The candidates are welcome to a Taiwanese election
Taiwan’s First Vice President: Why the democratization of Taiwan has not been so successful in the past eight years,” says Su Chiao–hui
Many younger voters feel dissatisfied with the two major political parties and are voting for a third-party candidate in this year’s elections.
People on the island are also worried about low wages and the growing cost of living. Over the past eight years of the president’s administration, some believe the DPP hasn’t paid enough attention to the economy.
The current KMT, that came to power in 1949 when China and Taiwan fought a war, has historically been associated with unification because it was part of a military regime that fled from a civil war in China.
The celebratory nature of campaigning in Taiwan does not mean that people do not take the election seriously. The issue of China is one of the main topics of the election.
Posters of presidential candidates and their running mates can be seen everywhere in Taipei – indeed, throughout the island – on billboards, street lamps and the sides of buildings.
Su says she’s wearing a bright pink vest (her campaign color) because she looks good in it and it flatters her skin, even when she isn’t wearing any makeup.
Over loudspeakers, Su calls out her thanks to people who voted for her, and occasionally bursts into song. Her supporters wave flags from street corners and doorways, giving her two thumbs up.
As part of their campaigns, legislative and presidential candidates often ride in caravans through their districts, standing on open truck beds to wave to their constituents for hours at a time.
The volunteers wearing bright green vests hand out fresh baoand campaign souvenirs at the one reelection rally for the legislator named Su Chiao-hui. Other candidates take pictures with their supporters, and current president Tsai Ing-wen shows her support.
Meanwhile, campaign events hosted by the rival Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are generally quieter, but no less festive. The current DPP Vice President, Lai Ching-te (also known as William Lai) is running to be the island’s new president and is favored to win.
She told NPR that she goes to every KMT rally and it is all done on her own. “I want the KMT to work for peace. I don’t want independence for Taiwan. I want relations with the U.S. to be good, and I want relations with China to be good. We are all one family.
One woman, who calls herself Ji Dong Jie, is a regular on the rally circuit. She is wearing a bright red pantsuit, Mylar boas and heels. Her huge fluffy pink hat is adorned with two Taiwanese flags that wave in the air as she leads the crowd in an impromptu dance.
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The rallies are pretty theatrical. As the music swells to intensify the audience reactions, musicians are often hired to score candidate’s stump speeches.
China is 81 miles away from Taiwan at the closest point and it is an existential threat to us. China and Taiwan have been politically separated since the Chinese Civil War ended with a Communist victory in 1949 that sent the Kuomintang (K.M.T.) government, which once ruled all of China, fleeing to Taiwan. Like millions of Taiwanese, I grew up under the threat of a Chinese military invasion. We practiced seeking shelter under our desks in case of an attack when we were in school. Beijing has been steered away from trying to win Taiwanese hearts and minds towards economic threats as China’s military power has grown.
Taiwan is a shining example of freedom, democracy and inclusivity. We have one of the world’s most open societies, the highest percentage of female legislators in Asia and a government minister who is transgender. Decades of hard work, smart policies and entrepreneurial mind-sets have led to enviably high standards of living and made us the global heart of the semiconductor industry.
Su thanked her father and his generation for leaving a better Taiwan, where people can live and speak freely. She said it’s now her responsibility to preserve that freedom and leave Taiwan in an even better place for her children, and for future generations to come.
If the DPP’s Lai wins the presidential election, Hsu says his party is due for an ideological soul-searching on this issue. It’s clear to him that too many believe the KMT to be too pro-China. He thinks it’s time to listen to the younger generations in the party.
“We are dealing with a China very different from [what the] KMT dealt with in the last 30 years,” Hsu said. We need to be cautious of its ambition.
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The lead vehicle is full of partisans standing on the truck bed. One man riffs constantly into a loudspeaker, announcing to the people of the 5th District of New Taipei City that their elected legislator Su Chiao-hui is here.
Su’s father was the leader of Taiwan’s executive cabinet, and he was also chair of the DemocraticProgressive Party, which was established at the tail end of martial law.
Su said that they are a party founded under the shadow of a one-party state. We didn’t want more democracy and freedom. We’ve never stopped pursuing that.
Lai has vowed to continue President Tsai’s agenda on international relations. The daughter of a leader is running for a third term in office.
China isn’t convinced. Its government has refused to meet with President Tsai, and has called Vice President Lai a “separatist,” giving every indication that cross-strait diplomatic relations would remain frozen under a Lai administration.
“China has refused to hold talks with the DPP,” Su said. “Actually, the DPP would be very happy to engage in reciprocal talks with China.”
Su said that the opposition kept bringing up the example of Ukraine and Russia claiming that they instigated the war with Russia by trying to join NATO. It’s almost as if they say if you vote for Taiwan, you’re voting for a war with China, so you shouldn’t attempt to make friends on the global stage.
There is a tendency to point out that the KMT’s vision of Taiwan is not acceptable to China, as Hou Yu-ih has pointed out.
The same year that Su ran for and won her first term, Hsu was elected as a lawmaker. We met Hsu outside Taiwan’s congressional building, the Legislative Yuan.
Source: As China looms large, two opposing visions face off in Taiwan’s election
The Sunflower Movement and Taiwan’s Prime Minister: A Tale of Two Opposing Visions Face Off in 2020’s Election (As China looms Large, opposing visions face off in the dpp-can
The trade agreement with China that led to the protesters occupying the building in 2014 is said to have touched off the incident. It came to be known as the Sunflower Movement, and it was led by students.
Hsu supported the protesters by donating server space, through his company at the time. And the Sunflower Movement inspired him to get into politics, first as a government advisor on youth policy and entrepreneurship. But he was later recruited by the very party that the students were protesting — the KMT.
“I realized you need to be in government to change the system,” he said. You have to be willing to be on both sides to build that bridge.
“[The KMT] wanted someone with fresh thinking, no political baggage, not a second generation of politician … I was hesitant because that doesn’t really fit my ideology, but I thought it could be used to create chemistry within the old party.
Following his 2019 vote to legalize same-sex marriage (which passed and was made into law), the KMT did not see fit to nominate Hsu as a legislator for the 2020 election. Currently, he’s a fellow at Harvard University’s school of public policy and government, focused on semiconductors and geopolitics.
At the time, anti-gay protesters also made their way down to the Legislative Yuan. He says a lot of them made life-size dolls of him and whipped them into an effigy.
Source: As China looms large, two opposing visions face off in Taiwan’s election
‘It takes two to tango,’ Hsu reportedly told the Beijing Minn-Than-Mills Telescope
“It takes two to tango,” Hsu said. I think there needs to be a way to understand the red line for both sides. I think the KMT has historically been able to thread that line pretty well and also create an ambiguity on both sides to allow room for survival and resistance on both sides.”
“There isn’t a satisfying answer to both sides, meaning Taiwan and China at the moment,” Hsu said. “We believe that the best way to deal with the situation is to kick the can down the road.”
