The backing of political heavyweights and unprecedented third-force unity threaten to undermine the DPP.
The News Lens
Date: 2018/03/08
By: Brian Hioe
The declaration by Taiwan’s “third force” parties – backed by former presidents Chen
Photo Credit: 時代力量黨團
Shui-bian (陳水扁), Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and other influential figures – that they intend to seek a referendum on Taiwanese independence poses a significant challenge to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
With this move, the third force has more or less declared its intent to seize the mantle of traditional pro-independence positions advocated by the DPP.
Notably, most of the third force parties which emerged from the Sunflower Movement endorsed the March 1 formation of The Island of Joy and Happiness Coalition (喜樂島聯盟). The New Power Party (NPP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Radical Wings Party and Free Taiwan Party all signed the declaration, as well as the Taiwan Solidarity Union. This is a rare event – despite agreeing on many key issues, third force parties have been internally divided in the past.
The fact that these Taiwanese independence elders intend to work with third force parties in support of an independence referendum undercuts the DPP.
At times this has been due to grudges between third force leaders, some of which go back to the Sunflower Movement, the Wild Lily Movement in 1990 or even earlier. At other times, this is because third force parties find themselves contesting the same positions during elections. This was a source of conflict during 2016 elections, when the SDP chose to endorse DPP legislative speaker Ker Chien-Ming (柯建銘) over the NPP’s candidate, Handy Chiu (邱顯智), in spite of Ker being widely unpopular in Taiwanese civil society.
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