Democratic Progressive Party

Democratic Progressive Party 民主進步黨 Mínzhǔ Jìnbù Dǎng
Abbreviation	民進黨
Leader	Tsai Ing-wen (President)
Secretary-General	Hung Yao-fu
Founded	28 September 1986 (1986-09-28)
Headquarters	Taipei, Taiwan
Think tank	New Frontier Foundation
Membership (2014)	335,643
Ideology	Liberalism[1][2] Populism[3] Social liberalism[2] Taiwanese independence[2] Taiwanese nationalism[2]
Political position	Centre[4] to Centre-left[5]
National affiliation	Pan-Green Coalition
Regional affiliation	Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats
International affiliation	Liberal International
Colours	Green
Legislative Yuan	68 / 113
Municipal Mayoralties	4 / 6
City Mayoralties and County Magistracies	9 / 16
Local Councillors	291 / 906
Township Chiefs	54 / 211
Party flag
Website
dpp.org.tw
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The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), also known as Minjindang (MJD)^[6] is a liberal political party in Taiwan and the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition as it is currently the majority ruling party, controlling both the presidency and the unicameral Legislative Yuan.

Founded in 1986, the DPP is one of two major parties in Taiwan, along with the historically dominant Kuomintang. It has traditionally been associated with strong advocacy of human rights, anti-communism and a distinct Taiwanese identity. The current leader is President Tsai Ing-wen, the second member of the DPP to hold the office.^[7]

The DPP is a long-term member of Liberal International and a founding member of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats. It represented Taiwan in the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation. The DPP and its affiliated parties are widely classified as socially liberal because of their strong support for human rights, but they also advocate economic liberalism and a nationalistic identity. In addition, the DPP is more willing to increase military expenditures compared to the KMT.

History

The DPP's roots were in opposition to Kuomintang one-party authoritarian rule. It was founded as the Tangwai – or "outside-the-KMT" – movement. This movement culminated in the formation of the DPP as an alternative party on 28 September 1986 when eighteen founding members met at Grand Hotel Taipei.^[8] A total of 132 people joined the party that day.^[9] The new party contested the 1986 election even though competing parties remained illegal under national law until the following year. The first members of the party drew heavily from the ranks of family members and defense lawyers of political prisoners as well as intellectuals and artists who had spent time abroad. Such individuals were strongly committed to political change that would ensure constitutional support in Republic of China's for freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and association. The party did not at the outset give open support to an independent Republic of China's national identity–a move that could have invited a violent crackdown by the Republic of China's Kuomintang rulers. Its platform was pro-environment and pro-democracy. As more and more of its demands were met during the 1990s–such as the direct popular election of Republic of China's president and all representatives in its Legislative Yuan, and open discussion of Republic of China's repressive past as represented in the February 28 Incident and its long martial law aftermath–a greater variety of views could be advocated in the more liberal political atmosphere. Party members began openly promoting a national identity for Republic of China separate from that of China. The DPP supported reform of the Constitution that would make it official that Republic of China's national government represented only the people of Republic of China and made no claims to territory in mainland China or Mongolia.

Once the DPP had representation in the Legislative Yuan (LY, or Parliament), the party used the legislature as a forum to challenge the government. However, it did not emerge as a formidable force until 1991, when the elderly LY members elected from the mainland provinces in 1948 retired. Fears that the DPP would one day take control of the legislature led then-President Lee Teng-hui to push through a series of amendments to strengthen presidential power (for example, Republic of China's premier would no longer have to be confirmed by the Legislative Yuan).

2000–2008: in minority government

Former President Chen Shui-bian, the first DPP president (2000-2008)

Old DPP logo

The DPP won the presidency with the election of Chen Shui-bian in March 2000 with a plurality, due to Pan-Blue voters splitting their vote between the Kuomintang and independent candidate James Soong, ending more than half a century of KMT rule in Republic of China. Chen softened the party's stance on independence to appeal to moderate voters, appease the United States and placate China. He also promised not to change the ROC state symbols or declare formal independence as long as the People's Republic of China did not attack Taiwan.

The DPP became the largest party having reached a plurality in the Legislative Yuan for the first time in 2002 following the 2001 legislative election. However, a majority coalition between the KMT, People First Party, and New Party prevented it from taking control of the chamber.

