The Sunflower movement may have set the stage for major political change in Taiwan, but it is still too early to predict its impact, a US academic says.
There is “simmering discontent” in Taiwan, but the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) could still cling to power in the next election, said Don Rodgers, a professor of political science at Austin College in Texas.
Cross-strait relations are only part of the problem and the bigger issues concern government transparency and responsiveness to the interests and desires of the voters, he said in an address to a conference on the Sunflower movement and Taiwan’s “new political landscape.”
Domestic issues such as property rights, nuclear power, the education system and wealth distribution must be dealt with, Rodgers said at the conference in Washington last week.
Taiwan’s government is not working well, but neither of the two main political parties — the KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) — are respected by a majority of voters, he said.
“There is a sense that party leaders are more concerned about internal dynamics than they are about the voters and listening to the people they are supposed to represent,” Rodgers said.
He said the KMT’s strengths were seen as cross-strait and economic policy, while its weaknesses were ineffectual governance and corruption.
The DPP’s strengths were its Taiwan-centric stance and its traditional support for democracy, farmers and ordinary workers. Its weaknesses were factional infighting, a lack of policy direction and a shortage of skilled politicians.
The big question now was whether, in the aftermath of the Sunflower movement demonstrations, the two parties would change, Rodgers said.
The movement had provided a “fairly large shock” to Taiwan’s political system, but it was still not clear if it was big enough to wake up voters and cause them to feel anxiety and stress about what was going on.
“We have high voter turnout in Taiwan, but we don’t necessarily have attentive voters who pay close attention to the issues,” Rodgers said. “One might assume that the DPP has got it made going into the 2014 and 2016 elections, but that is not the case.”
“A lot of the protesters are unhappy with the KMT, but they are not necessarily going to cast their vote for the DPP,” he said.
The DPP had to demonstrate more unity, a clear policy stance, and a focus on economic and social justice issues, and reconnect with its grassroots supporters with better organization and outreach, he said.
“On its China policy, the DPP needs to emphasize that it is going to work with China, but that it is also going to be transparent and cautious,” he said.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese were “fed-up” with the institutions that were supposed to represent them, University of Richmond political scientist Vincent Wang told the conference.
He agreed with Rodgers that neither the DPP nor the KMT were doing a good job and that both put “party rancor” above national interests.
The Sunflower movement had remained remarkably independent and kept its distance from both parties, he said.
China had continued its “unwavering approach” to unify with Taiwan and the Sunflower movement had not changed its fundamental attitude, Wang said.
No matter who came to power in the 2016 presidential election — the KMT or the DPP — they would face a China that was continuing to rise in power and becoming increasingly sophisticated.
“The challenge is going to be greater,” he said.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS