Lawmaker Fong Ting-kuo (馮定國) has declared that he will join the People First Party (PFP) before the party's registration deadline for the year-end elections, as well as seek nomination by the PFP in that election. Fong said he had to sacrifice his love for the New Party for greater and more important causes. In addition, Fong said his supporters feel that if he is to fight for their interests in the parliament, his only choice is to join the PFP which holds similar ideologies to his.
However, the New Party's elders seem unable to accept Fong's defection. The Fong incident has apparently ignited a premature battle among political parties. As the parties get closer to completing nominations for the year-end elections, more and more politicians will be defecting from weaker parties to stronger ones.
The reason behind Fong's decision is none other than his hope to enjoy an election victory. Taichung County has 11 seats in the Legislative Yuan. Among them, the DPP could win two. Besides a possible seat for Fong, all other ones belong to the KMT's local factions.
In the presidential election, PFP chairman James Soong (
If we further take into consideration the small number of at-large district seats (the number of seats given to each party is calculated according to the percentage of total votes it receives in the election) the PFP is likely to enjoy, it's not surprising Fong decided to leave the New Party.
The rise of the New Party began in the 1994 Taipei mayoral election. By the 1996 legislative elections, it had garnered 12.95 percent of the total vote, and 21 seats. However, by the following legislative poll, its percentage of votes had declined to 7.06.
Although the total number of seats in the Legislative Yuan had increased by 60, the New Party won only 7 seats despite 36 nominations, making their success rate less than 2 percent. In comparison with the DPP's success rate of 67 percent and the KMT's 84 percent, it was obvious the New Party was no longer competitive.
In last year's presidential election, Soong won approximately 4,660,000 votes, constituting 36 percent of the votes cast. It is not far off to say that in the absence of the so-called "dumping effect" (棄保效應) under which many voters "dumped" the KMT's Lien Chan (連戰) to save Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and therefore prevent Soong from winning, Soong could have won.
In order to grow, the PFP has to recruit from the existing supporters of other political parties. As a result, the KMT will likely suffer some injuries, while the New Party will likely lose its elbow room.
While Soong may have won a large percentage of votes in the presidential election, the PFP does not appear to target the same number of votes for the upcoming legislative election.
Apart from the uncertainty over the transferability of votes for Soong, winning a percentage of votes does not guarantee a great number of seats for a party in Taiwan's multi-seat voting districts. Having a superstar candidate may simply suck up the votes of other candidates.
The PFP must be particularly cautious with its first elections. Therefore, recruiting from other parties and inviting the incumbent lawmakers of other parties is necessary for PFP election success.
Furthermore, the New Party and the PFP are similar in many respects. During the presidential election, the entire New Party campaigned for Soong. New Party Chairman Lee Ching-hua (
Why can't New Party lawmakers join the PFP to ensure an election win now? It is inevitable that the New Party will merge with the PFP. Similarly, the Taiwan Independence Party had virtually no elbow room under the shadow of the DPP. The marginalization of the New Party has been caused by no less cruel political realities.
People care a lot about politicians' party loyalty and the splits and mergers of parties. Therefore, the defection of one party's elders to another party before elections is often seen as interest- and election-motivated. However, in a genuine democracy, people should get used to the restructuring of ideologies and interests among parties.
After the upcoming election, none of the three major parties, the DPP, KMT and PFP will have a legislative majority. Under the circumstances, the intricate web of alliances formed between parties to ensure leadership of the parliament will probably be quite astonishing. Unless personal feelings for ideologies are left behind, we will find it hard to adjust to future inter-party cooperation and new political developments.
Lee Ching-hsiung is a Taiwan Independence Party lawmaker.
Having lived through former British prime minister Boris Johnson’s tumultuous and scandal-ridden administration, the last place I had expected to come face-to-face with “Mr Brexit” was in a hotel ballroom in Taipei. Should I have been so surprised? Over the past few years, Taiwan has unfortunately become the destination of choice for washed-up Western politicians to turn up long after their political careers have ended, making grandiose speeches in exchange for extraordinarily large paychecks far exceeding the annual salary of all but the wealthiest of Taiwan’s business tycoons. Taiwan’s pursuit of bygone politicians with little to no influence in their home
In 2025, it is easy to believe that Taiwan has always played a central role in various assessments of global national interests. But that is a mistaken belief. Taiwan’s position in the world and the international support it presently enjoys are relatively new and remain highly vulnerable to challenges from China. In the early 2000s, the George W. Bush Administration had plans to elevate bilateral relations and to boost Taiwan’s defense. It designated Taiwan as a non-NATO ally, and in 2001 made available to Taiwan a significant package of arms to enhance the island’s defenses including the submarines it long sought.
US lobbyist Christian Whiton has published an update to his article, “How Taiwan Lost Trump,” discussed on the editorial page on Sunday. His new article, titled “What Taiwan Should Do” refers to the three articles published in the Taipei Times, saying that none had offered a solution to the problems he identified. That is fair. The articles pushed back on points Whiton made that were felt partisan, misdirected or uninformed; in this response, he offers solutions of his own. While many are on point and he would find no disagreement here, the nuances of the political and historical complexities in
Taiwan faces an image challenge even among its allies, as it must constantly counter falsehoods and misrepresentations spread by its more powerful neighbor, the People’s Republic of China (PRC). While Taiwan refrains from disparaging its troublesome neighbor to other countries, the PRC is working not only to forge a narrative about itself, its intentions and value to the international community, but is also spreading lies about Taiwan. Governments, parliamentary groups and civil societies worldwide are caught in this narrative tug-of-war, each responding in their own way. National governments have the power to push back against what they know to be
RSS