When the dust settled after Saturday’s elections, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) emerged as the winner in Taipei City, Sinbei City and Greater Taichung, while the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) came out on top in Greater Kaohsiung and Greater Tainan. Although, at first glance it appears that very little changed, a closer look reveals that while the KMT may not have lost face, it did lose the real battle by garnering fewer votes than the DPP.
These elections attracted a lot of attention in part because they were widely considered to be a prelude to the 2012 presidential election. Had the KMT lost even one of the three areas it now holds, party morale would have dropped while the DPP’s morale would have soared.
Both parties and maybe even China saw the elections as a litmus test on the popularity of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) cross-strait policies.
If that is true, then the status quo is hardly a positive verdict. Crucially, the DPP’s share of the overall vote increased to 49.87 percent while the KMT’s fell to 44.54 percent. If Saturday’s election had been for the president, Ma would have been kicked out of office because half of all Taiwanese voters are apparently disappointed with his performance. That is the main lesson to take away from Saturday’s elections.
In addition, the DPP enjoyed landslide victories in Greater Kaohsiung and Greater Tainan, while only losing Greater Taichung by 32,000 votes — clear evidence that the KMT’s power is waning. If the unfortunate shooting of Sean Lien (連勝文) on Friday night had not prompted more KMT supporters to head to the polling booths, pushing voter turnout from about 65 percent in previous elections to 71 percent this time, the KMT would probably have received even fewer votes and maybe even lost one of its cities.
Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) was the runaway pre-election favorite for Greater Taichung, but in the end he only just squeaked past DPP candidate, Su Chia-chyuan (蘇嘉全). In the 2008 presidential election, Ma carried Taichung by about 300,000 votes, of which only 30,000 remain.
In Sinbei City, Eric Chu (朱立倫) defeated DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) by about 110,000 votes although Ma carried Taipei County by 490,000 votes in 2008. These massive changes imply that Ma could face an uphill battle in the 2012 elections.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) was lucky to win re-election by 170,000 votes, given accusations of irregularities related to the Taipei International Flora Expo and the Xinsheng Overpass project and negative opinion polls. Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu defeated independent candidate Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) and KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) in the Greater Kaohsiung election by garnering about 53 percent of the vote. In Greater Tainan, the DPP’s William Lai (賴清德) was never threatened by KMT candidate Kuo Tain-tsair (郭添財), showing that the DPP continues to gain strength in the south.
In addition to Friday night’s shooting, other reasons the KMT held on to its three cities include the relaxed cross-strait atmosphere, the reviving economy, the government’s many promises and the fact that several countries have recently granted Taiwan visa-exempt status.
However, the KMT should be concerned that many people feel the new cross-strait atmosphere has come at the expense of national sovereignty, that the economic revival only benefits an already wealthy minority and that while unemployment figures are dropping, the quality of jobs on offer is deteriorating and salaries are very low, leaving people with a sense of relative deprivation.
Saturday’s elections highlight the ineptness of Ma’s administration and increasing public dissatisfaction with it, factors that should worry Ma.
Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention. If it makes headlines, it is because China wants to invade. Yet, those who find their way here by some twist of fate often fall in love. If you ask them why, some cite numbers showing it is one of the freest and safest countries in the world. Others talk about something harder to name: The quiet order of queues, the shared umbrellas for anyone caught in the rain, the way people stand so elderly riders can sit, the
Taiwan’s fall would be “a disaster for American interests,” US President Donald Trump’s nominee for undersecretary of defense for policy Elbridge Colby said at his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday last week, as he warned of the “dramatic deterioration of military balance” in the western Pacific. The Republic of China (Taiwan) is indeed facing a unique and acute threat from the Chinese Communist Party’s rising military adventurism, which is why Taiwan has been bolstering its defenses. As US Senator Tom Cotton rightly pointed out in the same hearing, “[although] Taiwan’s defense spending is still inadequate ... [it] has been trending upwards
Small and medium enterprises make up the backbone of Taiwan’s economy, yet large corporations such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) play a crucial role in shaping its industrial structure, economic development and global standing. The company reported a record net profit of NT$374.68 billion (US$11.41 billion) for the fourth quarter last year, a 57 percent year-on-year increase, with revenue reaching NT$868.46 billion, a 39 percent increase. Taiwan’s GDP last year was about NT$24.62 trillion, according to the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, meaning TSMC’s quarterly revenue alone accounted for about 3.5 percent of Taiwan’s GDP last year, with the company’s
In an eloquently written piece published on Sunday, French-Taiwanese education and policy consultant Ninon Godefroy presents an interesting take on the Taiwanese character, as viewed from the eyes of an — at least partial — outsider. She muses that the non-assuming and quiet efficiency of a particularly Taiwanese approach to life and work is behind the global success stories of two very different Taiwanese institutions: Din Tai Fung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC). Godefroy said that it is this “humble” approach that endears the nation to visitors, over and above any big ticket attractions that other countries may have
RSS