A weekly summary of political news from Taiwan
You win this one, Mr. Wang. The Ma-Wang dustup is settling down into something approaching detente, with Wang having survived an intra-party assault on his position initiated by President Ma, and Ma now looking to cut his losses and make up. On Monday, the KMT's central leadership decided not to appeal the latest court decision by the Taiwan High Court upholding the injunction against expelling Speaker Wang from the party, suggesting that they held little hope of overturning the ruling at the Supreme Court.
The courts in Taiwan have been understandably reluctant to intervene in politically charged cases in recent years, as this manuscript by Wei-tseng Chen and Chia-hsin Hsu argues. Some speculation on my part here, but because the lower court rulings temporarily stopped Wang's expulsion, the Supreme Court would have had to overturn those decisions for the KMT action to take effect. The path of least resistance for the Court in this instance is to sustain the injunction and allow the legal process to play out at the district court. That appears to be what the KMT expected--hence the decision not to appeal.
So, Wang lives to fight another day, holding onto not only his party list seat but also the speakership--a remarkable turn of events given just how dire his political future looked a month ago. The case at the district court probably won't be decided before the next legislative election, at which point Wang can run for, and probably win, a district seat in his base of Kaohsiung County.
The courts in Taiwan have been understandably reluctant to intervene in politically charged cases in recent years, as this manuscript by Wei-tseng Chen and Chia-hsin Hsu argues. Some speculation on my part here, but because the lower court rulings temporarily stopped Wang's expulsion, the Supreme Court would have had to overturn those decisions for the KMT action to take effect. The path of least resistance for the Court in this instance is to sustain the injunction and allow the legal process to play out at the district court. That appears to be what the KMT expected--hence the decision not to appeal.
So, Wang lives to fight another day, holding onto not only his party list seat but also the speakership--a remarkable turn of events given just how dire his political future looked a month ago. The case at the district court probably won't be decided before the next legislative election, at which point Wang can run for, and probably win, a district seat in his base of Kaohsiung County.
Hello, I must be going (皮笑肉不笑). October 10 is the National Day of the Republic of China, or more informally, Double-Ten Day (雙十節). This year's festivities were a bit more interesting than usual. Since Wang Jin-pyng was director of the National Day Celebration organizing committee, tradition dictated that he and President Ma sit on the same stage together, separated only by the first lady, Chow Mei-ching (周美青).
In the end, Ma and Wang played nice for the cameras and struck conciliatory tones toward one another in their respective speeches. Another sign of reconciliation, perhaps: both wore the same silly hats. The shot below is tailor-made for a caption contest:
In the end, Ma and Wang played nice for the cameras and struck conciliatory tones toward one another in their respective speeches. Another sign of reconciliation, perhaps: both wore the same silly hats. The shot below is tailor-made for a caption contest:
We got a lot of problems with you! The official government events were not the only political theater of the day. A large collection of protestors, estimated variously anywhere between between 10 and 60 thousand people, rallied at several locations near the Presidential Hall. As news reports highlighted, the demands of protesters were quite diverse, ranging from opposition to nuclear power to demands for reform of the military punishment system. The one thing uniting them all: a desire for President Ma to step down, or to be impeached. That is unlikely to get far, given the KMT's comfortable majority in the legislature. But it is another sign of how unpopular Ma is right now.
More interesting is that the rallies are the latest manifestation of an upswing in intensity of street protests over the Ma administration's second term. Taiwan has a long history of street protest dating back to the martial law days, but the frequency and size of demonstrations has varied considerably over the years, waxing during the gradual transition to direct election of the legislature and president in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Now, there's something of a return to earlier times in these rallies, as advocacy groups seem more willing than in the past decade to try public demonstrations as a way to bring attention to their causes and to shape the national political discourse.
There are a couple of intriguing questions here. One, is this apparent rise in protest real, or are the numbers and demands of street demonstrators not much different from a decade ago? And two, if it is real, what is driving it? To what degree can this upswing be attributed to the fact that the DPP is completely shut out of power, versus a "supply-side" explanation focusing on rising grievances--housing prices, nuclear power, stagnant wages, perceived government corruption, and so forth? I suspect that unified KMT control has shut many channels for social advocacy groups to have real influence on policy-making, although the ultimate success of these groups under the Chen Shui-bian administration was also limited (gated article).
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to locate much in the way of recent academic work on social movements in Taiwan that speaks to these questions, or even that describes these groups in much detail. (For instance, it would be really helpful to know more about the origins of some of the protests, such as the rather odd Citizen 1985 movement described here.) An opportunity for some future researchers, perhaps...
There are a couple of intriguing questions here. One, is this apparent rise in protest real, or are the numbers and demands of street demonstrators not much different from a decade ago? And two, if it is real, what is driving it? To what degree can this upswing be attributed to the fact that the DPP is completely shut out of power, versus a "supply-side" explanation focusing on rising grievances--housing prices, nuclear power, stagnant wages, perceived government corruption, and so forth? I suspect that unified KMT control has shut many channels for social advocacy groups to have real influence on policy-making, although the ultimate success of these groups under the Chen Shui-bian administration was also limited (gated article).
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to locate much in the way of recent academic work on social movements in Taiwan that speaks to these questions, or even that describes these groups in much detail. (For instance, it would be really helpful to know more about the origins of some of the protests, such as the rather odd Citizen 1985 movement described here.) An opportunity for some future researchers, perhaps...
UPDATE: The China Policy Institute Blog is running an interesting series of posts on Taiwanese politics to coincide with Double Ten Day.
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