In 2004, President Chen Shui-bian was re-elected by a narrow margin. He and Vice President Annette Lu had been involved in an assassination attempt only hours before the election. The KMT candidate, Lien Chan, demanded a recount the following morning. A judicial recount under the jurisdiction of a special panel of the High Court began on 10 May 2004 and ended on 18 May 2004. It was conducted by about 460 teams situated in 21 courthouses across the Taiwan area. Each team had seven members – one judge, two members each from the district court and the local government election authorities and two witnesses each representing the plaintiff (Pan-Blue Coalition) and the defendant (Pan-Green Coalition). Disputed votes were sent to High Court in Taipei for verification. After the recount, President Chen was confirmed the winner of the election by a smaller margin (25,563 as opposed to 29,518 originally). In the later legislative election, the Pan-Blue Coalition opposition retained control of the chamber.

The DPP suffered a significant election defeat in nationwide local and county elections in December 2005. The pan-blue coalition captured 16 of 23 county and city government offices under the leadership of popular Taipei mayor and KMT Party Chairman Ma Ying-jeou.

The results led to a shake up of the party leadership. Su Tseng-chang resigned as DPP chairman soon after election results were announced. Su had pledged to step down if the DPP lost either Taipei County or failed to win 10 of the 23 mayor/magistrate positions. Vice President Annette Lu was appointed acting DPP leader. Presidential Office Secretary-General Yu Shyi-kun was elected in a three-way race against legislator Chai Trong-rong and Wong Chin-chu with 54.4% of the vote.

Premier Frank Hsieh, DPP election organizer and former mayor of Kaohsiung twice tendered a verbal resignation immediately following the election, but his resignation was not accepted by President Chen until 17 January 2006 after the DPP chairmanship election had concluded. The former DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang was appointed to replace Hsieh as premier. Hsieh and his cabinet resigned en masse on January 24 to make way for Su and his new cabinet. President Chen had offered the position of Presidential Office Secretary-General (vacated by Su) to the departing premier, but Hsieh declined and left office criticizing President Chen for his tough line on dealing with China.

Policies

Tsai Ing-wen, President of the Republic of China and current DPP Chairperson (2008-2012, 2014-present)

Programs supported by the DPP include moderate social welfare policies involving the rights of women, senior citizens, children, young people, labour, minorities, indigenous peoples, farmers, and other disadvantaged sectors of the society. Furthermore, its platform includes a legal and political order based on human rights and democracy; balanced economic and financial administration; fair and open social welfare; educational and cultural reform; independent defence and peaceful foreign policy. For these reasons, it used to be considered a party of the centre-left economically, and its base consisted largely of the working class; however, the majority of its policies are now centrist in nature.

The primary political axis in Taiwan involves the issue of Taiwan independence versus eventual unification with China. Although the differences tend to be portrayed in polarized terms, both major coalitions have developed modified, nuanced and often complex positions. Though opposed in the philosophical origins, the practical differences between such positions can sometimes be subtle.

The current official position of the party is that the "Republic of China (Taiwan)" is an independent and sovereign country whose territory consists of Taiwan and its surrounding smaller islands and whose sovereignty derives only from the ROC citizens living in Taiwan (similar philosophy of self-determination), based on the "Resolution on Taiwan's Future" in 1999. It considers Taiwan independence to be a current fact, making a formal declaration of independence unnecessary. The DPP rejects the so-called "One China principle" defined in 1992 as the basis for official diplomatic relations with the mainland China (PRC) and advocates a Taiwanese national identity which is separate from mainland China. The DPP argues that its efforts to promote a Taiwanese national identity are merely an effort to normalize a Taiwanese identity repressed during years of authoritarian Kuomintang rule. Democratic Progressive Party also differs from the KMT on foreign and defense policies in that the DPP considers relations with the United States, Japan, and European states, among other democratic countries, are crucial for Taiwan's security.

In contrast, the KMT or pan-blue coalition agrees that the Republic of China is an independent and sovereign country that is not part of the PRC, but argues that a one China principle (with different definitions across the strait) can be used as the basis for talks with China. The KMT also opposes the purposes of Taiwan independence and argues that efforts to establish a Taiwanese national identity separated from the Chinese national identity are unnecessary and needlessly provocative. Some KMT conservative officials have called efforts from DPP "anti-China" and "racist" (e.g., opposing the immigrants from mainland China, whom DPP officials did not recognize as Taiwanese, but Chinese). At the other end of the political spectrum, the acceptance by the DPP of the symbols of the Republic of China is opposed by the Taiwan Solidarity Union.

The first years of the DPP as the ruling party drew accusations from the opposition that, as a self-styled Taiwanese nationalist party, the DPP was itself inadequately sensitive to the ethnographic diversity of Taiwan's population. Where the KMT had been guilty of Chinese chauvinism, the critics charged, the DPP might offer nothing more as a remedy than Hoklo chauvinism.

