Taiwan is weighing the threat from China against island’s stability in a poll
Taiwanese Vice-President Lai Ching-te and the Prospects for a Third Term in the Democratic Progressive Party
Vice President Lai Ching-te, representing the governing Democratic Progressive Party, known as the DPP, seeks to succeed outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen and give the independence-leaning party an unprecedented third term. Lai cast his vote in his hometown of Tainan. He remarked on the sunny weather, suggesting it’s a good time for Taiwanese people to go out and vote. “I encourage everyone around the country to vote with enthusiasm and show the vitality of Taiwan’s democracy,” he said.
People are worried about the rising cost of living and low wages on the island. Some believe the DPP hasn’t paid enough attention to the economy over the past eight years of President Tsai’s administration.
One of the two major and opposing entities that have dominated the island’s politics for decades is the Democratic Progressive Party, which Su is a member of. The Taiwan People’s Party is not expected to finish in the top two in voting, but it is on the ballot.
The win of the presidential candidate of the Democratic Progressive Party portends confrontations with China, who has vowed to control Taiwan one day and has not ruled out a military invasion. Beijing has repeatedly accused Lai – also known as William Lai – of being a “separatist” and last April, Beijing sanctioned his vice presidential running mate, Bi-khim Hsiao.
There are billboards, street lamps, and the sides of buildings in Taipei with posters of presidential candidates and their running mates.
Su, the excited sister of a KMT candidate, or “Ji Dong Jie” at a reelection rally
Su wears a bright pink vest that flatters her skin because she looks good in it and she’s a candidate.
Some excited supporters chant back. Two groups set off fireworks for good luck. Some people on the street wave politely or seem not to take notice of the presence of four large vehicles with photos of Su in front of them.
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.
At a reelection rally for a t-shirt wearer, volunteers are dressed in bright green vests and handing out campaign souvenirs. The president of Taiwan makes an appearance to show her support, as other candidates take photos with supporters.
Taiwan’s new president-elect is a member of the Democratic Progressives Party (DPP), a party that favors friendlier relations with China.
She told NPR in Mandarin that she went to every KMT rally. “I want the KMT to work for peace. I don’t want Taiwan to be independent. I want relations with the U.S. to be good, and I want relations with China to be good. We’re all part of a single family.
One woman, who calls herself Ji Dong Jie — or “excited sister” in Mandarin — is clearly a fixture on the rally circuit. She is dressed in a bright red pantsuit, sparkly Mylar boas and rhinestone-studded heels. Her huge fluffy pink hat is covered in Taiwanese flags that wave in the air as she leads the crowd in an impromptu dance.
The musician is the most important person at a rally because they give the emotion.
Taiwan’s Unified View of Democracy, Democracy and Integrity: Why the KMT should not be too pro-China, but rather to be cautious about it
China has given no indication of budging on its position that Taiwan is Chinese territory. It’s important to buy time, and Hsu admits that he doesn’t know if it’s the end or the beginning of better relations.
My home, Taiwan, is a shining example of freedom, democracy and inclusivity. One of the hallmarks of our society is that it is one of the most open in the world with the highest percentage of female legislators in Asia. In the years since, hard work, smart policies and entrepreneurial mind-set have resulted in high standards of living that have 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.
The party is due for a deep ideological soul-searching on this issue if the party’s candidate wins the presidential election. It’s clear to him that too many believe the KMT to be too pro-China. He thinks it should listen to the voices of younger generations in the party.
In the 30 years before that, the KMT dealt with China in a different way. “We should recognize its ambition and be cautious of it.”
Taiwan has been free of oppression for eight years, a voice whispering from the shadow of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
The lead vehicle is full of partisans standing on the truck bed. A man announcing with a loudspeaker to the people of the 5th District of New Taipei City that their legislator is here.
“Drop by drop,” Su says, that Taiwan has been free of oppression. The DPP has become an establishment political force. For eight years, the president has been in power and her vice president is the favorite in Saturday’s election.
“We are a party founded under the shadow of a one-party state,” Su said in an interview with NPR. We wanted more freedom and democracy. And we’ve never stopped pursuing that.”
President Tsai’s agenda on international relations is going to continue with the support of the man, said the man. Su, the daughter of a DPP party elder, is herself now running for her third term in office.
China remains unconvinced. 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.
“It’s China that has turned down talks with the DPP,” Su said. “Actually, the DPP would be very happy to engage in reciprocal talks with China.”
“[The opposition] keeps bringing up the example of Ukraine and Russia, claiming that Ukraine instigated the war with Russia by trying to join NATO,” Su said. Taiwan shouldn’t attempt to make friends on the global stage as it could lead to war with China, as the narrative was, if you vote for the Democrats, you’re voting for war.
