|
EDITORIAL: Blue and
green skies above Taiwan
Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) came in
for some heavy criticism during her trip to the US over remarks she made that
Taiwanese should give more “space” to the contentious idea that the Republic of
China (ROC) is Taiwan, and Taiwan the ROC. However, if the past is any
indication, she might be onto something.
For good reasons, the initial reaction among many Taiwanese and human rights
defenders to equating their homeland with the ROC — a regime that was forced
upon them after the conclusion of World War II — will be to bristle. Such
reactions might even be more pronounced when a Taiwanese, who once headed the
DPP and ran for high office, utters such words. Indeed Tsai became the object of
rather scathing personal attacks, with some accusing her of giving up on
Taiwanese independence and siding with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
However, anyone who knows Tsai will agree that selling out is the last thing on
her mind. Rather, her comments, which it must be said she has made before,
reflect an understanding of the parameters within which the DPP must operate if
it is ever to have any hope of returning to power. The embattled Ma and his
dysfunctional administration may be on the verge of splitting up, but that alone
will be insufficient to provide the DPP with a good chance of scoring
substantial wins in the seven-in-one elections in 2014 and the 2016 presidential
election.
What the DPP needs above all is a platform that is both appealing to large
numbers of voters and is also accommodating enough to allow for the creation of
alliances that transcend party politics. In other words, the DPP must apply the
lessons learned from an unrivaled master of Taiwanese politics, former president
Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). As he ascended the echelons of power within the KMT during
the 1970s and 1980s, Lee kept his cards close to his chest. Even after he became
president following Chiang Ching-kuo’s (蔣經國) death, he continued to operate
within the constraints imposed by the ROC Constitution and fully understood the
immense challenges he would face when confronting conservative forces within the
party.
Yet, little by little, Lee whittled away at the “old thieves” in the government
and gradually placed more Taiwanese in key government positions. What Lee did,
therefore, was work from the inside rather than confront from the outside. In
many ways, his accomplishments — and they were manifold — reflected the
transformation of the KMT itself since its arrival in Taiwan, as local
imperatives slowly hollowed the party out from inside by patiently gnawing away
at practices and ideologies that no longer applied to a democratic Taiwan.
Such a strategy should be given careful consideration by the DPP. Only by
regaining power will it ever be in a position to shape the destiny of this
nation the way Lee did. Sticking to tactics of alienation and combativeness,
which time and again have proved a failure, will only ensure further losses in
the democratic arena. Learning from past examples of successful cooperation
while reaching out to one’s opponents, as former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh
(施明德) did after the DPP’s defeat in the 1996 presidential election, is the
surest path to success.
It is encouraging to see former premier Yu Shyi-kun echoing Tsai’s views by
stating that such views need not contradict the ultimate aim of independence.
Tsai’s remarks have also prompted some Taiwanese, whose initial reaction was one
of anger, to reassess their views on what she meant by ROC and to assess whether
it can indeed symbolize something other than a repressive, monolithic entity
that has nothing to do with Taiwan.
|
