Taiwan politics has an eternal question about China, according to the candidate Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People’s Party (DPP)
Alternative candidate Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People’s Party, who has shown popularity among young voters seeking an alternative to the two major parties, voted in Taipei. Ko was asked how he felt and he replied, “I aim to try my best each day and plan for the next stage when we get there.” Voting began at 8 a.m. and was to end eight hours later.
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.
Taiwan politics has an eternal question about China. The candidate for the Democratic Progressives of Taiwan says a declaration of formal independence from China would cross a diplomatic red line.
The celebratory nature of campaigning in Taiwan does not mean that people on the island aren’t taking the election seriously. As every election approaches, the issue of China takes center stage.
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.
A girl in a car: from Su Chiao-hui to Tsai Ing-wen, and vice presidential candidate Ji Dong Jie
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.
Some supporters are excited. Two groups set off firecrackers for good luck. Others on the street wave politely, or seem not to acknowledge the presence of four large vehicles adorned with photos of Su’s face, having seen it for months leading up to Saturday’s presidential and legislative elections in Taiwan.
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 one reelection rally for a DPP legislator named Su Chiao-hui, volunteers dress in bright green vests and hand out steaming, fresh baoand campaign souvenirs. Other candidates take photos with supporters, and current president Tsai Ing-wen even makes an appearance to show her support.
Meanwhile, campaign events hosted by the rival Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are generally quieter, but no less festive. The Vice President of the DPP is running to become the island’s new president and is favored to win.
“It’s all DIY,” she tells NPR in Mandarin, adding that she goes to every KMT rally. I would like the KMT to work for peace. I have no desire for independence for Taiwan. I want relations with the U.S. to be good, and I want relations with China to be good. We’re all one family.”
A woman who calls herself Ji Dong Jie, means excited sister in mandarin, is 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 adorned with two Taiwanese flags that wave in the air as she leads the crowd in an impromptu dance.
Taiwan Kuomintang: Why the KMT has come a long way from China to our hearts and minds and why we should care about it
The campaign rallies are entertaining. Musicians are usually hired to score candidates’ speeches so they can reach particularly emotional moments and heighten the audience reaction.
On one side there is China, just 81 miles away from Taiwan at the closest point, and an existential threat to us. The Chinese Civil War ended in 1949 and Taiwan’s government was subsequently ousted by the Communists in favor of a more secular government in China. I was raised under threat of a Chinese military invasion. When I was a kid, we practiced looking under our desks for shelter in case of an attack. Beijing has been steered from trying to win Taiwanese hearts and minds toward economic threats due to China’s increasing military power.
Taiwan is a shining example of freedom, democracy and inclusivity. One of the most open societies in the world has the highest proportion of female legislators in Asia and a government minister who is a member of the same sex. 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.
Among the party priorities Hsu outlined, he also offers another, more symbolic proposal. The official name of his party is the “China Kuomintang.” It’s strange to him that in this day and age, it’s not called the Taiwan Kuomintang.
“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 the ambition and also recognize it.”
Two opposing visions confront off in Taiwan’s election: The case of President Tsai Ing-wen and Vice President Lai Ching-te
Su stands aside a city councilor on the third truck, wearing a pink vest – her campaign’s color – and a headset microphone. She exhorts the crowd and occasionally sings.
“Drop by drop,” election by election, Su says, now 47 years old, that Taiwan has peacefully democratized. This is the way the DPP has become an establishment political force. President Tsai Ing-wen has been in power for eight years; her Vice President Lai Ching-te is favored to win Saturday’s election in a close contest.
Su is the founder of a party founded under the shadow of a one-party state. “But we wanted more democracy and freedom. And we’ve never stopped pursuing that.”
Lai has vowed to continue President Tsai’s agenda on international relations. Su, daughter of the elder of the party, is seeking a third term in office.
China is unconvinced. The government has refused to talk to the President and has branded the Vice President a “separatist,” giving an indication that relations between the two countries would remain frozen.
“It’s not us – it’s China that has rejected talks with the DPP,” Su said. “The party would be happy to engage in talks with the other country.”
“[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.”
“It doesn’t matter which political party is in power in Taiwan,” Su said. “As long as that party is Taiwan and they’re running it as a sovereign state, Beijing will always be unsatisfied.”
Su ran for reelection in the same year that Hsu was elected as a lawmaker and won her first term. We met outside of Taiwan’s congressional building.
Source: As China looms large, two opposing visions face off in Taiwan’s election
Sunflower Movement: From student to political activism in Taiwan’s ruling class – Hsu’s case for same-sex marriage and homosexuality
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.
Hsu supported the protesters by donating server space, through his company at the time. He got into politics after working 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.
He said that he realized that you needed to be in the government to change the system. “And you have to be willing to be on both sides and to build that bridge.”
“[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.”
He describes himself as a progressive in his party. His support for same-sex marriage resulted in a rift between him and more conservative KMT elders.
Protesters against homosexuality also made their way to the Legislative Yuan. He says some made life-size dolls of him and whipped them in the likeness of an effigy.
Source: As China looms large, two opposing visions face off in Taiwan’s election
Two to Tangle: An Analysis of the LEP-LAC Electoral Campaign on Friday, Nov. 2 (SUPERTOWN)
Hsu said it takes two to tango. There is a need for both sides of the red line to be aware of it. I think that the Ktm has historically been able to thread that line well, creating an ambiguity on both sides to give room for 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.”
Domestic issues dominated the campaign, particularly an economy which was estimated to have grown by 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. Affordability and wage stagnation were the main voters’ concerns. The candidate with the most votes wins, with no runoff. There are at-large seats in the legislature.
Candidates concluded their campaigns Friday night with stirring speeches, but younger voters were mostly focused on their economic futures in a challenging environment.
The Future of Taiwan and the Challenge of the Electoral Election Campaign: A Brief Report on the 2010 Voting Campaign of Hou Yu-ih
Hou Yu-ih, the candidate of the Nationalist Party, was in New Taipei City to vote. Hou is the mayor of New Taipei, a position from which he took leave to run for president. “What we need during the election campaign process is chaos,” Hou told reporters after casting his vote. We must face the future of Taiwan together after the vote.
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.