Despite the ascendance of Tsai ally Cho Jung-tai to DPP chair, the president still presides over a house divided.
The News Lens
Date: 2019/01/10
By Charlie Lyons Jones
Credit: Taiwan Presidential Office
Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost November’s elections in a landslide due to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文)’s failure to control her own party. The defeat was followed by questions about who will lead the DPP into the presidential elections in 2020.
After electoral losses and a leadership struggle, disciplining the DPP remains as crucial for Tsai now as it was before November’s elections. Her electoral strategy was based on a reasonably accurate assessment of the fault-lines that have been developing both within Taiwan and the DPP.
While in Australian or British politics the left-wing is “red” and the right-wing is “blue,” the distinction in Taiwan is between the “green” DPP that generally supports Taiwan independence and the “blue” Kuomintang (KMT) that tends to promote unification with China. The DPP has also supported progressive issues such as gay marriage, while the KMT has conversely adopted more conservative policies of late.
Within Taiwan’s “green” DPP, there are three factions that have been hardening under the leadership of Tsai Ing-wen [FULL STORY]
