During his 1960 presidential campaign, former US president John F. Kennedy once said: "I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."
In the same vein, numerous Taiwanese believe that the DPP standard bearer Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) is the only person standing between Beijing and Taiwan.
Duplicating the KMT legislative victory in the presidential contest would remove all obstacles for the KMT to bring Taiwan into Beijing's orbit. From Beijing's perspective, the KMT's full control of Taiwan would translate into the elimination of any excuse the KMT has for not complying with Beijing's wishes, given its pact with the Chinese Communist Party.
Stealth unification would be plausible given KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) "neither domestic nor international" but open-border policy to China and his intention to integrate Taiwan's economy with China's as a foot in the door for his and his party's ultimate goal of unifying Taiwan with China.
That would be the case if Beijing is patient.
If it's not, a Beijing-instigated implementation of a KMT version of the "Anti-Secession" Law could destabilize Taiwan for years to come.
This coming election's implication on Taiwan has undoubtedly multiplied on account of the legislative poll's dramatic outcome. People could be choosing between constantly resisting the coercion of Beijing and irreversibly succumbing to it.
The impact on Taiwan's future sovereignty of the two partys' platforms deserves a thorough public airing. Imperative then is a Hsieh-Ma debate on the specific topic of sovereignty.
In the absence of a complete trust and understanding of Ma and the KMT's designs for Taiwan's future, the public might opt for the safe harbor of checks and balances and, as a result, Ma wouldn't get the collective nod.
Ma's loss would, in addition to slowing the momentum of Taiwan's moth-to-fire tilt toward China, provide a reality check to the KMT's party-state fantasy and give KMT legislators pause enough that undemocratic bills like the "money-pit" and the Anti-Secession Law wouldn't see the light of day.
Should voters, seeking balance after drubbing the DPP, swing to the other extreme of the pendulum and decidedly reject Ma with a huge margin, a transformation of the KMT might even follow.
Stunned by the steep reversal of fortune and desperate to exit permanent opposition status, the KMT might decide to shed all election "baggage" and drop its prefix of "Chinese" to become the Taiwanese Nationalist Party for a complete "localization" make-over.
What could materialize is a political landscape with two major Taiwanese parties operating under an equitable political environment free of party assets disparity and systematic one-sided advantage while both vying for the coveted opportunity to serve Taiwan in lieu of foreign interests.
This in turn would ensure national unity as well as the nation's long-term stability, a development that should restore Taiwan's faith in democracy.
The March poll could evolve into an unprecedented opportunity for Taiwanese to right the ship they call home.
Huang Jei-hsuan
California
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