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TSU needs a firm, clear manifesto for election

In former president Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) speech titled "From a unification-independence two-party system to a locally oriented two-party system" given on Oct. 13 at a Taiwan Advocates forum on next year's presidential election and the normalization of the legislature, Lee said the distrust and constant conflict between the two major parties in the legislature means that policies cannot be discussed rationally. Beyond that, it also gives China's "united front" strategy a chance of succeeding and therefore increases the threat of annexation by China.

Lee advocated the gradual marginalization and downsizing of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which to this day has been unable to transform itself into a pro-localization party and the formation of a third political force consisting of the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) and other pro-localization forces that could cooperate and compete with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in a local-oriented two-party system.

In response to Lee's speech, a KMT spokesperson said the party has been local-oriented ever since the lifting of martial law in 1987. Still, despite the party's localization efforts in the 1990s, former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) returned the party to a pro-Chinese line in 2000 with his frequent visits to China and his vow to join hands with Beijing to suppress Taiwanese independence. Today, the KMT's presidential candidate, Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), is surrounded by dark-blue strategists whose vulgar campaign strategies run counter to localization.

The DPP may not agree with Lee's criticism that it is able to manipulate elections and hold pro-green voters hostage simply by pressing the unification-independence issue. But when Lee said the recent lack of intra-party unity and the negative impact of the new legislative electoral system meant the DPP might "lose its pants" in the January legislative elections, he was not trying to make a sensational statement.

He believes the DPP and the TSU together would be stronger than the DPP on its own, and that this would help safeguard a locally oriented government. He also thinks the TSU can be a positive counterbalance to the DPP, stabilizing its Taiwan awareness and preventing it from becoming corrupt.

Lee wants the TSU to move toward a social democratic, more liberal center-left position, so that a future locally oriented two-party system would also cover both left and right wing views.

The longstanding divergence on national identity and the division between the pan-blue and the pan-green camps have been conditioned by post-war historical and international developments and were not created by the two camps. But, it is true that they should be criticized for adding fuel to the fire and harming the public interest by prioritizing personal benefits.

Still, the existing political and social divergence will not remain unchanged forever. This can be seen in the pan-blue leaders over the past few years gradually daring to follow some of the pan-green camps policies.

The new electoral system has caused People First Party members to prefer a merger with the KMT, a clear reflection of the trend toward a weakening pan-blue camp and a strengthened pan-green camp.

What we can be sure of, however, is that to reach the goal of a locally oriented two-party system, the TSU must avoid disappearing in the elections. In addition to nominating good candidates, the party must also manifest a clear and firm policy direction.

Otherwise, voters will not consider voting for the TSU in the new electoral system.

Chen Yi-shen is an associate research fellow at Academia Sinica's Institute of Modern History.

Translated by Eddy Chang
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