China has maintained a hostile position toward the DPP. It has made some efforts to moderate its tone since passing its Anti-Secession Law in 2005 to prevent a popular backlash from Taiwan's voters. In 2008 China stated it was willing to negotiate with any party in Taiwan that "accepts the so-called 1992 consensus" (The consensus agreed by KMT and CPC, which KMT described as one China principle with different definitions across the strait, CPC first recognized until 2008). The DPP denies the existence of the 1992 consensus between China and Taiwan and demand a greater democratic opening of Communist China.

The deep-rooted hostility between Taiwanese aborigines and (Taiwanese) Hoklo, and the Aboriginal communities effective KMT networks contribute to Aboriginal skepticism against the DPP and the Aboriginals tendency to vote for the KMT.^[17] Aboriginals have criticized politicians for abusing the "indigenization" movement for political gains, such as aboriginal opposition to the DPP's "rectification" by recognizing the Truku for political reasons, where the Atayal and Seediq slammed the Truku for their name rectification.^[18] In 2008, the majority of mountain townships voting for Ma Ying-jeou.^[19] However, the DPP share of the Aboriginal vote has been on the increase.^[20][21]

Structure

DPP headquarters at Huashan Business Building Level 10 in Taipei.^[22]

The National Party Congress selects, for two year terms, the 30 members of the Central Executive Committee and the 11 members of the Central Review Committee. The Central Executive Committee, in turn, chooses the 10 members of the Central Standing Committee. The DPP since 2012 also has a "China Affairs Committee" to deal with Cross-Strait relations; the name caused some controversy within the party and in the Taiwan media, with critics suggesting that "Mainland Affairs Committee" or "Cross-Strait Affairs Committee" would show less of a hostile "One Country on Each Side" attitude.^[23]

For many years the Democratic Progressive Party officially recognized several factions within its membership, such as the New Tide faction (新潮流系), the Formosa faction (美麗島系), the Justice Alliance faction (正義連線系) and Welfare State Alliance faction (福利國系). Each faction endorsed slightly different policies. The factions were often generationally identifiable, representing individuals who had entered the party at different times. In 2006 the party ended recognition of factions.^[24] The factions have since stated that they will comply with the resolution. However, the factions are still referred to by name in the national media.^[25][26]

Election results

Presidential elections

Election	Candidate	Running mate	Total votes	Share of votes	Outcome
1996	Peng Ming-min	Frank Hsieh Chang-ting	2,274,586	21.1%	Defeated N
2000	Chen Shui-bian	Annette Lu Hsiu-lien	4,977,737	39.3%	Elected Y
2004	Chen Shui-bian	Annette Lu Hsiu-lien	6,446,900	50.1%	Elected Y
2008	Frank Hsieh Chang-ting	Su Tseng-chang	5,445,239	41.5%	Defeated N
2012	Tsai Ing-wen	Su Jia-chyuan	6,093,578	45.6%	Defeated N
2016	Tsai Ing-wen	Chen Chien-jen ( Ind.)	6,894,744	56.3%	Elected Y

Legislative elections

Election	Total seats won	Total votes	Share of votes	Changes	Election leader
1992	51 / 161	2,944,195	31.0%	30 seats	Hsu Hsin-liang
1995	54 / 164	3,132,156	33.2%	3 seats	Shih Ming-teh
1998	70 / 225	2,966,834	29.6%	16 seats	Lin Yi-hsiung
2001	87 / 225	3,447,740	36.6%	21 seats	Chen Shui-bian
2004	89 / 225	3,471,429	37.9%	2 seats	Chen Shui-bian
2008	27 / 113	3,775,352	38.2%	62 seats	Chen Shui-bian
2012	40 / 113	4,556,526	34.6%	13 seats	Tsai Ing-wen
2016	68 / 113	5,370,953	44.1%	28 seats	Tsai Ing-wen

National Assembly elections

Election	Total seats won	Total votes	Share of votes	Outcome of election	Election leader
1991	66 / 325	2,036,271	23.3%	66 seats	Huang Shin-chieh
1996	127 / 334	3,121,423	29.9%	33 seats	Shih Ming-teh
2005	127 / 300	1,647,791	42.52%	28 seats	Annette Lu

See also

• Liberalism in Taiwan
• Human rights in Taiwan
• Culture of Taiwan
• Taiwan independence movement
• Taiwanese people
• Taiwanese identity
• Resolution on Taiwan's Future
• Referendums in Taiwan
• Foreign relations of Taiwan
• February 28 Incident
• Formosa Incident
• Ministry of Education (Taiwan)
• Sunflower Student Movement

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Democratic Progressive Party.

• DPP Official website
• Academic thesis on the factions within DPP