When I inform Americans of where I'm currently spending a year abroad, the answer is usually one of two. Either “Thailand? You mean you're going to Thailand?” or, “Taiwan? Isn't that a part of China or something?” The answer to the first question is a decisive no, as Thailand and Taiwan are separated by several thousand kilometers, and the answer to the second question is also a decisive no, however a slightly more complex one, depending on who you ask. In fact, last week Taiwan held its most recent presidential election, as well as legislative election, that saw the ruling Kuomintang ousted by the Democratic Progressive Party, and its candidate Cai-Ying Wen in a landslide. Being in Taiwan during such an expression of democracy was a very unique and interesting experience, especially given the fact that Taiwan is the only democracy in the Chinese-speaking world, standing in stark contrast to its authoritarian neighbor across the Taiwan strait. In fact, elections in Taiwan are in many ways the most important in all of East Asia. But, given the frequent responses of Americans to Taiwan, these party names probably seem very alien. And how did Taiwanese elections come to be so important on an international scale?
In 1895, Taiwan was ceded by China's ruling Qing dynasty to the Japanese Empire, as a result of its loss in the first Sino-Japanese War. Japan, although imperialist, allowed the country to develop rapidly, improving quality of life for many Taiwanese, which had been held back by the slow moving, conservative policies of the Qing dynasty for years. This Japanese influence is still seen in many older, traditional buildings and Japanese loan words in Taiwanese. 50 years later, in 1945, following Japan's loss in World War Two, Taiwan was ceded back to the Republic of China, which had long since won control from the Qing Dynasty, and it's ruling general, Chiang-Kai Shek (CKS). Unfortunately, at that point, the Chinese Civil War was well underway, and four years later, Chinese nationalist forces lost the Chinese civil war to Mao Zedong and the Communists, who proclaimed the People's Republic of China in 1945. CKS and the nationalists retreated to Taiwan, and began to rule the republic of China from the island, never renouncing their intentions to retake the mainland. Mao on the other hand, and the communists, still have not relinquished their claims on Taiwan to this day, preventing Taiwan from becoming a formally independent country, and creating one of the largest political conundrums of the 20th century. Should Taiwan declare formal independence, China has repeatedly threatened to use military force, making the Taiwan quesiton one of the most important in East Asia, and Taiwanese attitudes towards this question, especially expressed through the vote additional very influential in the region. In fact, earlier this year, a full scale model of the Taiwanese presidential office building was found in China, solely for the purpose of allowing their troops to practice.
Taiwan at that point, however, was not a democracy, and CKS continued the dictatorial policies he had began in mainland, declaring martial law, killing and imprisoning any outlawed opposition members, and making the ruling Kuomintang the only legal party. Use of the Taiwanese language would be punished, making Mandarin the official language, only Mainlanders were given government roles, and curfews would be enforced. His harsh rule would continue until his death in 1975. His son, Chiang Ching-Kuo then took over, who began to persecute the opposition as his father had, arresting members of the newly formed opposition, the Democratic Progressive Party, including the famous “Kaohsiung eight,” and its founder, Shih Ming-De, who would together spend over 25 years in prison, and come to be known as “Taiwan's Mandela.” Although Taiwan enjoyed the support of foreign and UN recognition, by 1971, Taiwan lost its seat in the United Nations, and by 1979, the United States chose to recognize the mainland government, passing the critical Taiwan Relations Act, pledging American assistance, should Taiwan agree to keep the status-quo of de-facto, but not de-jure independence. This makes the Taiwan question an issue with truly international proportions. Valuing foreign support over complete control, CCK decided to relax some of the controls set in place by his father, not directly persecuting the DPP, and allowing a native born Taiwanese, Lee Teng-Hui to succeed him following his death in 1988, shortly after the lifting of martial law, ending it the longest period of official martial law in history.
Following his puppet election as president in 1990 (ironically the same year China saw the Tiananmen Square Student Protests, and widespread student “Wild Lilly” protests, Lee promised fair 1996 elections, which he then won, making him known as the “father of Taiwanese democracy.” The free DPP would see many of its previously persecuted leaders become prominent left-wing politicians in Taiwan today. Lee Teng-Hui would later become a supporter of Taiwanese independence, and Taiwanese culture, he would later go on to be expelled from the KMT. In 2000, the DPP won their first elections, with Chen Shui-Bian winning the election, however corruption marred his regime, causing little formal reform. In 2004, he was mysterious shot the day before the election, allowing him to win in an upset, with opponents claiming the shooting faked to this day. Shih-Ming De, one of Taiwan's democracy leaders organized a sit in in front of the presidential office, calling for Chen Shui-Bian to resign. Although he did not, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison following the end of this term and presidential immunity. This corruption allowed the popular mayor of Taipei and KMT chairman (due to Taiwan's small size, mayors tend to be the most powerful politicians besides the president).
