Hong Kong Free Press
Date: 9 December 2018
By: Gray Sergeant

There is more to Taiwan elections than cross-strait relations. Taiwanese voters, like people in any other democracy, go to the ballot box to register their approval or disapproval of domestic policies and leadership. The quick comeback of the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT), after the 2014 “green wave,” and the drubbing of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) does not necessarily mean Taiwanese voters are warming to China.

Last month’s results were unquestionably a disaster for the DPP. The opposition KMT reversed their fortunes by taking 15 of the 22 city and county seats. While the DPP’s share of local authorities fell from thirteen to just six. President Tsai Ing-Wen’s party also suffered a hugely symbolic defeat in Kaohsiung, which has traditionally been a stronghold for the DPP and is historic as a place of pro-democracy (anti-KMT) resistance during the islands authoritarian era.

The results of Taiwan’s numerous referendums also saw a victory for conservative movements on the island. Multiple questions, proposed by Taiwan’s increasingly organised anti-LGBT lobby, were voted for by large margins. Meanwhile, the voting down of one motion calling on Taiwanese athletes to participate in international sporting events under the name ‘Taiwan,” rather than “Chinese, Taipei,” was a blow to pro-independence forces.

For international audiences Taiwanese politics is viewed through the prism of two competing camps: the pro-China blue camp and the pro-independence green camp, led respectively by the two main parties the KMT and the DPP.    [FULL  STORY]