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May 13, 2000

the Presidential Election in Taiwan

Guest Speaker : Mr. Chen Han-Wen (the University of Michigan)

Observer : Mr. Roan Jiunn-Ren (Nagoya University)

In the last Presidential Election in Taiwan, Mr. Chen Sui-Bien won the race. From other countries' points of view, this election seems to have been just the choice of either the ruling party or a opposition party. However, it was not so simple. This is what we saw from inside Taiwan.

the "ruling" party and the "opposition" party

the ruling party, "Kuo-Min-Tang"(Nationalist Party)
Since Mr. Chiang Kai-Shek left Mainland of China and set up his headquarters at Taiwan, "Kuo-Min-Tang" had been the ruling party of Taiwan for about a half century. This party is originally established in the mainland of China and insists that only it is the official government of China (including both Mainland and Taiwan).
the opposition party, "DPP" Democratic Progressive Party
This party was established in 1986. The basic policy of this party is "Taiwanese should keep the right to self-determination for the 21 million people on Taiwan." In a sense, it means the independence from Mainland.

Five persons in the Presidential Election
There were 5 "actors" appeared in this election, three from KMT and two from DPP.

Three Persons from KMT

NAME	*Mr. Lee Ten-Hui*	*Mr. Lian Chan*	*Mr. Sung Chu-Yu*
TITLE	President	Vice-President	the Governor of Taiwan Province
Central or Local	Central Government		Local Government

NOTES: TITLE is the title at the time of before the election.

Snapshot at Mr. Chen's Lecture

The "Favorable" Successor

The President, Mr. Lee, specified the vice president, Mr. Lian, as successor to the president. However, he was not popular among the citizens. On the other hand, the Governor of Taiwan Province, Mr. Sung, was much more popular among the citizens. It was because Mr. Sung had kept giving benefits to the citizens of Taiwan, as the head of local government. Therefore, most people thought Mr. Sung is more appropriate for the presidential candidate from KMT. However, such situation is not favorable for the president, Mr. Lee, since he is familiar with Mr. Lian rather than with Mr. Sung.
To reduce the popularity with Mr. Sung, the groups which support Mr. Lee and Mr. Lian spread the scandalous rumor about Mr. Sung. Then, the relationship between Mr. Lee and Mr. Sung had been getting worse.

Two Persons from DPP

NAME	*Mr. Chen Sui-Bian*	*Mr. Hsu Hsin-Liang*
TITLE	Former Taipei Mayor	the head of DPP

NOTES: TITLE is the title at the time of before the election.

Snapshot at Mr. Roan's Speech

"4-years Rule"

Originally, DPP had "4-years Rule", which restricts the chance to run for a certain post. On this rule, any DPP person who was elected to a post can not run for any election until 4 years later he resigned the post. This rule is established by Mr. Chen, so that many candidate from DPP can be elected to official posts.
However, Mr. Chen had to throw this policy (established by himself) away, because this rule prevent him from running for the presidential election. (Mr. Chen lost the post of Taipei Mayor last year. So, he could not run for the election because of that rule.)
To run for the election, he proposed to remove this rule from the DPP policy. However, the head of DPP, Mr. Hsu strongly opposed this proposal. At last, as Mr. Chen proposed, this policy is removed. Then, Mr. Hsu quitted DPP.

Does "DPP's victory" really mean "Independence from Mainland"?
This figure is the result of the last Presidential Election.

Candidate	Percentage	Party
*Mr. Chen Sui-Bian*	40 %	DPP	40 %
*Mr. Mr. Sung Chu-Yu*	37 %	KMT	Total: 60 %
*Mr. Mr. Lian Chan*	23 %	KMT	Total: 60 %

As shown in this figure, 60 percent of people support KMT. It means that most people support the current status of Taiwan. In other words, most of them don't think Taiwan should be independent immediately.

Related Sites
KMT(in Chinese)
DPP(in English)

News Search "Taiwan":

Guest Speaker :	Mr. Chen Han-Wen (the University of Michigan)
Observer :	Mr. Roan Jiunn-Ren (Nagoya University)