Today, the two major viewpoints towards Taiwanese politics remain the blues, and the greens, with the pan blue camp led by the Kuomintang, leaning conservatively on social issues, desire more of a free market economy, and stronger further relations with China in the international spectrum, with the most extreme for eventual reunification. They, while not dictatorial also tend to promote an honorable reputation of the old KMT, strengthening a very weird environment in Taiwan and Taipei, where the city center is dominated by a large memorial hall for and guarded statue of Chiang Kai-Shek, a horrible dictator in the center of a vibrant city. They are portraits of him in many schools, Taiwanese people still often count years using 1911, the date of the country's founding as year zero, and many locations are named after Chiang Kai-Shek. They also protested heavily when his name was removed from the Taipei airport and various major roads several years ago. The greens, led by the DPP are known for being more liberal on social issues, and for stronger government welfare and social benefits. More importantly, on the issue of the Taiwan-Chian issue, the most extreme promote Taiwan officially changing it's name from the Republic of China to Taiwan, renouncing all claims to the mainland, and becoming an officially independent country. Due to the military might, and refusal to let go of China, most tend to support the notion of Taiwanese culture as something distinctly separate from China, and fewer economic ties with China, along with stronger relations with western nations.
In the 2016 election, Cai Ying-Wen received over 60% of the vote in a three party election, a dramatic landslide victory for Taiwan. Cai Ying-Wen, the coutnry's first female president, unmarried, US educated, and known for loving cats attracted the affection of Taiwanese people far more than KMT, who after eight years was largely seen as corrupt, and a symbol of the “old guard.” The impending result had been known for a long time prior to the election, since nearly all major localities were won by the DPP in 2014, coupled with a highly publicized student protest and occupation of the legislature. Although Cai-Ying Wen lost to incumbent Ma Ying-Jiu four years ago, this time, due to economic recession, an increase in Chinese ties, culminating with the largely hated meeting between Taiwan's president Ma Ying-Jiu and China's president Xi Jin-Ping. In fact, over 10% voted for a third party conservative candidate, just to avoid voting for the KMT. In addition, the DPP took control of the legislative Yuan for the first time in Taiwanese history, giving them the unique opportunity to have near complete control of internal politics and many other fields as well. Because of the effect of a pro Taiwan party on Chinese relations, this makes the international community, and especially China very nervous about the election, who hopes to maintain control over Taiwan, and not see any incentive to use force.
I saw Cai-Ying wen speak twice during my time in Taipei. Both times there was an incredible energy to her campaign and speeches, somewhat reminiscent of the hope and enthusiasm brought about by Obama's 2008 election. Thousands of people turned out to attend, many of whom cried around me, so moved by the speeches. The first rally I went to, I was able to stand in front, while many important DPP politicans spoke, including the mayor of Kaohsiung, many musicians, and finally Cai Ying-Wen herself, while surrounded by all of the mayors from her party. As dramatic music played following nearly every sentence she spoke, allowing every paragraph to work up to a climax, it was hard not to be moved to support these ideals with the audience. It felt like I was in the middle of something truly historic, as years of an old, corrupt regime were about to be overthrown by peaceful popular referendum, for a brighter liberal future, again, similar to Obama's 2008 campaign. Many people repeatedly chanted her name, followed by 加油, or 當選, encouraging her election, in addition to 點亮台灣, “Light Up Taiwan,” her campaign slogan. Many filled plastic piggy banks with their donations, a popular symbol of the campaign, and many including myself, were interviewed, and asked to speak some words of encouragement for the party.
