Taiwan’s semi-rural central plains, dotted with rice paddies and brightly colored temples, is the battleground in a presidential poll that will set the tone of the nation’s prickly relations with China for the next four years.
In the same way that Ohio is a vital swing state in US presidential polls, Greater Taichung and a cluster of sleepy counties around it is a must-win region in January’s presidential and legislative elections.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is vying for a second term, but faces a tough challenge from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
Having nearly taken Taichung from the KMT in last year’s special municipal mayoral elections, the DPP sees the region as crucial for its hopes of winning back power.
“We can overcome all difficulties,” Tsai told her cheering supporters at a recent rally in Changhua City, just to the west of Taichung.
Beijing sees Taiwan, with its deep seam of nationalism and a thriving democracy, as a breakaway province to be reunited with China, by force if necessary.
DPP supporters cherish their nation’s independence.
“We don’t need China,” said 61-year-old farmer Huang Yan-yan amid cries for an independent Taiwan at the rally of about 4,000 people, many blasting on hooters and waving flags. “Taiwan is different from China. We Taiwanese have good hearts, but the Chinese are aggressive.”
Beijing sees its old nemesis, Ma’s KMT, which fled to Taiwan from China in 1949 after losing a civil war to the Chinese Communist Party, as a safer bet because of the economic rapprochement that Ma has championed.
Beijing views Tsai, a scholarly 55-year-old with a doctorate in law from the London School of Economics, with deep suspicion, even though she has moved her once staunchly pro-independence party toward a more pragmatic stand.
Like most recent presidential elections, a tight race is expected.
Voters are broadly split by an axis through the center of the nation with the DPP, which -emphasizes the nation’s uniqueness and independence, strong in the south. In the north, the KMT is the main force.
Residents of Taichung usually back the KMT, while the inhabitants of the rural counties around it usually vote DPP. In the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections, Taichung and neighboring Changhua and Yunlin counties switched sides and both parties see the area as key for making gains this time.
“If the DPP can win in Changhua, then Tsai Ing-wen can win in the whole country,” DPP legislative candidate Charles Chiang (江昭儀) shouted from the rally stage packed with supporters waving yellow banners.
“This is a battle more crucial than the first one,” Greater -Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) of the KMT said at his headquarters, referring to Ma’s 2008 victory.
“The country’s economy is recovering rapidly, international ties are also being restored, the mainland relationship is also at a pivotal juncture,” he said. “If we’re not elected it’s not square one we’re back to, it’s ground zero ... especially with regard to the peace in the Taiwan Strait.”
A recent National Chengchi University survey of 22,000 people found 52.8 percent back Ma versus 47.1 percent for Tsai.
As underdog, Tsai has been working tirelessly to raise her profile and get an early start in the campaign with an around-the-nation tour from her ancestral village in the south up into KMT heartlands in the north.
“All our preparations in every electoral district are in place,” said Tsai at a civic center in Yuanlin Township during a campaign stop of her convoy of vehicles bedecked in yellow. “We must continue to work hard to defeat those we’re meant to defeat.”
Much will depend on undecided women and first-time voters, who the DPP hopes to win over with a campaign built around the slogan: “Taiwan’s First Woman President.”
However, both parties might face problems wooing apathetic voters worried about livelihoods. The export-reliant nation is facing uncertainty with spending cuts in the world’s major markets.
“I work this late every day. This is the life that I know,” said an elderly oyster farmer trudging through mud flats on the Changhua County coast late one recent afternoon.
“Whoever gets elected is the same to me,” added the woman, her face wrapped in scarves as wind-turbines slowly turned on a rocky peninsula behind her. “It doesn’t make much difference to my life.”
‘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