KMT sway in Legislature over?

Commentators blame intra-party squabbling for poor showing

The ruling Kuomintang's control of the Legislature will be challenged despite winning a majority of seats in the Dec. 19 election.

Although the KMT won 102 seats in the 161-seat Legislative Yuan, the drop of its share of the vote to 61.7 percent was a setback for the ruling party. The Democratic Progressive Party's 36.1. percent share was an unprecedented victory for the main opposition group. In last year's National Assembly election, the KMT garnered an overwhelming 70 percent of the vote.

KMT Secretary General James Soong said at a press conference after the election that his party was very dissatisfied with the outcome, but had to accept the voters' choice. He offered to resign to take responsibility for the "defeat."

Observers conclude that poor handling of the nomination of candidates and intra-party conflicts are the KMT's two greatest weaknesses.

Criticism was aroused before the election over the fact that many KMT candidates are so-called "golden oxen" (fat cats), and many have close connections with business groups or local factions.

In contrast, many DPP candidates are known throughout the country either for their professionalism or as political dissidents.

As a result, 58.4 percent of KMT nominees were elected, well behind the DPP's 62.7 percent. Last year, 75 percent of KMT nominees won election to the Second National Assembly.

In addition, DPP candidates ranked No. 1 in 14 of the 29 electoral districts, while KMT-nominated candidates came in first in only eight electoral districts.

According to the local China Times newspaper, the election result is to a certain degree a revolt against the KMT's internal squabbles. Internecine rivalry has hampered its reform efforts over the past year.

The KMT's Wisdom Coalition, a faction that claims to represent the interests of Taiwan natives, recently voiced support for "one China, one Taiwan." Its members feel the government should care for Taiwan first, the mainland second.

In the past few weeks, one coalition member has gone the DPP one better by calling KMT conservatives "Taiwan traitors."

The DPP alienated many Taiwan residents with demands for independence last year. This time, the party switched its strategy and focused on attacking election irregularities and graft and corruption in government.

Although a few of its candidates still campaigned for Taiwan independence, in general the DPP emphasized social policies such as tax cuts and establishing the image of a well-disciplined and united party.

The DPP, celebrating the victory with champagne, concluded that it did well because voters were dissatisfied with the KMT, and wished for a strong opposition party. It claimed Taiwan residents expressed through their vote their desire for an acceleration of democratic reform and a rebuilding of social order.

DPP Chairman Hsu Hsin-liang said at a press conference that his party will not become the ruling party immediately, but is working toward it. Capturing 50 seats, the party more than doubled its presence in the Legislature.

It is predicted that realignments within the Legislative Yuan will happen soon. The polarization of pro-unification and pro-independence forces will intensify.

Professor Hu Fo of National Taiwan University pointed out that the good showing by the DPP will loosen the KMT's previously tight control on the Legislature, especially in light of the growing division between the ruling party's conservative and liberal factions.

The new lawmakers will be basically divided into three major rival camps, he said.

The conservative and liberal factions will grow further apart. The conservatives cautiously follow the KMT's National Unification Guidelines and advocate a more open mainland policy. They see maintaining peace between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits as the top priority. The liberal faction seeks to win international recognition for Taiwan, even at the cost of antagonizing the mainland. They consider this the only way to protect Taiwan.

The third group is the DPP, which is unlikely to give up on independence, come what may, Hu observed.

The results of this election also show that candidates with completely opposite stands enjoy widespread support from the voters.

Wang Chien-hsuan and Jaw Shau-kong won more votes than any other candidates in the election. They both support the government's unification policies.

Some DPP candidates who have unfailingly advocated Taiwan independence, such as Lu Hsiu-yi, Shen Fu-hsiung, Chen Wan-chen and Lin Cho-shui, won impressive victories in their respective electoral districts.

This polarization may force some fence-sitting lawmakers to take a clear political stand, the United Daily News predicted.

(Free China Journal 12-22-92)

A message from Taiwan's voters

Newspapers spared few superlatives in their attempts to pump up public participation in Taiwan's first full elections since 1949. "The Chinese race is voting for the first time in its history to create a democratic, representative system. In these historic elections, every citizen must cast his sacred vote responsibly," Taiwan's mass-circulation China Times said in a lead editorial yesterday.

The elections are, indeed, historic. And, from the point of view of Taiwan's uniquely schizophrenic position, represent a fascinating test of how much time has changed the attitude of a people with their feet in one place and their hearts and minds in another.

The poll is also an important landmark for the ruling Kuomintang (KMT). For it is a real and telling measure of the conservative political establishment's reach into the new generations born in Taiwan, who may consider themselves more Taiwanese than Chinese.

Candidates could, for the first time, legally advocate independence instead of the official goal of reunification with the mainland. Calls for independence were banned until parliament relaxed sedition laws this year, and it is this which caused most anxiety in Beijing. Though the opposition cautiously refrained from directly advocating this position, many individual candidates did so nonetheless.

Last week, the New China News Agency reported Communist Party General Secretary Mr. Jiang Zemin as saying China would not hesitate to use military force to "safeguard national sovereignty and completeness" if Taiwan were invaded or declared itself independent.

"We resolutely oppose any plots and activities aimed at creating 'two Chinas', 'one China, one Taiwan' or 'one country, two governments', " he was reported to have said.

A record 348 candidates, ranging from former political prisoners in the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to millionaire businessmen running for the Nationalists, fought for 125 directly elected seats. Another 36, representing mainland China and overseas Chinese communities to buttress Taipei's claim of sovereignty over China, are allocated to political parties, according to their share of the popular vote.

It came as no surprise, as the results came in last night, that the ruling party remained in power. But what will give cause for concern is that the KMT won only 53 percent of 9.5 million votes. It is the first time its share has fallen below 60 percent. Opposition candidates received 31 percent.

Taiwan's legislature is, perhaps, best known for its brawling. And no one could hold up these elections as a perfect poll. Incidents of violence and allegations of vote-buying were all too commonplace.

But the results will not be welcomed by Beijing, and the knee-jerk reaction will be to issue yet another tirade against what appears a growing sentiment towards independence. This would be to miss the point.

If China is to appear an attractive option to younger, more successful and better educated Taiwanese, it must appear not threatening, but welcoming. It is a lesson for Beijing's leaders that applies as much to the new generations of Hongkong as it does to those of Taiwan.

(Sunday Morning Post, Hongkong 12-20-92)

Notes:

1. Lin Cheng-chieh left DPP 6.2.91 to become independent. Ju Gau-jeng expelled from DPP 8.3.91 and established CSPD.

2. Veteran legislators elected in 1948 not included.

Key to Parties:

KMT Kuomintang

DPP Democratic Progressive Party

CSPD China Social Democratic Party

YCP Yong China Party

[Picture Caption]

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Results of Three Recent Major Elections

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Changed Composition of New Legislature