The second time, I travelled next to her campaign headquarters at night, following her victorious election. This time the energy was palpable, as following various performances, and the broadcast of her widely watched international press conference. On a side note, This press conference's English translation later featured in a news story symbolic of the reserved nature of Taiwanese politics, and boring nature of Taiwanese media, where a minor translation error became a large media story, including interviews with the translator, his entire biography set to somber music, and his description of sitting down and drinking a can of coke after realizing his translation error. Only in Taiwan would a devastated person drink their problems away with a can of Coke. Cai Ying-Wen then ascended the stage to roaring applause, in front of a gigantic crowd, far larger than the last one. Despite the rally being held in a public park, I was unable to get remotely close to the stage, due to the walls of people. This time, instead of Most unique was in line with her illuminating campaign slogan, the participants were asked to take their cellphone flashlight and hold it up to the sky, creating a pretty cacophony of thousands of cell phone lights, a very cool site. Again, it felt like the center of something truly historic.
While I never went to a KMT rally, I watched the concession speech of Eric Chu, the KMT chairman, who lost the election, an event everybody knew was going to happen. There was a much more somber tone to this speech, which in addition to thanking supporters and wishing luck to the opposition, he informed supporters that his, and their efforts were not enough, and how terrible it was that they lost the election. This, followed by a low bow towards the audience. I'm sure the audience there was also crying, but for very different reasons. He then resigned as party chairman. The severity of this reaction really came as a surprise to me, after the largely positive nature of United States concession speeches.
In addition, campaigns and politics here tend to be significantly more bureaucratic than those in the United States. Taiwanese society is overall far more conservative than that of the United States, which I will get to in a later post. Populist candidates, and candidates from non political backgrounds make a showing far less than the United States, with a large amount of attention directed toward Freddy Lim, the electric guitarist turned Taiwan independence advocate, who appeared to be the only widely mentioned candidate fitting this bill. There are few publicity stunts, as there are in the United States, and it is hard to imagine a Taiwanese politician do anything aimed at connecting with the “common people,” such as Obama's appearance on Jerry Seinfeld's comedy show, or the White House Correspondents dinner. The one presidential debate was actually a series of separate speeches, with little real banter. Specific wording is checked over, and over again. All campaigns seem to look the same, with a series of people walking down the street, wearing the color of their party, holding pictures of the candidate they support, and in the case of minor candidates, the presidential candidate that endorses them. They all looked exactly the same, gave out tissues to all passerby, and shouted the same hollow slogans at everybody who walked by via megaphone, in both Mandarin and Taiwanese. In addition, there also exists propaganda cars, vehicles that broadcast these slogans from installed speakers, while driving up and down the street. There seems to be less of an effort on this front to connect, as I would still not know who to vote for should I watch hundreds of these campaigns, as they all look and sound exactly the same, with the exception of the color of clothing worn.
Because of the general right leaning of Taiwanese politics, I wasn't able to observe a large difference between the parties. While Taiwanese people tend to be incredibly opinionated about Taiwanese politics, with those older, growing up during the age of martial law tending to support the KMT, even going so far as to say that CKS, or his son were the greatest presidents of Taiwan, while the young, college students, and disillusioned older members of Taiwanese society supporting the DPP, there surprisingly wasn't much of a difference in the party's opinions. Part because of the reserved nature of Taiwanese culture, and part because of the tiptoed way that one needs to approach relations with China and the United States, I found the opinions of both parties surprisingly hollow. Because the status quo of Chinese relations must be maintained in order to preserve relations with the United States, parties did not offer specific opinions on Taiwanese independence or reunification. Instead, the issues at hand were largely the strengthening of Taiwanese culture, controversial display of the Taiwanese flag, and other related issues, including a number of complex economic issues related to levels of Taiwanese investment in China, and vice-versa, that I feel most Taiwanese people don't really understand, despite their importance in the campaign. The general rederick sported, at least during the Cai Ying-Wen rallies that I went to was that, we will move forward, because we are not the KMT, the party of the past, we are instead something new. She would promise things like peace, smooth relationships with the mainland and a strong relationship with the United States, but no truly polarizing or bold statements, said with the voice of a diplomat, rather than a presidential candidate. Again, not very strong policies, as would be mentioned in an American election, with Bernie Sanders promising to maintain universal healthcare, Trump promising to close all borders, Obama promising to pull US troops out of Iraq, and McCain promising to keep them there 100 years if necessary. Despite strong opinions of Taiwanese people, the voices of the parties remained much more subtle, with real policy to be revealed Cai Ying-Wen's future actions.
