As China looms large, two opposing visions face off in Taiwan's election
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Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Su Chao Hui, left, is seeking another term in office. Jason Hsu, right, a former law maker and current advisor to KMT presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih.An Rong Xu for NPR -
DPP supporters cheer at a rally for Su in New Taipei City in January.An Rong Xu for NPR -
Residents watch as Su drives past, some cheering her on.An Rong Xu for NPR -
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Su Chao Hui is seeking another term in office.An Rong Xu for NPR -
Su gets out street canvassing, greeting pedestrians and reminding them to vote on Jan. 13.An Rong Xu for NPR -
DPP presidential candidate Lai Ching Te, center, speaks at a rally in front of the presidential palace.An Rong Xu for NPR -
Su Chao Hui, center, with DPP vice presidential candidate, Hsiao Bi-khim, left, at a rally in January.An Rong Xu for NPR -
Taiwan election rallies draw big — and colorful — crowds.An Rong Xu for NPR -
KMT supporters at a rally for the Kuomintang presidential candidate, Hou Yu-ih.An Rong Xu for NPR -
Jason Hsu in Taipei in January.An Rong Xu for NPR -
The KMT advocates sovereign self-governance in Taiwan.An Rong Xu for NPR -
KMT supporters gather in Taoyuan in January.An Rong Xu for NPR
TAIPEI, Taiwan — The caravan of trucks departs around 9:30 a.m. on a sleepy Sunday morning.
The lead vehicle is full of partisans standing on the truck bed. One man riffs constantly into a loudspeaker, announcing to the people of the 5th District of New Taipei City that their elected legislator Su Chiao-hui is here.
More of her campaign team — including her two daughters — stand on the back of the second truck waving bright pink flags.
Su stands aside a city councilor on the third truck, wearing a pink vest – her campaign's color – and a headset microphone. She exhorts the crowd for their votes and occasionally breaks into song.
Some excited supporters chant back. Two groups set off firecrackers for good luck. Others on the street wave politely, or seem not to acknowledge the presence of four large vehicles adorned with photos of Su's face, having seen it for months leading up to Saturday's presidential and legislative elections in Taiwan.
Su is a member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), one of the two major and opposing entities that have dominated the island's politics for decades – the other being the Kuomintang (KMT). A third, newer party is on this year's ballot — the Taiwan People's Party — though it is not expected to finish among the top two in voting.
In a very literal way, Su represents the next generation of her party.
The daughter
Su's father Su Tseng-chang recently stepped down as Taiwan's premier (the head of the executive cabinet); before that, he was chair of the DPP; and long before that, he helped to establish the DPP at the tail end of martial law in the 1980s, when Taiwanese democracy was only an aspiration.
"We are a party founded under the shadow of a one-party state," Su said in an interview with NPR. "But we wanted more democracy and freedom. And we've never stopped pursuing that."
As a child, Su saw her father lead rallies and protests. Back then, TV news coverage called the DPP a splinter movement – not a political party.
"I remember the police arresting and detaining protesters, and I sometimes wondered if my father would just not come back home one day," she said.
"Drop by drop," election by election, Su says, now 47 years old, that Taiwan has peacefully democratized. And today's DPP has, in a way, become an establishment political force. President Tsai Ing-wen has been in power for eight years; her Vice President Lai Ching-te is favored to win Saturday's election in a close contest.
Lai has vowed to continue President Tsai's agenda on international relations. Su, the daughter of a DPP party elder, is herself now running for her third term in office.
And while the DPP has historically been associated with politicians who favor formal Taiwanese independence, today's DPP leaders have moved closer to the political center on this.
"Many people think that the DPP wants independence for Taiwan, but that's not the case," she said. "The DPP is simply pushing back against China – not pushing for independence."
The eternal question in Taiwanese politics is China. Because a declaration of formal independence would cross a diplomatic red line with China – which has long viewed Taiwan as a rogue Chinese province – the DPP candidate Lai now says it's enough that Taiwan already has de facto independence.
China remains unconvinced. Its government has refused to meet with President Tsai, and has called Vice President Lai a "separatist," giving every indication that cross-strait diplomatic relations would remain frozen under a Lai administration.
"It's not us – it's China that has rejected talks with the DPP," Su said. "Actually, the DPP would be very happy to engage in reciprocal talks with China."
"If people want the DPP to resume talks with China, it's China that needs to change its behavior, not the DPP."
Su says the DPP wants to push Taiwan out into the world stage and build relationships with other countries. She accuses the KMT, in its effort to not provoke China, of limiting Taiwan's global presence, and aiming to bind itself closer to China.
"[The opposition] keeps bringing up the example of Ukraine and Russia, claiming that Ukraine instigated the war with Russia by trying to join NATO," Su said. "It's almost as if they're saying, Taiwan shouldn't try to make any friends on the global stage because it could lead to war with China – a narrative that if you vote for the DPP, you're voting for war."
