Taiwan's Drama

Taiwan could either prove democracy victorious or fall flat like Hong Kong

By Darryl Weng

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Even with the economic recession, tightened commodities, and Russian-Ukraine War at hand, the United States has not wavered its support for Taiwan. Neither has Japan nor Australia. And, yet, Taiwan decided on its own that its fight against the Chinese Communist Party(CCP) would most likely bear resemblance to Hong Kong’s skirmish against the CCP.

Taipei’s mayoral election saw the rise of the supposed great-grandson of Chiang Kai-shek.

Right as the Kuomintang Party(KMT) decided its allegiance to the CCP, a descendant of Mao Zedong’s nemesis decided to run with the KMT and support the CCP. No words can describe the appalling state Taiwan is currently in. At least Hong Kong wasn’t exactly betrayed - Carrie Lam was Xi Jinping’s puppet from the very beginning.

While Taiwan is under the leadership of Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party(DPP), the local elections in Taiwan display the overwhelming majority and influence the KMT holds over the DPP. Of magistrates and mayors, the KMT has a unified front of nearly 3 times as many as the DPP. In terms of councillors*, the KMT has nearly 33% more than the DPP. In regards to township and city mayors, the KMT more than doubles the DPP.

Supporters of the DPP may argue that the Pan-Green Coalition, which encompasses all parties, including the DPP, that support Taiwan’s independence from China, maintains the majority in all local elections. However, this does not bear in mind the encroaching power of the KMT. The Pan-Blue Coalition, which opposes the Pan-Green Coalition, is largely made up of the KMT and CCP-affiliated parties. The only legitimate Taiwanese party in the coalition is the KMT, as the rest of the parties were either formed by Chinese nationalists, CCP-ranking officials, or KMT wannabes. In other words, the entire Pan-Blue Coalition is the entire KMT. Not only is the KMT singlehandedly opposing an entire coalition, but the KMT is also fracturing the majority coalition’s wins through local election wins.

More importantly, the Pan-Green Coalition only serves the purpose of pro-independence legislation. This means that all other legislation and decisions passed or denied in the Legislative Yuan may be heavily influenced by the KMT, as the party holds a sweeping majority over individual parties. It’s extraordinarily easy to apply political pressure if the KMT chooses to implement similar tactics as today’s U.S. political parties in the face of polarized politics. The KMT has the ability to place President Tsai in a Lame-Duck President position where she is unable to produce pro-DPP policies in an efficient manner, ruining re-election chances and compromising the Pan-Green Coalition’s majority rule. As such, key anti-CCP legislation and executive decisions may not reach the Taiwanese people.

In Taiwan’s current political state, a consolidated and clear message to stand ground against the CCP is not feasible. Such uncertainty and clear political favoritism towards China do not serve well for countries supporting Taiwan’s defense against the CCP. Countries in proximity or have high economic ties with China are only pushed further away from declaring allegiance with Taiwan. As major economic powers in the world such as America and Japan face daunting economic challenges in the coming year, measures to support Taiwan militarily and financially may never come to fruition, even as verbal support continues. Simply looking at current American support for the Russian-Ukraine War, U.S. politicians are divided and have only supported a few pieces of legislation to provide the necessary support for Ukraine. To ask such politicians to once again agree on a similar bill to support Taiwan would seem impossible.

The fate of Taiwan lies in its people. Unlike Hong Kong, Taiwan has a robust industry and can militarily defend itself substantially. And, unlike Hong Kong, Taiwan is quite progressive. Therefore, as long as the Taiwanese people continue to maintain anti-CCP attitudes, the KMT has no ability to usurp Taiwanese politics to pressurize the nation to surrender to China. May Taipei’s mayoral election be the last mistake Taiwan makes.

*In Taiwan, it is councillors; not councilors