How fascinating it is to see the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), long sniped at over its supposed Hoklo chauvinism, teaming up with a principal Hakka powerbroker to craft an outlandish election result that will serve both interests: a Hakka member of the DPP in the county commissioner's seat in Miaoli.
Miaoli County, a Hakka stronghold, has long been a DPP graveyard. Even in last year's presidential election, which saw the DPP vote jump by a remarkable 12.5 percent, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) only managed to secure 39.25 percent of the total vote. In the legislature, the DPP has had to settle for one out of four representatives at best. And the county government has been dominated for eight years by independent County Commissioner Fu Hsueh-peng (傅學鵬), who achieved consecutive election wins in 1997 and 2001 with more than 50 percent of the vote.
After a period of grim electoral fortunes, taking Miaoli County would be a big boost to the party's morale and the presidential ambitions of DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (
But while Miaoli County offers enticing prospects for the DPP, Nantou County presents a bleaker assessment of the party's ability to capitalize on its strengths at the very moments it must do so.
Former DPP legislator and caucus whip Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) is the party's candidate for the Nantou poll. Although only 45, he has a lot of experience in campaigning and party strategy. He is also ambitious.
But unlike the most powerful figures in the DPP, Tsai does not have the prize that would catapult him to the next level of power within the party: experience in regional governance. Hence his need to return to his troubled home county for a crack at the commissioner's post.
The problem is that doing this interferes with the career plans of DPP Nantou County Commissioner Lin Tsung-nan (
By flying in the face of party rules, Lin joins an insalubrious list of former DPP champions and media darlings whose ambitions could never be restrained within the confines of party discipline.
Thus the pragmatism and shifting loyalties that may reward the DPP in Miaoli could also cost it dearly in Nantou. The party may prey on disaffected opponents to cut into KMT territory, but until it is able to inculcate principles other than self-aggrandizement in its own representatives and nourish a greater sense of loyalty to the party and the nation, then it will continue to short-change its members and struggle for credibility among undecided voters -- who now determine all of the critical election results in this country.
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A Chinese diplomat’s violent threat against Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi following her remarks on defending Taiwan marks a dangerous escalation in East Asian tensions, revealing Beijing’s growing intolerance for dissent and the fragility of regional diplomacy. Chinese Consul General in Osaka Xue Jian (薛劍) on Saturday posted a chilling message on X: “the dirty neck that sticks itself in must be cut off,” in reference to Takaichi’s remark to Japanese lawmakers that an attack on Taiwan could threaten Japan’s survival. The post, which was later deleted, was not an isolated outburst. Xue has also amplified other incendiary messages, including one suggesting
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