Where KMT presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih has cast this election as a choice between war with China (the DPP route) and peace (a vote for him), Su hastens to point out that neither party's vision for Taiwan is ultimately acceptable to China.
"It doesn't matter which political party is in power in Taiwan," Su said. "As long as that party is Taiwan and they're running it as a sovereign state, Beijing will always be unsatisfied."
The outsider
On the same day we spoke with Su, our NPR team met with Hsu Yu-jen – known also as Jason Hsu.
Hsu, 42, was once a fellow lawmaker, elected in the same year (2016) that Su ran for and won her first term. We met Hsu outside Taiwan's congressional building, the Legislative Yuan.
It was here, in 2014, that protesters occupied the building for about a month – touched off by the then-KMT government's trade agreement with China. It came to be known as the Sunflower Movement, and it was led by students.
"It was quite amazing that they were able to organize the movement as well as making sure that they get their homework covered," Hsu said.
Hsu supported the protesters by donating server space, through his company at the time. And the Sunflower Movement inspired him to get into politics, first as a government advisor on youth policy and entrepreneurship. But he was later recruited by the very party that the students were protesting — the KMT.
"I realized you need to be in the government to change the system," Hsu said. "And you have to be willing to be on both sides and to build that bridge."
"[The KMT] wanted someone with fresh thinking, no political baggage, not a second generation of politician ... I hesitated because that doesn't really fit 100% well with my ideology, but I felt, you know, maybe being inside, I can create some chemistry change within this old party."
Hsu describes himself as among the progressive wing of his party. In fact, his outspoken support of same-sex marriage created a rift between him and more conservative KMT elders.
At the time, anti-gay protesters also made their way down to the Legislative Yuan. He says some even made life-size dolls of him and whipped the dolls as they would an effigy.
Hsu was an at-large legislator. In Taiwan, citizens vote for both their district's representative and for a political party; a number of legislative seats are reserved for that at-large vote, and allotted to parties in proportion to their share of the vote. Parties can distribute those seats to their would-be legislators as they see fit.
Following his 2019 vote to legalize same-sex marriage (which passed and was made into law), the KMT did not see fit to nominate Hsu as a legislator for the 2020 election. Currently, he's a fellow at Harvard University's school of public policy and government, focused on semiconductors and geopolitics.
And yet, he remains an advisor to KMT presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih. Ultimately, he favors the KMT's approach to China.
"It takes two to tango," Hsu said. "I think there needs to be a common understanding of what the red line is to both sides. I think the KMT has historically been able to thread that line pretty well and also create an ambiguity on both sides to allow room for survival and resistance on both sides."
China has given no indication of budging on its position that Taiwan is Chinese territory. And Hsu admits he doesn't know the endgame to better relations, only that it's important to buy time.
"There isn't a satisfying answer to both sides, meaning Taiwan and China at the moment," Hsu said. "We believe that the best way to deal with the situation is to kick the can down the road."
Just as the DPP has historically been associated with formal Taiwan independence, the KMT – the present-day outgrowth of the military regime that fled from civil war in China and then ruled over Taiwan starting in 1949 – has historically been associated with unification; of somehow eventually merging China and Taiwan under one ruling body.
That idea has long been unpopular in now-democratic Taiwan, and KMT officials also have moved to the center on cross-strait issues. Like their opposition, the KMT now also advocates for the status quo of sovereign self-governance in Taiwan, without unification or formal independence.
The difference between the now center-left and center-right parties, Hsu says, really comes down to China's perception of their behavior and rhetoric.
"The way that the DPP deals with the situation is leading China to believe that Taiwan is pursuing de jure independence without saying it, and that the U.S. is supporting the DPP administration to do so," Hsu says. "So it's really a three-way question. The level of threat is very high, but then the level of assurance on three sides is very low."
If the DPP's Lai wins the presidential election, Hsu says his party is due for an ideological soul-searching on this issue. It's clear to him that too many believe the KMT to be too pro-China. And he thinks it ought to seek out the voices of younger generations within the century-old party.
"We are dealing with a China very different from [what the] KMT dealt with in the last 30 years," Hsu said. "We should recognize its ambition and be cautious of it."
The future
Among the party priorities Hsu outlined, he also offers another, more symbolic proposal. The official name of his party translates to the "China Kuomintang." It's strange to him that in this day and age, it's not called the Taiwan Kuomintang.
"If I would ever be the chairman of KMT, that's the name I would use," he said.
If there's one thing both Jason Hsu and Su Chiao-hui advocate, it's that the future of Taiwan belongs to a democratic, self-governing Taiwan.
"The DPP's biggest achievement is that now, you can proudly say, 'I am a Taiwanese person,' and nobody will confuse you with Thailand," Su joked.
