Will the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) replace the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) as Taiwan’s second-largest political party? The issue has attracted much attention.
Let us begin with a news story. Chu Che-cheng (朱哲成), a TPP legislative candidate in 2019, announced his withdrawal from the party late last month, saying that it is full of aging politicians from the pan-blue camp, “second-generation politicians” and members of former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) clan.
“Where have all the pro-local members gone?” he asked.
That Chu left the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for the TPP just to leave it again provides an insight into the transformation of TPP Chairman and Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).
After Ko appointed Han supporter Hsieh Li-kung (謝立功) as TPP secretary-general, people began to suspect that Ko’s strategy was to ride the “Han wave.” Later, this suspicion was confirmed with the recruitment of Han supporter Huang Wen-tsai (黃文財) as director of media at TPP headquarters.
The party said that Huang was recruited because of his experience working with the media, but his employment adds weight to Chu’s accusation that the TPP is filled with old, pan-blue politicians and the Han clan.
Ko has also repeatedly expressed goodwill toward the KMT.
Not long ago, Ko visited KMT Institute of Revolutionary Practice director Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) while he was staging a protest on Taipei’s Ketagalan Boulevard. Not only did Ko present Lo with a pair of blue-and-white flip-flops to symbolize the cooperation between the pan-blue and white camps, but he also appeared on Lo’s live Internet program.
During the administration of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Lo served as deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office. By presenting Lo with flip-flops, Ko was clearly trying to curry favor with pan-blue camp supporters, and hint that the KMT and TPP are “brothers in arms.”
During six years of partnership and cooperation, Ko was elected Taipei mayor in 2014 with the help of the DPP.
However, soon after he was re-elected in 2018, the two sides turned from friends into foes. As Ko is no longer able to attract more votes from the pan-green camp, he must find another means of garnering support.
When the KMT quickly lost momentum after the Han wave faded away, Ko seized the chance to capture its votes.
If the TPP wants to keep growing, it needs to swallow the KMT bit by bit, and currying favor with Han supporters seems to be the quickest way.
Opinion polls conducted by the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation show that the KMT and TPP are competing with each other for second spot in public support, and the TPP makes a better impression on voters than the KMT.
Founded in 2019, the TPP is still young and fresh compared with the century-old KMT. While the former is likely to grow, the latter is in free fall.
Will the TPP swallow the KMT? The possibility cannot be ruled out.
Intriguingly, ahead of a referendum later this month — for which the KMT urges “yes” votes on all four questions — the TPP reportedly invited its members to cast a straw poll, and the majority of them also supported “yes” votes on the items, which forced the party leadership to conduct a U-turn.
Some media commentators believe this shows that the TPP is turning “blue.”
Awash with Han staffers and former KMT members, the TPP appears to be a modern version of the Trojan Horse in ancient Greek mythology.
Chin Heng-wei is a political commentator.
Translated by Eddy Chang
It is almost three years since Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a friendship with “no limits” — weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since then, they have retreated from such rhetorical enthusiasm. The “no limits” language was quickly dumped, probably at Beijing’s behest. When Putin visited China in May last year, he said that he and his counterpart were “as close as brothers.” Xi more coolly called the Russian president “a good friend and a good neighbor.” China has conspicuously not reciprocated Putin’s description of it as an ally. Yet the partnership
The ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu (孫子) said “know yourself and know your enemy and you will win a hundred battles.” Applied in our times, Taiwanese should know themselves and know the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) so that Taiwan will win a hundred battles and hopefully, deter the CCP. Taiwanese receive information daily about the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) threat from the Ministry of National Defense and news sources. One area that needs better understanding is which forces would the People’s Republic of China (PRC) use to impose martial law and what would be the consequences for living under PRC
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said that he expects this year to be a year of “peace.” However, this is ironic given the actions of some KMT legislators and politicians. To push forward several amendments, they went against the principles of legislation such as substantive deliberation, and even tried to remove obstacles with violence during the third readings of the bills. Chu says that the KMT represents the public interest, accusing President William Lai (賴清德) and the Democratic Progressive Party of fighting against the opposition. After pushing through the amendments, the KMT caucus demanded that Legislative Speaker
Although former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo — known for being the most pro-Taiwan official to hold the post — is not in the second administration of US president-elect Donald Trump, he has maintained close ties with the former president and involved himself in think tank activities, giving him firsthand knowledge of the US’ national strategy. On Monday, Pompeo visited Taiwan for the fourth time, attending a Formosa Republican Association’s forum titled “Towards Permanent World Peace: The Shared Mission of the US and Taiwan.” At the event, he reaffirmed his belief in Taiwan’s democracy, liberty, human rights and independence, highlighting a
RSS