Finally, During the election, there was one major media story that largely attracted my attention. The story that was broadcast nonstop for days, at the expense of possibly more important news elsewhere, namely in the Middle East (Taiwanese news is notoriously mundane), was the story of Zhou Zi-Yun, a 16 year Taiwanese singer for Twice, a hugely popular K-Pop Korean band was betrayed by Huang-An, a Taiwanese singer, who notoriously “betrayed” Taiwan for the mainland, today performing there, and making many high profile betrayals of Taiwanese musicians for using illegal national symbols of Taiwan. Most recently, the accusation fell upon Zhou Zi-Yun, who had held a Taiwanese flag when describing her heritage in a South Korean interview. She then released a video online, bowing to the camera, and describing her true identity, as well as the identity of all Taiwanese people as Chinese. The fury of Taiwanese people seeing a 16 year old have to apologize for using their national flag helped strengthen Cai Ying-Wen's and the liberal cause, on the day of the election, due to their promotion of the free expression of such Taiwanese culture.
Being in Taiwan during the election was definitely a very unique, interesting and educational experience. Strong political differences from the United States, allowed me to better understand politics from an East Asian prospective, and feel the power of Taiwanese democracy, as well as its influence on international affairs. I hope Taiwan can one day express itself as a truly independent nation, truly free from the dictatorial influences of its past, and that the DPP's election can better advance that cause in a strong and peaceful manner. Regardless, any peaceful transition of power, to the DPP, or from any ruling party to another is a powerful sign of progress and prosperity, and I hope such progress can continue, both in Taiwan, and across the rest of East Asia.
In 1895, Taiwan was ceded by China's ruling Qing dynasty to the Japanese Empire, as a result of its loss in the first Sino-Japanese War. Japan, although imperialist, allowed the country to develop rapidly, improving quality of life for many Taiwanese, which had been held back by the slow moving, conservative policies of the Qing dynasty for years. This Japanese influence is still seen in many older, traditional buildings and Japanese loan words in Taiwanese. 50 years later, in 1945, following Japan's loss in World War Two, Taiwan was ceded back to the Republic of China, which had long since won control from the Qing Dynasty, and it's ruling general, Chiang-Kai Shek (CKS). Unfortunately, at that point, the Chinese Civil War was well underway, and four years later, Chinese nationalist forces lost the Chinese civil war to Mao Zedong and the Communists, who proclaimed the People's Republic of China in 1945. CKS and the nationalists retreated to Taiwan, and began to rule the republic of China from the island, never renouncing their intentions to retake the mainland. Mao on the other hand, and the communists, still have not relinquished their claims on Taiwan to this day, preventing Taiwan from becoming a formally independent country, and creating one of the largest political conundrums of the 20th century. Should Taiwan declare formal independence, China has repeatedly threatened to use military force, making the Taiwan quesiton one of the most important in East Asia, and Taiwanese attitudes towards this question, especially expressed through the vote additional very influential in the region. In fact, earlier this year, a full scale model of the Taiwanese presidential office building was found in China, solely for the purpose of allowing their troops to practice.
Taiwan at that point, however, was not a democracy, and CKS continued the dictatorial policies he had began in mainland, declaring martial law, killing and imprisoning any outlawed opposition members, and making the ruling Kuomintang the only legal party. Use of the Taiwanese language would be punished, making Mandarin the official language, only Mainlanders were given government roles, and curfews would be enforced. His harsh rule would continue until his death in 1975. His son, Chiang Ching-Kuo then took over, who began to persecute the opposition as his father had, arresting members of the newly formed opposition, the Democratic Progressive Party, including the famous “Kaohsiung eight,” and its founder, Shih Ming-De, who would together spend over 25 years in prison, and come to be known as “Taiwan's Mandela.” Although Taiwan enjoyed the support of foreign and UN recognition, by 1971, Taiwan lost its seat in the United Nations, and by 1979, the United States chose to recognize the mainland government, passing the critical Taiwan Relations Act, pledging American assistance, should Taiwan agree to keep the status-quo of de-facto, but not de-jure independence. This makes the Taiwan question an issue with truly international proportions. Valuing foreign support over complete control, CCK decided to relax some of the controls set in place by his father, not directly persecuting the DPP, and allowing a native born Taiwanese, Lee Teng-Hui to succeed him following his death in 1988, shortly after the lifting of martial law, ending it the longest period of official martial law in history.
