Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party, Lai Ching-te of Taiwan, after a Three-Way Referendum in Taipei, Taiwan
While failing to win the presidency, Taiwan’s first-ever competitive third party, the TPP, won eight seats, giving the party leverage over the KMT and DPP parties; they will need to court TPP legislators in order to pass defense policies and pass budgets.
People on the island are also worried about low wages and the growing cost of living. Some believe the DPP hasn’t paid enough attention to the economy over the past eight years of President Tsai’s administration.
Su says the party wants to push Taiwan into the world stage and build a relationship with other countries. She accuses the KMT, in its effort to not provoke China, of limiting Taiwan’s global presence, and aiming to bind itself closer to China.
This year’s election came after a month of intense campaigning by all three parties who each made the case that they would make the island’s economy better and help protect it from China, which wants to control the island.
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.
Su calls out her thanks and occasionally sings in front of a group of people. Her supporters cheer and wave from the street corners and doorways.
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.
Volunteers in bright green vests handing out campaign souvenirs at a reelected lawmaker’s rally. Other candidates take pictures with their supporters, while the current president makes an appearance to support them.
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Lai Ching-te of Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is Taiwan’s new president-elect, after a three-way election that will determine the self-ruled island’s future stance towards China.
She toldNPR in mandarin that she goes to every KMT rally. I want the KMT to do their best for peace. I don’t want independence for Taiwan. I hope relations with the U.S. and China are good. We’re all one family.”
One woman, who refers to herself as Ji Dong Jie, is a fixture on the rally circuit. She is in a red pantssuit with a Mylar boa and heels. Her hat is covered with two Taiwanese flags that wave in the air as she leads the crowd in an impromptu dance.
What Hsu’s Proposed to Taiwan (Kuomintang) During the Campaign for Chinese Independence (1989-2019)
Campaign rallies are almost theatrical. The music swells as it gets emotional for the candidate, so they often hire musicians to score their speeches.
China has given no indication of budging on its position that Taiwan is Chinese territory. To better relations, it’s necessary to buy time, which is what Hsu admits he doesn’t know.
My home, 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. It has been thirty years of hard work, smart policies and entrepreneurial mindsets that has led to 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.
Among the party priorities Hsu outlined, he also offers another, more symbolic proposal. The party’s official name was “China Kuomintang.” It’s strange to him that in this day and age, it’s not called the Taiwan Kuomintang.
China is not like the KMT dealt with in the last 30 years. We should be cautious of it and recognize its ambitions.
Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party looms large, two opposing visions face off in the election: A conversation with Su Tseng-chang
Su is wearing a pink vest, headset microphone, and stands aside a city councilor on the third truck. She sings and exhorts the crowd to vote.
Su’s father Su Tseng-chang recently stepped down as Taiwan’s premier (the head of the executive cabinet); before that, he was chair of the DPP; and long before that, he helped to establish the DPP at the tail end of martial law in the 1980s, when Taiwanese democracy was only an aspiration.
Su is from a party that is in the shadow of a one-party state. We wanted more freedom and democracy. We’ve always pursued that.
Lai has vowed to continue President Tsai’s agenda on international relations. Su, the daughter of a party elder, is running for her third term in office.
China remains unconvinced. There’s every indication that cross-strait diplomatic relations would remain frozen under a Lai administration, because it has refused to meet with the President and called Vice President a “separatist”.
“It’s not us – it’s China that has rejected 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. “It’s almost as if they’re saying, Taiwan shouldn’t try to make any friends on the global stage because it could lead to war with China – a narrative that if you vote for the DPP, 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.
Su ran for and won her first term as a lawmaker, while the other one, Hsu, was a fellow lawmaker. We met in front of Taiwan’s congressional building.
Sunflower Movement: From student activism to Taiwan’s president’s election to the next-generation Taiwan government’s same-sex marriage law
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 came to be known as the Sunflower Movement, and it was led by students.
During the time when protesters were in power, Hsu donated server space to his company. And the Sunflower Movement inspired him to get into politics, first as a government advisor on youth policy and entrepreneurship. He was recruited by the party that the students were protesting.
“I realized you need to be in the government to change the system,” Hsu said. “And you have to be willing to be on both sides and to build that bridge.”
The KMT didn’t want someone with political baggage or 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. He is a fellow at the school of public policy and government at Harvard University.
Protesters made their way to the Legislative Yuan. He says some people whipped life-size dolls of him as if they were an effigy.
Source: As China looms large, two opposing visions face off in Taiwan’s election
What Does It Take to Tangle? A Key Discussion on the China-China Tension and Implications for the Economy and Future of the Election
“It takes two to tango,” Hsu said. “I think there needs to be a common understanding of what the red line is to 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 the best way to handle the situation is to let it unfold over the course of time.”
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. There are at least two legislative races.
Younger voters were mostly concerned with their economic futures, despite the stirring speeches by candidates who ended their campaigns Friday night.
First Results of the Taiwan Democratic Party’s Third Presidential Election — Addressing the First Day of Elections: President Hou Yu-ih
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 and he took leave to run for president. “What we need during the election campaign process is chaos,” Hou told reporters after casting his vote. “But after the vote, we must be united and face the future of Taiwan together.”
At stake is the peace and stability of the island 160 kilometers (100 miles) off the coast of China that Beijing claims as its own, to be retaken by force if necessary. Domestic issues such as the sluggish economy and expensive housing also featured prominently in the campaign.
Since its founding in the 1980s as an alliance of underground dissident groups, the DPP has now secured a third term in the presidential office, a first in Taiwan’s short democratic history.
In his speech, he admitted that he didn’t have a majority in parliament. “The elections have told us that people expect an effective government as well as strong checks and balances,” Lai said, adding that he will cooperate with opposition parties to resolve the problems Taiwan faces.
According to a political science lecturer at a school in Taiwan, Beijing will use more economicism, diplomatic diplomacy, and informational warfare in order to get more trade. We still need to get ready.
The voting closed at 4 pm on Saturday, and the KCM party conceded the election before 8 pm.
Hou apologized to his supporters and said he was sorry. Ko conceded defeat of the Taiwan People’s Party.
About 40% of the popular vote went to the presidential election, in which Lai 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. The physical ballots are then counted by hand at every polling station, a process that is completely open to the public.
The electorate of Taiwan is divided over the issue of identity and between China and Taiwan’s president-elect, who will take office late May.
Does Taiwan Really Get Better? Comment on Kevin Ko, a Project Manager at a Taiwanese Technology Company, explaining the results of the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Younger voters have turned to the Trans-Pacific Partnership because it promised to address rising home prices and spend more on healthcare and rent subsidies.
Kevin Ko, a project manager at a technology company in Taiwan said that the economy is going down and that the price of housing is crazy. We’ve voted a lot in elections, but is Taiwan really getting better?