Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Wen-chung (
However, the clause had long been rendered moot by the "Resolution on Taiwan's Future" (
The PFP and the DPP have fundamental differences -- the biggest being the national identity issue. While the PFP embraces the ideology that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are under the so-called "one China roof" -- which is very much like the "one China" principle, the DPP rejects the "one China" principle.
Due to this difference, the PFP has taken extreme caution in considering the possibility of working with the DPP. In particular, it fears a backlash from its supporters, whom most consider to be a more conservative and radical segment of the pan-blue camp.
However, in view of the enormous public pressure for inter-party cooperation, the DPP has been actively trying to explore the possibility of an alliance with the PFP, and the PFP is also giving it some serious thought. Lacking a legislative majority, this is a necessary step for the DPP to avoid repeating the problems of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) first term, during which policy implementation was made virtually impossible due to the boycott in the legislature.
Despite their differences, this does not mean there is no room for DPP-PFP cooperation. After all, political parties are supposed to have different political ideals and ideologies. Political diversity is precisely the point of a multi-party democracy. Nevertheless, political parties can still work together to the extent that there is overlap between their ideals and ideologies.
Therefore, although the DPP and PFP diverge on the issue of "one China" principle, they can still cooperate on other issues. Legislations dealing with domestic issues and interests would be a good starting point for the two parties to build some critically needed mutual trust.
As for the independence clause of the DPP's party platform, it should not serve as a grounds for the PFP's to refuse to work with the DPP. After all, according to the "Resolution on Taiwan's Future," which was approved in 1999, the DPP acknowledges that the name of this country is the "Republic of China." Moreover, the DPP has also subsequently passed a resolution indicating that all resolutions approved by the party, including the "Resolution on Taiwan' Future," shall have the same force as the party platform. More specifically, former DPP chairman Frank Hsieh (
Many members of the DPP have advocated rectifying the name of the country to "Taiwan." However, until that is accomplished, ROC is still the name of this country, a fact that the DPP has not denied. To the PFP, which vows to defend the ROC until the end, the existence of the "Resolution on Taiwan's Future" should no longer give it grounds to refuse cooperation with the DPP on the account on the DPP platform.
Finally, a political party is the convergence of a group of people based on their political ideals and ideologies. While changing circumstances and times may prompt modification to those ideals and ideologies, members of the party must nevertheless embrace these ideals and ideologies sincerely.
In the present case, changing the platform easily give the impression of selling out one's ideals.
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) trip to China provides a pertinent reminder of why Taiwanese protested so vociferously against attempts to force through the cross-strait service trade agreement in 2014 and why, since Ma’s presidential election win in 2012, they have not voted in another Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate. While the nation narrowly avoided tragedy — the treaty would have put Taiwan on the path toward the demobilization of its democracy, which Courtney Donovan Smith wrote about in the Taipei Times in “With the Sunflower movement Taiwan dodged a bullet” — Ma’s political swansong in China, which included fawning dithyrambs