Following his puppet election as president in 1990 (ironically the same year China saw the Tiananmen Square Student Protests, and widespread student “Wild Lilly” protests, Lee promised fair 1996 elections, which he then won, making him known as the “father of Taiwanese democracy.” The free DPP would see many of its previously persecuted leaders become prominent left-wing politicians in Taiwan today. Lee Teng-Hui would later become a supporter of Taiwanese independence, and Taiwanese culture, he would later go on to be expelled from the KMT. In 2000, the DPP won their first elections, with Chen Shui-Bian winning the election, however corruption marred his regime, causing little formal reform. In 2004, he was mysterious shot the day before the election, allowing him to win in an upset, with opponents claiming the shooting faked to this day. Shih-Ming De, one of Taiwan's democracy leaders organized a sit in in front of the presidential office, calling for Chen Shui-Bian to resign. Although he did not, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison following the end of this term and presidential immunity. This corruption allowed the popular mayor of Taipei and KMT chairman (due to Taiwan's small size, mayors tend to be the most powerful politicians besides the president).
Today, the two major viewpoints towards Taiwanese politics remain the blues, and the greens, with the pan blue camp led by the Kuomintang, leaning conservatively on social issues, desire more of a free market economy, and stronger further relations with China in the international spectrum, with the most extreme for eventual reunification. They, while not dictatorial also tend to promote an honorable reputation of the old KMT, strengthening a very weird environment in Taiwan and Taipei, where the city center is dominated by a large memorial hall for and guarded statue of Chiang Kai-Shek, a horrible dictator in the center of a vibrant city. They are portraits of him in many schools, Taiwanese people still often count years using 1911, the date of the country's founding as year zero, and many locations are named after Chiang Kai-Shek. They also protested heavily when his name was removed from the Taipei airport and various major roads several years ago. The greens, led by the DPP are known for being more liberal on social issues, and for stronger government welfare and social benefits. More importantly, on the issue of the Taiwan-Chian issue, the most extreme promote Taiwan officially changing it's name from the Republic of China to Taiwan, renouncing all claims to the mainland, and becoming an officially independent country. Due to the military might, and refusal to let go of China, most tend to support the notion of Taiwanese culture as something distinctly separate from China, and fewer economic ties with China, along with stronger relations with western nations.
In the 2016 election, Cai Ying-Wen received over 60% of the vote in a three party election, a dramatic landslide victory for Taiwan. Cai Ying-Wen, the coutnry's first female president, unmarried, US educated, and known for loving cats attracted the affection of Taiwanese people far more than KMT, who after eight years was largely seen as corrupt, and a symbol of the “old guard.” The impending result had been known for a long time prior to the election, since nearly all major localities were won by the DPP in 2014, coupled with a highly publicized student protest and occupation of the legislature. Although Cai-Ying Wen lost to incumbent Ma Ying-Jiu four years ago, this time, due to economic recession, an increase in Chinese ties, culminating with the largely hated meeting between Taiwan's president Ma Ying-Jiu and China's president Xi Jin-Ping. In fact, over 10% voted for a third party conservative candidate, just to avoid voting for the KMT. In addition, the DPP took control of the legislative Yuan for the first time in Taiwanese history, giving them the unique opportunity to have near complete control of internal politics and many other fields as well. Because of the effect of a pro Taiwan party on Chinese relations, this makes the international community, and especially China very nervous about the election, who hopes to maintain control over Taiwan, and not see any incentive to use force.
I saw Cai-Ying wen speak twice during my time in Taipei. Both times there was an incredible energy to her campaign and speeches, somewhat reminiscent of the hope and enthusiasm brought about by Obama's 2008 election. Thousands of people turned out to attend, many of whom cried around me, so moved by the speeches. The first rally I went to, I was able to stand in front, while many important DPP politicans spoke, including the mayor of Kaohsiung, many musicians, and finally Cai Ying-Wen herself, while surrounded by all of the mayors from her party. As dramatic music played following nearly every sentence she spoke, allowing every paragraph to work up to a climax, it was hard not to be moved to support these ideals with the audience. It felt like I was in the middle of something truly historic, as years of an old, corrupt regime were about to be overthrown by peaceful popular referendum, for a brighter liberal future, again, similar to Obama's 2008 campaign. Many people repeatedly chanted her name, followed by 加油, or 當選, encouraging her election, in addition to 點亮台灣, “Light Up Taiwan,” her campaign slogan. Many filled plastic piggy banks with their donations, a popular symbol of the campaign, and many including myself, were interviewed, and asked to speak some words of encouragement for the party.
