 summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which since 2001 has specialized
In an article published by the Harvard Kennedy School, renowned historian of modern China Rana Mitter used a structured question-and-answer format to deepen the understanding of the relationship between Taiwan and China. Mitter highlights the differences between the repressive and authoritarian People’s Republic of China and the vibrant democracy that exists in Taiwan, saying that Taiwan and China “have had an interconnected relationship that has been both close and contentious at times.” However, his description of the history — before and after 1945 — contains significant flaws. First, he writes that “Taiwan was always broadly regarded by the imperial dynasties of
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will stop at nothing to weaken Taiwan’s sovereignty, going as far as to create complete falsehoods. That the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has never ruled Taiwan is an objective fact. To refute this, Beijing has tried to assert “jurisdiction” over Taiwan, pointing to its military exercises around the nation as “proof.” That is an outright lie: If the PRC had jurisdiction over Taiwan, it could simply have issued decrees. Instead, it needs to perform a show of force around the nation to demonstrate its fantasy. Its actions prove the exact opposite of its assertions. A
A large part of the discourse about Taiwan as a sovereign, independent nation has centered on conventions of international law and international agreements between outside powers — such as between the US, UK, Russia, the Republic of China (ROC) and Japan at the end of World War II, and between the US and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) since recognition of the PRC as the sole representative of China at the UN. Internationally, the narrative on the PRC and Taiwan has changed considerably since the days of the first term of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the Democratic
RSS