Recent Taiwan Elections
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Taiwan recently had national elections. Prior to this election the DPP (Democratic Peoples Party) had the president for the past 8 years (2 terms). Like the US the president can only be for two terms.
The winner of the president election was again from the DPP. KMT (Kuomingtan) was second and a third party, TPP (Taiwan People Party) was third.
Interesting, in the Legislative Yuan (like the US congress), the DPP lost its majority and now the seats are: DPP = 51, KMT = 52, TPP = 8
For the President election, the main topic was relations with mainland China. DPP favors a more "independence" style/close to the US, while the KMT (party of former premier Chiang Kai Shek) favors closer relations with mainland China. The TPP is kind of in the middle.
Mostly (but not completely true), north Taiwan is more KMT. When Premier Chiang left mainland China, he and his followers settled in north Taiwan, and there are still many people there only a few generations removed from mainland China. South Taiwan is more DPP as more of the people there have been in Taiwan for generations. Taiwanese language is more spoken as a native language in the south vs. the north.
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Glad the DPP won, I suppose? I can't imagine any position such as the KMT or TPP, that gives any concessions to China to be one with a long future. Taiwan is very important to the world economy and has many powerful friends (like the USA). China is facing some major internal economic and social issues... perhaps that makes war more attractive to such a declining state.
Anyway, thanks for the update.
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Two points:
- The most pro-independence Presidential candidate won the Presidency
- The CCP unleashed huge disinformation campaign trying to influence Taiwan’s election
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Like Mik, I was unaware of the cultural and linguistic differences among the population in Taiwan. Are the Taiwanese languages mutually intelligible with Mandarin or are they quite distinct in the way Cantonese is from Mandarin?
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@Renauda Taiwanese and Mandarin are very different. They use the same writing and characters, but vocally, one cannot understand the other. Taiwanese has 7 tones, and Mandarin Chinese has 5 tones. The writing characters used in Taiwan (and still in Hong Kong, and Singapore and parts of Malaysia) are the "detailed" characters, while in mainland China, Chairman Mao "simplified" the characters. Actually, for me, it is somewhat difficult to read full text in simplified characters (and probably the same for a mainland Chinese to read the "detailed" characters.)
Taiwanese was banned in schools and on TV/radio until the late 1980's(?). The teachers would knock your knuckles with a ruler if they heard you speaking it in school. LOL
(Interesting fact - Taiwan was under marital law from the time Chiang Kai Shek arrived until mid 1980's. Also, when the Taiwan Congress was set up by KMT after the Chinese civil war, there were congressman who represented different provinces of mainland China. They were frozen in their seats, and still voted on matters until the end of the 1980's. If you think some of the US congressman are old.......)
@Mik Unfortunately, I think that Premier Xi will get more aggressive. What is one way to distract people from domestic problems? Turn the people's attention to something outside the borders and for China, this would be Taiwan.
@jolly You would be happy that there are no absentee or mail ballots. All voting must be done in person.
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President Lai was just inaugurated at the President of Taiwan.
The United States congratulates Dr. Lai Ching-te on his inauguration as Taiwan’s fifth democratically elected president. We also congratulate the Taiwan people for once again demonstrating the strength of their robust and resilient democratic system.
The partnership between the American people and the Taiwan people, rooted in democratic values, continues to broaden and deepen across trade, economic, cultural, and people-to-people ties.
The United States commends President Tsai Ing-wen for strengthening ties between the United States and Taiwan over the past eight years.
We look forward to working with President Lai and across Taiwan’s political spectrum to advance our shared interests and values, deepen our longstanding unofficial relationship, and maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
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President Lai was just inaugurated at the President of Taiwan.
The United States congratulates Dr. Lai Ching-te on his inauguration as Taiwan’s fifth democratically elected president. We also congratulate the Taiwan people for once again demonstrating the strength of their robust and resilient democratic system.
The partnership between the American people and the Taiwan people, rooted in democratic values, continues to broaden and deepen across trade, economic, cultural, and people-to-people ties.
The United States commends President Tsai Ing-wen for strengthening ties between the United States and Taiwan over the past eight years.
We look forward to working with President Lai and across Taiwan’s political spectrum to advance our shared interests and values, deepen our longstanding unofficial relationship, and maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
@taiwan_girl your thoughts?
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@taiwan_girl your thoughts?
@George-K I think it is good. He has had to "walk backward" some of his earlier comments that were more strong about independence, etc. (Just like all politicians around the world. LOL). There will not be a whole lot of change from President Tsai.
For the high majority of people, I believe they would just like the status quo to continue. Taiwan acts as a independent country. China leaves us along, etc.
I think I mentioned previously, but one thing that Taiwan has done recently is removed "Republic of China" from the cover of the passports (Note: this happened before President Lai was elected.)
