Walking out of cross-caucus negotiations; holding up placards on the legislative floor protesting issues that are either not on the agenda of public opinion or a step behind it; and lodging complaints after the floor vote is completed. Months after its defeat in January’s legislative elections, it seems the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus is still fumbling to be an opposition party in the legislature.
Leaving negotiations without reaching a consensus and attempting to obstruct legislative proceedings are moves that can be expected from an opposition party, just as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had to do for decades to jostle with the KMT’s majority.
The KMT caucus is green when it comes to operating as a minority. Walking out of negotiations would be a useful tactic if the gesture was a hint that it was ratcheting up the pressure; a prelude to obstruction or boycott of proposals by the majority party. This is exactly what the DPP caucus — with all its years of practice — was experienced at doing. However, it is what the KMT has so far refused to do; after all, it is a move that the KMT had castigated for years as boorish, and a waste of time and taxpayers’ money.
So what has the KMT done? Its lawmakers have gathered at the front of the general assembly chamber during floor meetings, holding up placards, as they did on Tuesday, protesting “imports of US pork” and the “low representation of women in the Cabinet.” The former is not high on the public’s agenda, but curiously has been on the KMT’s mind for weeks, while the latter — a topic heatedly debated weeks before — is more than just a few steps behind public opinion.
Both issues are unquestionably significant for Taiwanese, but for the KMT to reap political benefit from them, the attacks need to be on target and on time. The KMT might consider the controversy over imports of US pork with residue of leanness-enhancing feed additive ractopamine a good chance to cause the DPP some real damage, as it would showcase the ruling party’s about-face over a policy it used to oppose.
However, relying solely on such superficial criticism would simply lay bare the KMT’s political calculations — no matter how persistent the criticism — and dull the edge of an issue that affects public health and the question of Taiwan’s policies in a free-trade-dominant, flat world.
The weakness of the KMT’s shallow attacks have exposed its lack of experience in cooperating with grassroots groups on social issues. It did not have to do so when it was in power and even during the DPP’s first presidency; the KMT was still the legislative majority and could sway political agendas.
The power of the party’s denunciation on the number of women in the Cabinet is likewise compromised, not only by the lateness of the criticism, but also by the fact that the KMT has never owned the issue. Weeks ago, when gender-equality advocates criticized the new administration over the proportion of women in high-ranking positions, forcing President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), before her inauguration, to respond to the criticism, the KMT failed to play a supportive role in this political exchange.
The risk for the KMT, if the trend continues, would be that it would further align itself with other politically motivated groups — rather than issue-driven ones — for support, which would radicalize, if not marginalize, the party.
Society and social groups also face risk, potentially losing a vital political collaborator in their long-time ally the DPP, with the party in power now a possible obstruction to the promotion of issues.
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