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THE return of the Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT) to power in
Taiwan after a hiatus of eight years is expected to usher in a
period of détente on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Saber rattling from Beijing and Taipei, which
was exacerbated by the call of outgoing President Chen Shui-bian for
Taiwan independence, would be considerably lessened, at least
momentarily.
Majority of the Taiwanese people obviously
rejected the idea as they elected KMT’s Ma Ying-jeou over Frank
Hsieh, the candidate of Chen’s Democratic People’s Party (DPP).
Ma’s victory can also be attributed to his
carefully crafted campaign platform that revolves on the three
“No’s”—no to unification; no to independence; and no to
armed confrontation with China.
Analysts say this is a clever take-off from
Beijing’s own “three No’s”—no Taiwan independence; no
“two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan”; and no Taiwan
membership in any organization where statehood is required.
Ma’s formula appears to reassure three main
audiences: the people of Taiwan, the People’s Republic of China (PRC),
the United States and the international community.
The soft-spoken and charismatic Ma has also
promised to work for closer ties with China, including a possible
peace treaty with the mainland, to put an end to decades of
hostilities between the two sides and to rev up Taiwan’s own
stuttering economy.
KMT back on the helm
Ma’s assumption of the presidency on May 20
would formally give the KMT overall control of the nation once again
after it crushed the DPP in parliamentary elections in January.
The KMT, which originated in China in 1912, was
founded by Song Jiaoren and Sun Yat-sen shortly after the Xinhai
Revolution. Later led by Chiang Kai-shek, it ruled much of China
from 1928 until its retreat to Taiwan in 1949 after its defeat by
the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) led by Chairman Mao Zedong during
the Chinese Civil War.
In Taiwan, the KMT controlled the government
under a single party state until reforms in the late 1970s through
the 1990s loosened its grip on power.
Stark contrast
The presidential election in Taiwan held last
March 22 was in stark contrast to a similar exercise held in Beijing
on March 15, or just a week before.
While every Taiwanese was given the right to
vote for his or her choice, the National People’s Congress, which
convened in Beijing in the middle of March, had no other choice for
president because the top hierarchy of the CCP has endorsed only one
candidate, President Hu Jintao. The job of the NPC deputies,
numbering 2,967, was only to reaffirm the election of Hu for another
five-year term.
According to Wellington Wei, information
director of the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office (TECO), the de
facto Taiwan embassy in Manila, the presidential election in Taiwan
is a model for other democracies in the world to follow. “It was a
long, hotly contested campaign but the election finally ended in a
smooth and peaceful manner,” he said.
Wei said that the lively election, which was
covered by some 598 foreign correspondents, only showed that
democracy in Taiwan has already matured.
Checkered career
Ma, who was born in Hong Kong on July 13, 1950,
is a former justice minister and former mayor of Taipei. He was
chairman of the Kuomintang from 2005 up to Feb. 13, 2007, when he
announced his resignation after his indictment on charges of misuse
of funds during his tenure as Taipei mayor.
He was found not guilty in the first and second
trials, but the case is now under appeal in the Supreme Court. It is
not known what will happen to the case, now that he is elected
president.
When Ma was one year old, his family moved to
Taiwan. He earned a law degree from National Taiwan University in
1972. He completed his master’s degree in law from New York
University Law School and his doctorate in law from Harvard Law
School. After his studies in the US, Ma returned to Taiwan in 1981
to teach law.
After serving as deputy secretary-general of the
KMT and as deputy of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), then
President Lee Teng-hui appointed Ma justice minister in 1993. Three
years after, he was relieved of his post and Ma returned to academe.
Most people thought that that was the end of his political career.
However in December 2002, Ma regained his
stature in the KMT after he easily won reelection as mayor of
Taipei. Despite the initial opposition of KMT Chairman Lee Teng-hui,
he consolidated his forces within the party and marshaled them for
his bid for the presidency in the 2008 elections which he handily
won.
malinaolito@yahoo.com
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