When Cti TV News hosted the televised Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chair election debate on Sept. 21, former KMT legislator and host Alex Tsai (蔡正元) pressed candidates on the issue of Taiwan-China relations. Tsai’s line of questioning ended with Legislator and candidate Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) throwing out the statement: “I am Taiwanese, I am Chinese, and my China is the Republic of China [ROC].”
Apparently making a stab at reconciling a deep-seated cultural-historical contradiction, the reality of Lo’s political context meant that he instead appeared trapped within the outdated framework of equating the ROC with China. Such ideas are, ultimately, entirely divorced from the mainstream self-conception of modern Taiwanese.
Commentary from Yeh Yao-yuan (葉耀元), professor and chair of the International Studies Department at the University of St Thomas in Houston, Texas, hit the nail on the head. He described the candidates’ rhetoric, with Lo on Chinese identity, Chang Ya-chung (張亞中) on unification and Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) on the legality of the Constitution, as being stuck in the previous century.
Most people already identify as Taiwanese and have drawn a clear boundary with China. However, the KMT continues with its self-deluding rhetoric to insist on preserving its own conceptualization — or imagination — of China. As a result, it finds itself struggling to capture the public imagination and walking an increasingly lonely path.
It is ironic that the KMT has held up the fairness, justice and openness of its chair elections as an example of internal party democracy, all the while falling back on an attachment to and identification with China in its core discussions. These elections are not just a six-way race, but are a window into exactly how far removed the KMT has become from Taiwanese society.
While mainstream public opinion in Taiwan is concerned with security, the economy and the nation’s international standing, the KMT continues to hold China as both its point of origin and point of return. This is a blunder, a mislocation of priorities at the root of its waning public support.
It is not the KMT’s dedication to reform that has come through in these debates, but rather its inability to free itself from the shackles of history. Continuing to cling to the “China dream” would mean not only falling short of the public’s expectations, but also facing increasing political marginalization.
Elliot Yao is a reviewer.
Translated by Gilda Knox Streader
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