Whether a “blue-white” alliance between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) can be formed lies in Beijing’s “red” influence. If Beijing is playing a minor role, then the alliance should be a largely domestic affair, but if Beijing is pulling the strings behind the scenes, it could trigger a strong backlash if it fails. Consequently, former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) poor orchestration of the alliance has put the nail on the coffin.
On Wednesday last week, Ma declared the day a historic moment because it marked the KMT’s and TPP’s first deal to collaborate.
However, the partnership soon fell flat on Sunday when TPP Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said that he would see the campaign through to the end as nothing but the TPP’s presidential candidate.
New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the KMT’s presidential candidate, hit back, saying: “We will remain true to ourselves, blaze our own trail and fight till the end.”
Their declarations have proven the ever fragile alliance to be an ephemeral deal. It only took six days for the alliance to be proposed and broken off, with the parties left feeling as if they had participated in a badly choreographed spectacle.
What took place over the past few days is likely to cause more frustration and despondency than actual damage. The two parties have reached a point of no return, and the political figures involved will have to bear the consequences of their actions and words, for that is the way of politics.
Why then were the KMT and the TPP so keen on collaborating with both parties reaching out on multiple occasions, but failing to see the deal through?
In light of the recent change of events, the crux of the matter remains coercion. Ma’s forceful tactics were carried out by his office. After his office had repeatedly called former KMT secretary-general King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) without success, Ma went ahead and proposed the idea of using polls to determine whether Hou or Ko would top a joint KMT-TPP ticket, which offended Hou’s campaign team as they felt “ambushed” by the proposal.
Broadcasting Corp of China chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) asked why Ma, who now serves only as a KMT party member, has the power to call the shots and issue orders to the leaders of the KMT and the TPP.
People connected the dots and the answer was not hard to guess: China.
Before former premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) suggested Ma become a mediator between the KMT and the TPP, Liu had met in person with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧).
Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) also visited China. Even though the Beijing Forum did not put him on its participant list, and there was no mention of Hsiao in the news release, he visited the Diaoyutai State Guest House below the radar. It would be unreasonable to think he had not had private conversations with Chinese officials behind closed doors.
While Ma put himself forward as a third-party mediator, Ko invited him to be the “witness” for the collaboration deal.
Ko’s appearance at the closed-door meeting attended by Hou, Ma and KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Wednesday last week showed that he had every desire to “collaborate” and “compromise,” or else he would not have made the effort to show his face.
After the meeting, a bad-humored Ko, who felt played, said that the American Institute in Taiwan had been inquiring if China had interfered. The alliance drew a strong backlash from his family members, supporters and staff, dealing a huge blow to his support base.
The next day, amid tears and snot, Ko spoke to his supporters and party members, saying: “As long as you do not give up on me, I will not give up.”
This statement says something about Ko: Was he so scared of losing that he impulsively signed the deal with the KMT?
As for the polling margin of error controversy on Saturday, in which the TPP said it only agreed to a 3 percent margin, but that the KMT demanded a 6 percent margin, anyone could see that Ko was grasping for a reason to back out of the deal.
Ma was not going to give up and was bent on dragging the game into overtime, but Hou and Ko ended the game once and for all on Sunday, so that it would not further undermine their supporters’ morale.
If Ma had not been so bent on securing an accolade for himself, the KMT and the TPP would not have turned into bitter rivals that are now out for each other’s throats. Ma has proven once again that a handshake with him means misfortune and chaos, and that his ever powerful “grasp of death” still does not disappoint.
Tzou Jiing-wen is editor-in-chief of the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper).
Translated by Rita Wang
RSS