Su thanked her father and his generation for leaving a better Taiwan, where people can live and speak freely. She said it's now her responsibility to preserve that freedom and leave Taiwan in an even better place for her children, and for future generations to come.
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Transcript
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
I'm Ailsa Chang in New Taipei City, Taiwan, where a new president will be elected tomorrow.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Chanting in non-English language).
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting in non-English language).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Chanting in non-English language).
CHANG: Elections have only been around on this island for about 30 years, so democracy is still kind of cause for celebration here.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Chanting in non-English language).
CHANG: I was riding around in the back of a pickup truck with a legislator named Su Chiao-hui. She's in the same party as the presidential candidate who's favored to win tomorrow, Lai Ching-te, the current vice president of Taiwan. Their party is called the Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP, and their main opposition is the Kuomintang, or KMT, which was the only ruling party in modern Taiwan until the DPP formed in the 1980s. In this election, the biggest challenge for both parties is to convince voters that their vision is the best vision for keeping Taiwan safe from China.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: (Non-English language spoken).
CHANG: And Su Chiao-hui is a window into the DPP's vision because her father, the former premier of Taiwan, Su Tseng-chang, helped found the DPP, and she intends to continue his legacy.
SU CHIAO-HUI: My husband.
CHANG: Oh...
LUNGNAN ISAK FANGAS: Hi.
CHANG: ...My gosh.
SU: Yeah.
LUNGNAN: Hi.
CHANG: Hi. Ailsa Chang.
LUNGNAN: Nice to meet you.
CHANG: When we first showed up at Su Chiao-hui's office in New Taipei City, family members started pouring into the room - her husband, two teenage daughters, sisters, a cousin, even her mom.
Honestly, this...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #6: Yes.
CHANG: ...Feels like Lunar New Year right now. I feel like...
It seemed like the only person missing in that room was her father.
SU: (Through interpreter) Growing up, I remember watching my father on television, marching in the streets and fighting for freedom when Taiwan was still under martial law. I remember the police arresting and detaining protesters, and I used to wonder if one day my father just wouldn't come home.
CHANG: Those memories inspired her to go into politics. And like her father, Su Chiao-hui says she is committed to safeguarding Taiwan's autonomy. But she does want to make one thing clear.
SU: (Through interpreter) Many people think that the DPP wants independence for Taiwan, but that's not the case. All the DPP wants is to preserve democracy and freedom. It's China that is pressuring Taiwan. The DPP is simply pushing back against China, not pushing for independence.
CHANG: I mean, the DPP presidential candidate, Lai Ching-te - he's currently favored to win, but it's very clear that Beijing would not like that outcome. And many people fear that a Lai Ching-te victory would provoke China. So how does the DPP open up a path to work with and be in dialogue with China?
SU: (Through interpreter) It's not us. It's China that has rejected talks with the DPP. Actually, the DPP would be very happy to engage in reciprocal talks with China to talk about trade, cultural exchange and even politics. If people want the DPP to resume talks with China, it's China that needs to change its behavior, not the DPP.
CHANG: But how does the DPP address the KMT's message? For example, the KMT presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih has made it clear that he wants to work with Beijing. He has said that voting for him is a vote for peace, voting for the DPP is a possible vote for war and that perhaps voting for the KMT will make Taiwan safer. How do you respond to that frame?
SU: (Through interpreter) It doesn't matter which political party is in power in Taiwan. As long as that party is running Taiwan as a sovereign state, Beijing will always be unsatisfied.
CHANG: Are you concerned with the greater military presence by China in the Taiwan Strait? And if so, what would the DPP do about that?
SU: (Through interpreter) This is a really important issue for the DPP because the opposition has been using the threat of war with China to intimidate voters. They keep bringing up the example of Ukraine and Russia, claiming that Ukraine instigated the war with Russia by trying to join NATO. It's almost as if they're saying Taiwan should not try to make any friends on the global stage because it could lead to war with China. It's a narrative that if you vote for the DPP, you're voting for war.
JASON HSU: It's a question of perception. And so even DPP doesn't say they pursue independence. In their party principle or their ultimate goal, pursue independence is still one option.
CHANG: This is Jason Hsu. Currently, he's an advisor for the KMT presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih. Hsu used to be a legislator after he was selected by KMT leaders in 2016 to serve one term.
HSU: This whole area was occupied by students.
CHANG: Hsu first decided to get into politics standing right here outside Taiwan's Legislative Yuan, or legislature. During the Sunflower Movement in 2014, thousands of protesters occupied this place for weeks.
HSU: In tents and sleeping bags, too, yeah, on the floor.
CHANG: They were rallying against the KMT administration's closeness with China, and Jason Hsu showed up day after day on this street corner to support the students camping out.
HSU: Since they are out of school, they are also, you know, gathered in circles to study as well.
