In the aftermath of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) rout in the recent nine-in-one elections, a report on the defeat has identified some of the reasons for the outcome.
New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) — who many in the party see as needing to as shoulder the burden of party reform — in a Facebook post concerning the party’s future completely failed to mention the public’s dissatisfaction with the erosion of Taiwan’s sovereignty under the government of the KMT’s former chairman, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), nor did he speak of the difficulty Taiwan is having in becoming a normalized country.
With the so-called “1992 consensus” of “one China, with each side having its own interpretation of what that means” that the Ma administration has followed, Taiwan has belittled itself in its dealings with China — “cross-strait relations” — and the office of president has come to represent a mere regional head. The diplomatic truce between Taipei and Beijing has cost Taiwan the international status and respect it is due.
The KMT needs to start over. It should ditch the “one China” principle and “one China, with each side having its own interpretation of what that means,” and reinvent itself as a new KMT, with Taiwan at the center, as its starting point.
Previous opinion polls tell us that the majority of Taiwanese identify themselves predominantly as Taiwanese — as opposed to Chinese — and until the KMT drops the “Chinese” from its title, how can it win even the most basic trust of the populace? The question is, what plans does a KMT with the word “Chinese” in its title have for Taiwan? Is it looking for eventual unification with China? Will it accept Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula? Or will it continue to suffocate Taiwan within the “one China” framework and consign Taiwan to forever roam the margins of the international community?
The KMT is fully aware of how sensitive that initial word in the full title of the party is, and that is why they prefer to avoid using it in many fora, and refer to themselves using the abbreviated version of that name. Whenever there is an election, they are careful to shout slogans using the word Taiwan. Most party members, with the exception of those in the older generation, were born and raised in Taiwan, or have settled down and made a life for themselves here, and Taiwan has always done well by them. Why not leave the old KMT to people like former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) or former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村)?
It would not be too painful for the KMT to change its name. The communist parties in countries within the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe changed their names after the collapse of communism to accept their new realities, and some of them have even done well at the ballot box and gone on to govern.
Why would the younger generation, who identify themselves with Taiwan and are passionate about their country and who advocate placing Taiwan first, want to join a political party that places China at its heart and “Chinese” in its title?
The KMT will only win Taiwanese hearts if it transforms itself into a party that lives and breathes Taiwan. A new, reinvented KMT will only dispel the doubts of the Taiwanese if it normalizes relations with Beijing. Given sufficient time, the younger generation in China will also come to see relations between China and Taiwan in a more natural conventional way, and the way unscrupulous Taiwanese businesspeople and their compradors view the KMT is evolving. If the KMT wants to reinvent itself, it needs to start by changing its name.
Chen Wen-hsien is a professor at National Chengchi University’s Graduate Institute of History.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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