Nearly 40 years ago, a group of lawyers, intellectuals, and activists gathered in a Taipei hotel ballroom to found an illegal political party aimed at ending Taiwan’s authoritarian rule.
No longer a brash upstart, the Democratic Progressive Party that was born in that banquet hall is now seeking an unprecedented third consecutive term. After eight years in power, the party needs to convince voters that it can regenerate while protecting Taiwan from growing pressure from Beijing, which claims the island as its own territory.
The Democratic Progressive Party, led by presidential candidate Vice Chairman Lai Qingtoku, faces a tough challenge in Saturday’s election from its arch-rival Kuomintang, which supports expanded ties with China. Opinion polls show the Nationalist Party, led by former police officer and New Taipei City mayor Hou Youxi, has a chance of returning to power for the first time since 2016, an outcome that could upend the region’s geopolitical landscape. There is sex. The election results are expected to be known by Saturday evening.
For Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Su Xiaohui, the stakes of the vote are particularly personal. Her father, Su Tseng-chang, helped found the party when Taiwan was under martial law and later served as prime minister during two phases of the party’s government, including under current president Tsai Ing-wen. Ta.
“I am a child of the Democratic Progressive Party,” Sue, a lawyer, said in an interview, recalling seeing her father take part in pro-democracy demonstrations. “Those are memories in my bones, they’re my daily life, so I didn’t need to march in the streets to know that politics can have a big impact.”
The challenge for Hsu and his generation of DPP politicians is to convince voters that the party can deliver the right mix of change and continuity – change in response to concerns about slowing growth, rising house prices and other livelihood issues. It’s about convincing.
But at the same time, there is continuity. It is also an assurance that the new Democratic Progressive Party government will not waver from Tsai’s cautious approach to China and is best placed to protect Taiwan’s security.
Over the past decade, the question of Taiwan’s future has become a major flashpoint of tensions between China and the United States, shaping debate in Washington and around the world.
The Democratic Progressive Party, which has long rejected Beijing’s demands for unification, has been central to turning the island into a geopolitical bulwark against Chinese power. President Tsai has sought to keep Taiwan out of China’s powerful orbit, strengthening ties with the United States and raising Taiwan’s global profile.
However, after completing her second term, Tsai will have to resign this year. Opinion polls show that a significant number of Taiwanese voters want new leadership. A growing number of people are concerned about the rising risk of conflict with China, which has criticized the Democratic Progressive Party as a separatist party and viewed Taiwan’s general election as a “choice between war and peace.”
Mr. Lai vowed to continue Mr. Tsai’s steady course. But even if Mr. Lai were to win, his party would lose its majority in Taiwan’s Legislative Council, potentially giving the opposition party more influence.
Mr Hsu, 47, is working to persuade voters to give his party another four years of majority control so that Mr Lai can advance his policies if he wins. She woos voters at night markets and intersections with her bespectacled, pink-clad campaign mascot “Otter Mama,” who appears on children’s programs promoting the local Taiwanese language. .
Her father, Mr. Su, 76, has been energetically speaking at election rallies across Taiwan and believes not only himself but the party’s legacy is at stake.
“We have finally broken away from authoritarianism and have worked hard to finally achieve democracy, freedom and openness,” Su said. “If we fail to preserve these gains and move backwards, I fear that the lifelong struggles and efforts of our contemporaries will be in vain.”
The son of a low-level official whose family kept pigs for extra income, as a young lawyer Su joined a grassroots movement of lawyers, academics and activists seeking democracy. They sought to end the military rule of the Kuomintang Party, which had led Taiwan since the communists fled to the island in 1949 after overrunning mainland China.
That resistance led to a meeting in 1986 at the unlikely location of the Taipei Grand Hotel, overlooking Taipei. This ornate hotel was founded as a symbol of Chiang Kai-shek’s dictatorship, and he and his wife had their own rooms inside, but it became the birthplace of the party that hastened Taiwan’s transition to democracy. Ta.
On a recent morning, Mr. Hsu gave New York Times reporters a tour of the hotel’s ballroom, where he recalled the day the party started. The activists had booked the room on the flimsy pretext that it was a dental conference. A few hours after the meeting, they approved the decision to form a party, catching the security police by surprise.
Although the Kuomintang government had already begun to appropriately ease political restrictions, it still outlawed opposition parties. However, fearing backlash both domestically and internationally, he chose not to dissolve the new party. The following year, 40 years of martial law was lifted.
After the KMT liberalized and Taiwan transitioned to democracy, DPP politicians tried to rally support for formal independence for Taiwan. In 1991, the party declared in its platform that its goal was “the Republic of Taiwan as a sovereign, independent, and self-governing nation.” But soon the question of the meaning of independence and how it should be achieved created tension within the party.
That platform in 1991 concerned both Washington and many voters on the island, who then and now avoided any move toward formal independence for fear of a furious reaction from Beijing. There is.
The party adjusted its line, arguing that Taiwan was in fact already independent because under politicians like Su, the Taiwanese people had won democratic self-determination.
“China has never ruled us for a single day and no part of us belongs to China, so we are actually already independent and there is no need for further declarations of independence,” Su said. I am emphasizing that there is no such thing.”
When the KMT tried to portray the party as a dangerous mob, Su and other DPP politicians turned to friendly, humorous images to reassure voters that it was not a threat. Toward. In one campaign, Mr. Hsu was accompanied by a mascot, a dancing bright orange light bulb whose shape mimicked the shape of Mr. Hsu’s bald head.
The party first took power in 2000, when its candidate Chen Shui-bian won an upset victory in the presidential election. However, Mr. Chen later drew criticism from the United States for his militant push for independence, and was later imprisoned for corruption. In 2008, Kuomintang candidate Ma Ying-jeou won power.
The Democratic Progressive Party relied on Ms. Tsai, who is a politician, but Ms. Tsai displayed a cautious attitude toward the Chinese government, acting like a professor. Tsai energized the party, winning a majority in the legislature and becoming president in 2016.
Su served as prime minister under Tsai from 2019 to 2023, and is credited with protecting Taiwan from the worst of the coronavirus pandemic and becoming the first Asian government to legalize same-sex marriage. ing.
Mr. Su is still widely recognized by many voters, and his speeches at rallies, in which he shouts the Taiwanese slogan “Shiong!” in a booming, gravelly voice, often receive loud applause. Shion! Shion! (“Hurry, hurry, hurry!”)
Su also acknowledged that the Democratic Progressive Party “doesn’t have perfect scores” among voters. Rising housing prices and other economic burdens have led to growing dissatisfaction, especially among young people. But the Kuomintang’s track record in government is even worse, he argues.
Mr. Lai of the Democratic Progressive Party has been leading in opinion polls in recent weeks, but by a narrow margin. Kuomintang candidate Hou is trailing by several points in many opinion polls. And the opposition candidate, Taiwan People’s Party leader Ko Wen-ji, is eroding support for both parties, especially among young voters.
The KMT argues that Lai is less stable than Tsai, citing previous statements that Lai was a “pragmatic striver for Taiwan’s independence.”
But in the Democratic Progressive Party’s stronghold in southern Taiwan, many party politicians said there was no groundswell for formal independence. They expect Mr. Yori to stick to the status quo and support their strategy. Many young party activists are more passionate about social issues than talk of independence.
“Many Taiwanese these days may not be able to clearly and strongly say that they support Taiwan’s independence or unification, but everyone understands that we are not the same country as China. “There is,” said Zhang Chewei, 28, a close political aide to Mr. .Sue. “Of course we want to keep the peace, but I think it’s better to keep a beautiful distance.”