CHANG: They were studying.
HSU: Yeah.
CHANG: They were getting their homework done during...
HSU: Yeah.
CHANG: ...The Sunflower Movement.
HSU: Yeah, yeah.
CHANG: (Laughter).
HSU: And so, to me, it was quite amazing.
CHANG: The Sunflower Movement dealt a major blow to the KMT's power in Taiwan, and yet, Hsu decided to join the KMT after the protests.
Why did you join the party that the Sunflower Movement was pushing against?
HSU: Yeah. I realized you need to be in the government to change the system, and I hesitated because that doesn't really fit 100% well with my ideology. But I felt, you know, maybe being inside, I can create some chemistry change within this old party. And I believe that I have held up to my own value, and I also supported same-sex marriage and a bunch of other progressive legislation.
CHANG: It is notable that Hsu considers himself progressive because the KMT is seen as the old guard. They're the party of Chiang Kai-shek who fled from mainland China to Taiwan in 1949. He then imposed martial law on this island, which would last until the 1980s. And when Hsu declared his support for same-sex marriage, he received hate mail from members of his own party, who then decided not to appoint him as a legislator again. But Hsu stayed with the KMT because he says he still agrees with the KMT's approach to one of Taiwan's central concerns - China.
Why is the KMT's approach more balanced than DPP's approach...
HSU: KMT...
CHANG: ...When it comes to China?
HSU: Sure. KMT advocates and promotes communication and manage the risks. These are to...
CHANG: Well, the DPP says it wants to communicate with Beijing, but Beijing has refused to communicate with them.
HSU: Well...
CHANG: But they want to.
HSU: So it takes two to tango. I think there needs to be a common understandings of what the red line is to both sides, and I think KMT has historically been able to thread that line pretty well and also create a ambiguity to allow room for survival on both sides.
CHANG: But I have to ask, what is the endgame? - because this morning, we talked with a DPP legislator, Su Chiao-hui, who said there's nothing any political party can say to China that can actually bring about ultimate peace, at least not in a way where Taiwan gets to keep its current autonomy.
HSU: Yeah, so there isn't a satisfying answer. We believe that the best way to deal with this situation is to kick the can down the road, and...
CHANG: You believe you want to keep kicking the can down the road?
HSU: Yeah, and then maintain the status quo.
CHANG: Right.
HSU: And...
CHANG: But the way I understand it, DPP wants to maintain status quo, too. So what's the substantive difference between your two positions?
HSU: Well, the difference is the way that the DPP deals with situation is leading China to believe that Taiwan is pursuing independence without saying it. And U.S. is supporting DPP administration to do so. The level threat is very high, but then the level of assurance on three sides is very low. And for us, we know two things are most important for Taiwan. One is our way of living, which is basically democracy and a freedom of speech. The other is economic prosperity. And frankly, we won't negotiate with China until China recognize our democracy and also our sovereign self-govern status.
CHANG: Do you have your own ideas about what the KMT should do about China?
HSU: Well, I think we are dealing with a China, like, that is very different from KMT dealt with in the last 30 years. First of all, I think that we should recognize its ambition and be cautious of it. And secondly, there are a lot of younger politicians within KMT, and KMT should maybe allow this younger generations to have a chance to steer this century-old party. And we should communicate with the people of Taiwan that this KMT is Taiwan KMT, not Chinese KMT. To me, it's strange that KMT is still called (speaking Mandarin) Kuomintang. It should be called Taiwan Kuomintang.
CHANG: (Speaking Mandarin) is the Mandarin phrase for China.
HSU: Yeah, so it should be called Taiwan KMT. If I were ever be a chairman of KMT, that's the name I would use.
CHANG: That is actually one thing you can hear both parties agree on - that the future of Taiwan belongs to Taiwan. And protecting that future, according to both Jason Hsu and Su Chiao-hui, means protecting this island's distinct identity.
SU: (Through interpreter) The DPP's biggest achievement is that now you can proudly say, I am a Taiwanese person, and nobody will confuse you with Thailand.
(LAUGHTER)
SU: (Through interpreter) And I really want to thank my father and his generation for leaving us a better Taiwan. You can live freely. You can do whatever you wish, be whoever you want.
CHANG: Su Chiao-hui then points to her two daughters who had been listening to our entire interview.
SU: (Non-English language spoken).
CHANG: And she says, it's now her responsibility to preserve Taiwan's freedom, to leave Taiwan a better place for her children and for generations to come.
SU: (Non-English language spoken).
(SOUNDBITE OF AUSTIN FARWELL'S "DREAMING")
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
This story was produced by Mallory Yu and Jonaki Mehta. It was edited by Patrick Jarenwattananon with translations by Emily Feng.
(SOUNDBITE OF AUSTIN FARWELL'S "DREAMING") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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