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 High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS