The campaign strategies of the Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) camp in the Taipei mayoral race have displayed signs of disarray and division. They represent the DPP's desire to consolidate its power but reflect a loss of direction for reform and a perplexity about the prospects for reform. As metropolitan voters north of Taichung have gravitated from the pan-green to the pan-blue camp, winning over those voters and reacquiring the momentum and direction for innovation should be the DPP's goals in this election campaign.
The outcome of the last presidential election, strongly suggested that James Soong (宋楚瑜) would have won but for the Chung Hsing Bills Finance scandal (興票案). "Typhoon James" swept over ethnic groups, political parties, social classes and geographical boundaries in the early days of that campaign, securing high levels of support in opinion polls. In the current campaign, it is support for Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) that has transcended the different strata of the electorate. The DPP should take note of and reflect on these new phenomena because they cannot be explained simply in terms of the traditional choice between one party or another. Nor will the DPP's "New Middle Way" slogan -- intended to appeal to the middle classes -- push back the tide of support now enjoyed by Ma.
From the cultural perspective of post-colonialism, we can see from the campaign, as well as from the last elections for president, Taipei mayor and provincial governor, that both Soong and Ma project an image of modernity as "New Taiwanese" with all the charisma of a pair of local heroes with an instinctive affinity for their people and their native place. This emphasis on the "native self" has its origins partly in the American imperialism of the Cold War, but was also partly shaped by the KMT's protracted rule. It reflects what the Taiwan public expects of its leaders.
In the county and city council elections last year, Ma's team marched into the metropolitan districts north of Taichung and began a series of campaign drills. Ma's jogging, Chu Li-luan's (朱立倫) cycling, Jason Hu's (胡志強) basketball game and Wang Chien-shien's (王建火宣) welfare activities gave us a taste of a political culture that is representative of American modernity and populism. Soong's island-wide travel and puppet shows, Ma's involvement with the Aborigines and Chu's commercial with a grandmother yearning for the past are other examples that mold the image of "native self."
Going a step further, Ma's city government team has followed and indeed ramped up the mode of operation of Soong's former provincial government. It has shown awareness of the need to build and consolidate the political power of the Taipei City government by following the theory of de-colonization that argues for "mixed identities" in order to promote diversity.
As Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) became the first president to be elected by popular vote in 1996 and the DPP administration of Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) replaced the KMT in 2000, modern Taiwan seemed to have entered a period of post-colonization. Certain social groups gradually became hostile to the new administration. These groups include homosexuals, women, Aborigines, the Hakka community, domestic workers, foreign laborers, teenagers, the poor, sex workers and residents of illegally-constructed buildings. This overturned the traditional, dualistic concepts of native or non-native, colonizer or colonized. Cultural diversity -- and political boundaries -- have expanded to allow for the development of identity politics and the emergence of a pluralistic society.
A culture of mixed identities is the political culture adopted by Ma's municipal team. As far as its power structure is concerned, there are two tiers.
From the bottom up, Ma seeks assimilation and acceptance, or at least to preserve his ambiguity, in the face of mainstream identity politics in the new era. Ma's approach is similar to modern American politics, particularly the liberal wing of the US Republican party and the molding of the "native self," or the "New Taiwanese Path" (新台灣人路線) as endorsed by former president Lee Teng-hui when he endorsed Ma during the last mayoral election. While Lee Teng-hui, Chen and Annie Lee (李安妮) have addressed this issue, Ma has avoided it.
From the top down, Ma's municipal team acknowledges pluralism along cultural and political lines. Social groups are given the opportunity to manage the various branches of Taipei City government: the Bureau of Civil Affairs by homosexuals, the Hakka community and migrants from outside Taipei; the Bureau of Social Affairs by women; the Bureau of Cultural Affairs by the dependents of veteran servicemen and ethnic Chinese; and the Bureau of Labor Affairs by sex workers and foreign laborers. Communities in Wanhua and popular spots for teenagers in Hsimenting have been renovated by the Bureau of Reconstruction.
Frantz Fanon, a French theorist on post-colonialism, addresses two types of nationalism in his article, The Pitfalls of National Consciousness.
One is bourgeois nationalism; the objective of which is to absorb the resources of the colonizers and become integrated into the capitalist economy. The other type targets the common interests of all people by linking the emancipation of the people with the liberation of their social status; radical reform is the objective in nation-building. Taiwan, under the framework of the ROC, still follows the traditional practice of the KMT -- using political and financial resources to attract big business, local party factions and party leaders to consolidate power and comparative advantages. By what right do those who control such a system claim to be "anti-colonialist?"
The party's persistence in viewing the electorate as either pan-blue or pan-green, its frequent misuse of popular campaign strategies and its failure to examine its own policies on cultural and social change all distort and demean the true value of nationalism, which the DPP purports to support. The deliberate creation of splits and acrimony between different groups for the purpose of gaining the support of the middle class as quickly as possible also demeans nationalism.
As the DPP fluctuates between these two courses, has it not abandoned the reform and progress envisioned by the anti-colonialism and democratic movements?
From all perspectives, the DPP should reflect upon the essence of governing for the people. The DPP has been prevented from gaining insight into the political culture behind the success of Soong and Ma. The consequent inability to engage in self-scrutiny and the lack of strength for reform have created a blind spot which explains why the DPP is lagging behind in the mayoral race.
Hsu Wei-tai is the director of the Deng Liberty Foundation.
Translated by Grace Shaw
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not
RSS