Where KMT presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih has cast this election as a choice between war with China (the DPP route) and peace (a vote for him), Su hastens to point out that neither party’s vision for Taiwan is ultimately acceptable to China.
Hsu was an at-large legislator. In Taiwan, citizens vote for both their district’s representative and for a political party; a number of legislative seats are reserved for that at-large vote, and allotted to parties in proportion to their share of the vote. Parties can distribute those seats to their would-be legislators as they see fit.
The Sunflower Movement in Taiwan: The 2014-2020 Democrat-Electorate Correspondence with Taiwan’s Prime Minister Chong Wei Hsu
It was here, in 2014, that protesters occupied the building for about a month – touched off by the then-KMT government’s trade agreement with China. It was led by students, and it became known as the Sunflower movement.
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. The students were protesting and he was later recruited by the KMT.
“I realized you need to be in the government to change the system,” Hsu said. You need to be willing to build a bridge on both sides.
“[The KMT] wanted someone with fresh thinking, no political baggage, not a second generation of politician … I hesitated because that doesn’t really fit 100% well with my ideology, but I felt, you know, maybe being inside, I can create some chemistry change within this 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 some even made life-size dolls of him and whipped the dolls as they would an effigy.
Source: As China looms large, two opposing visions face off in Taiwan’s election
The Chinese-American Tensions in December’s General Reliability Term (Peripheral Voting at the KMT)
It takes two people to tango. I think that there needs to be a common understanding of what the red line is. I believe the KMT can thread that line and create an ambiguous line for both sides to allow room for resistance on both sides.
“There isn’t a satisfying answer to both sides, meaning Taiwan and China at the moment,” Hsu said. The best way to respond to the situation is to kick the can down the road.
Besides the China tensions, domestic issues dominated the campaign, particularly an economy that was estimated to have grown just 1.4% last year. That partly reflects inevitable cycles in demand for computer chips and other exports from the high-tech, heavily trade-dependent manufacturing base, and a slowing of the Chinese economy. But longer-term challenges such as unaffordable housing and wage stagnation topped voters’ concerns. The candidate with the most votes wins, with no runoff. The legislative races are for districts and at-large seats.
The speeches of the candidates Friday night weren’t the most inspiring, but the younger voters focused on their future in a challenging environment.
Taiwan’s first third term in the presidential election: The case of the Kuomintang party, a democratic leader in the island of Taipei
Hou Yu-ih, the candidate of Beijing-favored Kuomintang, also known as the Nationalist Party, cast his ballot in New Taipei City, a municipality bordering the capital, Taipei. Hou is the mayor of New Taipei, a position from which he took leave to run for president. Hou told reporters after he cast his vote that the process of campaigning was chaotic. After the vote, we need to face Taiwan together.
peace and stability on the island is at stake, to the extent that Beijing claims to be its own and can take back if it so chooses. The slow economy and expensive housing were issues featured in the campaign.
In Taiwan, the third term in the presidential office for the DPP is a first, as the party has been part of underground dissident groups since it was founded in the 1980s.
According to the speech he gave after winning the election, Taiwan is willing to talk to China on the basis of dignity and parity but it is also determined to safeguard Taiwan from threats from China.
“[Beijing] will use more economic coercion, diplomatic coercion, more informational warfare, and maybe more on the trade instead of using the military approach,” said Fang-yu Chen, a political science at Soochow University in Taipei. “But that being said, we still have to get ready.”
Saturday’s voting closed at 4 p.m. on Saturday, with the Kuomintang (KMT) party conceding the presidential race before 8 p.m. About 75 percent of the island’s eligible voters cast ballots.
“I’m sorry I disappointed my supporters, and I would like to apologize,” KMT’s Hou told the media. The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lost.
Roughly 40% of the popular vote went to Lai, who won more than 5 million votes. It fell short of the more than 8 million votes his predecessor won during the island’s last elections in 2020.
For security reasons, Taiwan does not allow absentee voting, mandating that all voters cast their ballots in-person, on paper only. Every polling station has a process for counting the physical ballots that is completely open to the public.
Lai, who will be sworn in as Taiwan’s new president in late May, faces gridlock among political rivals and an electorate divided over issues of identity and relations with China.
Kevin Ko: “Were the prices of housing and healthcare expensive in Taiwan really going down”: A senior technology analyst at a tech company
Younger voters are most likely to vote for theTPP which pledges greater spending on healthcare and rent subsidies, and addresses rising home prices.
Kevin Ko, a project manager at a technology company in Taiwan, said that the price of housing was crazy and the economy was going down. “Our generation of 25-30 year old, the younger generation, we have been [voting] in elections a lot, but is Taiwan really getting better?”
