The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will be breathing a collective sigh of relief today after a sustained period of electoral repudiation ended last night with its best performance since the 2004 presidential contest.
DPP Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Chen Chu (
Chen ran a more vibrant campaign than Huang and defied pundits who predicted a grave fate for the DPP in the south over the conduct of the Presidential Office and MRT construction woes in Kaohsiung. Voters ignored Chen's invisible performance as a Cabinet minister and reconnected with her in a city that seems to expect more energy from its candidates than Taipei.
Taipei City provides a more interesting picture, however. DPP mayoral candidate Frank Hsieh (
Hsieh's vote is respectable enough for him to stay in contention for the DPP nomination for president in 2008. Last night Hsieh's supporters were chanting "President Hsieh" in consolation and as a boost for his next campaign. And despite Hsieh lifting the DPP's vote by 5 percent on its 2002 result, the election was more notable for the ennui that cut into Hau's potential vote, despite Ma's backing, and the obliteration of People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (
Indeed, the most important thing to come out of these contests is the crippling of the minor parties. Soong and his party are history. Humiliated after securing barely more than 4 percent of the vote, last night he said he would leave politics. His party's legislators, without their godfather and financier, can only return to the KMT fold or act as a temporary spoiler for the DPP until the next legislative election more or less wipes them out.
With a dysfunctional ex-candidate in Taipei and a dreadful performance in Kaohsiung, the Taiwan Solidarity Union's (TSU) unraveling is another demonstration of the marginalization of minor parties -- as well as the fact that former president and TSU "spiritual father" Lee Teng-hui's (
Even before the introduction of the new electoral system, it is clear that voters are tiring of clusters of splinter candidates with no coherent voice eating into the vote of major parties. After a period of extremes, Taiwanese are firming toward the center.
As strategic tensions escalate across the vast Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as more than a potential flashpoint. It is the fulcrum upon which the credibility of the evolving American-led strategy of integrated deterrence now rests. How the US and regional powers like Japan respond to Taiwan’s defense, and how credible the deterrent against Chinese aggression proves to be, will profoundly shape the Indo-Pacific security architecture for years to come. A successful defense of Taiwan through strengthened deterrence in the Indo-Pacific would enhance the credibility of the US-led alliance system and underpin America’s global preeminence, while a failure of integrated deterrence would
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
On Wednesday last week, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) asserting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) territorial claim over Taiwan effective 1945, predicated upon instruments such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation. The article further contended that this de jure and de facto status was subsequently reaffirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly issued a statement categorically repudiating these assertions. In addition to the reasons put forward by the ministry, I believe that China’s assertions are open to questions in international
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of
RSS