University student Hsu Yu-chia said his political coming-of-age happened in 2019, when a pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong brought hundreds of thousands to the streets calling for more autonomy from Beijing.
From democratic Taiwan, he watched the protests on the news with rapt attention.
“I started paying attention to political issues relating to Hong Kong and China,” the 20-year-old law student said. “It was also during that time that I began to see we are separate from China and that Taiwan should not return to the old ‘one China.’”
Photo: EPA-EFE
On Saturday, Hsu is to be among an estimated 1 million new voters casting their ballots in the presidential and legislative elections.
A staunch Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporter, he spends his free time outside of his studies campaigning for it.
“I feel afraid about war breaking out to some degree, but, for me, the way to avoid war is to prepare ourselves for war — no way are we are kneeling down,” he said. “From Tibet to Hong Kong, there have been so many previous lessons.”
Photo: AFP
Bed-and-breakfast owner Huang Min-sheng said the streets of Kinmen, an outlying county just a short ferry ride from China’s shores, used to be packed with tourists.
“There were very open communications between both sides [Taiwan and China] during the [former president] Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration,” the 66-year-old said.
However, China has ramped up tensions with Taiwan since the DPP administration took over, affecting cross-strait tourism.
Photo: Reuters
Huang’s entire family are Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supporters — much like the majority of the county — and he proudly flies the party’s signature blue flag outside his historic courtyard home that dates back to the Qing Dynasty.
“As long as there is no war and both sides continue to communicate with each other, this is the best,” he said. “I hope for a change of government... Are you more well-off compared to eight years ago? If not, let someone else govern because we are a democracy.”
Penny Huang, a Hsinchu City resident said that most of her family are “deep blue,” staunch supporters of the KMT.
However, the 44-year-old has long been disillusioned by the party, and said she has chosen to cast her ballot based on policy.
“In the past 30 years of blue [KMT] and green [DPP] bipartisan fighting, the people are the biggest losers,” Huang said.
This year, the Taiwan People’s Party’s (TPP) would get her vote, she said.
“They have a clean image of honesty and integrity and they strive for the welfare of the people,” the homemaker said.
She spends her mornings canvassing near a busy Hsinchu street, distributing flyers.
“It is not easy for a third political party, the TPP, to emerge and to counter blue and green parties,” she said. “We really hope that it can end the vicious fight ... and lead us to a future of new politics and new culture,” she said.
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