The Stratigist
Date: 30 Aug 2019
By: Charlie Lyons Jones

With elections due in early January 2020, Taiwan’s presidential race is heating up. Besides the candidates from the two major parties, the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), there’s an outsider who is so far getting little attention.

The mayor of Taipei, Ko Wen-je, is yet to announce his formal candidacy but could be laying the foundations to run. On 6 August, he established a new political party, called the Taiwan People’s Party, putting unity at the centre of his campaign. ‘We will use the power of the people to change Taiwan’, Ko said.

At a time when Taiwan’s democracy is being tested, Ko’s theme of unity is important. Despite the pride Taiwanese of all political persuasions have in their hard-won freedoms, there’s a widespread recognition that Beijing is now chipping away at the foundations of Taiwan’s young democracy.

Much like the Republicans in the US in 2016, Taiwan’s oldest political party has been hijacked by a populist. In early July, the KMT selected the pro-China mayor of Kaohsiung, Han Kuo-yu, as its candidate.    [FULL  STORY]