The five special municipality elections to be held in December are crucial for Taiwan’s future and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), political experts said.
At the end of the year, Taipei County will become a directly administered city called Sinbei City, while Taichung City and County, Tainan City and County and Kaohsiung City and County will be merged into directly administered cities, in accordance with a decision by the Executive Yuan last year at the request of the cities and counties concerned.
Soochow University political science professor Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said the elections were important because of cross-strait concerns.
President Ma-ying-jeou (馬英九) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) have expressed the hope of signing an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with Beijing in May. If that happens, Lo said, Taipei and Beijing would start talks on political issues by the middle of the year, citing the director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, Wang Yi (王毅), as saying that after Taiwan signs an ECFA with Beijing, there would be few cross-strait economic issues left for both sides to discuss, so dialogue on political issues would be unavoidable.
Lo said political dialogue would possibly include signing a peace treaty with Beijing, so to slow down “Ma’s reunification with China policies,” the DPP has to win the municipality elections and then challenge Ma in the 2012 presidential campaign.
“The elections could decide Taiwan’s destiny,” Lo said.
If the DPP is able to secure three of the five seats up for grabs at the end of the year, Lo said, the party would govern more than 13 million people, accounting for 60 percent of Taiwan’s population.
The DPP could then make Ma a “lame duck,” he said.
Michael You (游盈隆), another professor at Soochow University and former vice chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, said: “If the DPP loses the 2012 election, there would be only one result for Taiwan, it would end up in the hands of the Chinese communists.”
You said a good performance by the DPP in the municipality elections could boost morale within the party and build momentum that could carry it all the way to victory in 2012.
The DPP has lost badly in elections since 2005, causing concern that the party’s appeal has faded.
The KMT took 81 seats in legislative elections in January 2008, while the DPP only managed to win 27.
In the same year, Ma scored an overwhelming victory in the presidential election in May, taking nearly 60 percent of the vote to defeat DPP candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷).
The DPP finally bounced back, however, in elections last year.
Although the KMT clinched 12 of the 17 counties and cities up for grabs in the December elections, the DPP secured four seats, or 45.32 percent of the total ballots, a 7.2 percent increase on last time, marking the party’s best performance since 2001. The party was also able to win three legislative by-elections last month.
The results were a pivotal point allowing the DPP to bounce back, while the KMT has gone from prosperity into decline, Lo said.
You said the challenge facing the DPP ahead of December, however, was who would represent the party in the municipalities and how would it remain unified in the face of intensive competition for nominations.
You said his dream team would be former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) in Taipei City, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in Sinbei City and Frank Hsieh in Taichung.
Opinion polls by local media, however, have shown that, as former commissioner of Taipei County, Su has the best chance of winning the Sinbei City race.
Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), an assistant professor in the department of political science at Soochow, said as the best hope for the DPP for the 2012 race, Su is considering whether to enter the year-end local elections or wait until 2012.
“Su’s decision will have a decisive influence on the DPP and the 2012 election,” Hsu said.
Lo said: “Beijing will redouble its efforts to help Ma get re-elected in 2012 so it can resolve the Taiwan issue as soon as possible. Taiwan faces a race against time.”
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS