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A weakened bully and a bigger bully join hands

The attempt by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to jointly usurp Taiwan's government is an open secret rather than a conspiracy. These two parties with a long-standing feud are now joining forces to seek their goals. The CCP is eyeing the lion's share of Taiwan while the KMT is craving a smaller piece of the pie. What they aim to achieve is to deprive Taiwan of its democracy, unseat the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government and annex Taiwan.

We all understand that both the CCP and the KMT practice a party-state system and despise democracy, for democracy is viewed as a threat to the sustainability of such a system. Democratization in Taiwan isn't just the process of shaking off such an undesirable system; it has also forced the KMT to become an opposition party. However, in view of the historical context, it is hardly surprising to see that the KMT has ended up allying with the CCP.

The KMT's failure in ruling Taiwan may serve as a good lesson for China. Faced not only with the challenge of pro-China KMT heavyweights but also with China's saber-rattling, the localization/democracy camp under former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) garnered 54 percent of the vote in the 1996 presidential election, amounting to the first failure for pro-China factions.

In the 2000 presidential election, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) faced off against both KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and then independent candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜). In the runup to the election, former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji (朱鎔基) appeared to side with Lien and Soong, warning that China would shed blood to retake Taiwan should the DPP come to power. However, it turned out that Chen's victory was not only a defeat for Lien and Soong, but also a setback for Beijing.

In last year's presidential election, both Lien and now People First Party Chairman Soong believed that they would be easily elected. After two unsuccessful attempts to intervene in the presidential election, Beijing realized that helping the pro-China camp during the election was counterproductive. So it put pressure on Chen through the US and developed a tacit agreement with Lien and Soong instead.

Lien suggested that if he was elected president, he would implement a direct sea link to China within a year and direct air links within two, and that Beijing would follow suit by announcing guidelines for pushing ahead with direct links across the Taiwan Strait.

However, it turned out that Lien and Soong were defeated again. We can say then that both the CCP and the KMT believe it is better to bring their relationship out into the open, with the KMT willing to play second fiddle to Beijing and Beijing making use of the KMT as its proxy.

On June 30 in Taipei at an informal gathering organized by the Foundation on International and Cross-Strait Studies for journalists from both sides of the Taiwan Strait, KMT spokesman Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭) said that only the KMT could truly reconcile with the CCP and that between the KMT and the DPP there could only be conflict. Chang even stated that although Beijing was attempting to gain absolute control of Taiwan, the KMT was trying to build friendly relations with it to win the 2008 presidential election.

This will be the fourth time that the KMT and the CCP have united against Taiwan. Beijing is nurturing the KMT, while the KMT is willing to relegate itself to the status of a Beijing puppet. I believe the Taiwanese can only cast their ballots to vote against a comeback by the KMT to prevent China from annexing the nation and to preserve their hard-won democratic system.

Chin Heng-wei is a political commentator based in Taipei.

Translated by Daniel Cheng
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