Defeated New Party brass take flight across the Strait

Focus on China

Li Ching-yuan (李慶元), who is running for Taipei City council in the year-end elections, recently wanted to ask Fu to assist his efforts. He was, however, unable to contact Fu, which shows that Fu's focus has shifted to China.

The New Party's spiritual leader Hsu Li-nung has traveled frequently between Taiwan and China in recent years -- not for business, but to visit his daughter. Before the KMT fled to Taiwan, Hsu had already married in China and had a daughter. When the two sides of the Taiwan Strait later split, Hsu was separated from his wife. It wasn't until seven or eight years ago that he was able to find his daughter. His wife had already passed away.

His daughter lives in Wuhan, where she is chairwoman of the Hubei Area Chamber of Commerce (湖北區商業會). Hsu often visits his daughter, usually a couple of months at a time, and takes the opportunity to travel around China. Hsu and his Taiwanese wife also have a daughter in the US. He now divides his time between Taiwan, China and the US, enjoying a happy and contented retirement.

Viewing the direction these New Party politicians have taken in China, they seem to have found their appropriate places. Public service, teaching, setting up a medical network and traveling for leisure -- it all seems befitting to their situations. The New Party's power within the pan-blue camp is gradually evaporating and its ideology is different from that of the government.

Even though these individuals can't claim to be escaping an oppressive government, escaping to China in search of a new future has allowed them to avoid a gloomy and unhappy life in Taiwan.

The article first appeared in the Win-Win weekly (今周刊) on Nov. 4.

Translated by Perry Svensson