The second time, I travelled next to her campaign headquarters at night, following her victorious election. This time the energy was palpable, as following various performances, and the broadcast of her widely watched international press conference. On a side note, This press conference's English translation later featured in a news story symbolic of the reserved nature of Taiwanese politics, and boring nature of Taiwanese media, where a minor translation error became a large media story, including interviews with the translator, his entire biography set to somber music, and his description of sitting down and drinking a can of coke after realizing his translation error. Only in Taiwan would a devastated person drink their problems away with a can of Coke. Cai Ying-Wen then ascended the stage to roaring applause, in front of a gigantic crowd, far larger than the last one. Despite the rally being held in a public park, I was unable to get remotely close to the stage, due to the walls of people. This time, instead of Most unique was in line with her illuminating campaign slogan, the participants were asked to take their cellphone flashlight and hold it up to the sky, creating a pretty cacophony of thousands of cell phone lights, a very cool site. Again, it felt like the center of something truly historic.
While I never went to a KMT rally, I watched the concession speech of Eric Chu, the KMT chairman, who lost the election, an event everybody knew was going to happen. There was a much more somber tone to this speech, which in addition to thanking supporters and wishing luck to the opposition, he informed supporters that his, and their efforts were not enough, and how terrible it was that they lost the election. This, followed by a low bow towards the audience. I'm sure the audience there was also crying, but for very different reasons. He then resigned as party chairman. The severity of this reaction really came as a surprise to me, after the largely positive nature of United States concession speeches.
In addition, campaigns and politics here tend to be significantly more bureaucratic than those in the United States. Taiwanese society is overall far more conservative than that of the United States, which I will get to in a later post. Populist candidates, and candidates from non political backgrounds make a showing far less than the United States, with a large amount of attention directed toward Freddy Lim, the electric guitarist turned Taiwan independence advocate, who appeared to be the only widely mentioned candidate fitting this bill. There are few publicity stunts, as there are in the United States, and it is hard to imagine a Taiwanese politician do anything aimed at connecting with the “common people,” such as Obama's appearance on Jerry Seinfeld's comedy show, or the White House Correspondents dinner. The one presidential debate was actually a series of separate speeches, with little real banter. Specific wording is checked over, and over again. All campaigns seem to look the same, with a series of people walking down the street, wearing the color of their party, holding pictures of the candidate they support, and in the case of minor candidates, the presidential candidate that endorses them. They all looked exactly the same, gave out tissues to all passerby, and shouted the same hollow slogans at everybody who walked by via megaphone, in both Mandarin and Taiwanese. In addition, there also exists propaganda cars, vehicles that broadcast these slogans from installed speakers, while driving up and down the street. There seems to be less of an effort on this front to connect, as I would still not know who to vote for should I watch hundreds of these campaigns, as they all look and sound exactly the same, with the exception of the color of clothing worn.
Because of the general right leaning of Taiwanese politics, I wasn't able to observe a large difference between the parties. While Taiwanese people tend to be incredibly opinionated about Taiwanese politics, with those older, growing up during the age of martial law tending to support the KMT, even going so far as to say that CKS, or his son were the greatest presidents of Taiwan, while the young, college students, and disillusioned older members of Taiwanese society supporting the DPP, there surprisingly wasn't much of a difference in the party's opinions. Part because of the reserved nature of Taiwanese culture, and part because of the tiptoed way that one needs to approach relations with China and the United States, I found the opinions of both parties surprisingly hollow. Because the status quo of Chinese relations must be maintained in order to preserve relations with the United States, parties did not offer specific opinions on Taiwanese independence or reunification. Instead, the issues at hand were largely the strengthening of Taiwanese culture, controversial display of the Taiwanese flag, and other related issues, including a number of complex economic issues related to levels of Taiwanese investment in China, and vice-versa, that I feel most Taiwanese people don't really understand, despite their importance in the campaign. The general rederick sported, at least during the Cai Ying-Wen rallies that I went to was that, we will move forward, because we are not the KMT, the party of the past, we are instead something new. She would promise things like peace, smooth relationships with the mainland and a strong relationship with the United States, but no truly polarizing or bold statements, said with the voice of a diplomat, rather than a presidential candidate. Again, not very strong policies, as would be mentioned in an American election, with Bernie Sanders promising to maintain universal healthcare, Trump promising to close all borders, Obama promising to pull US troops out of Iraq, and McCain promising to keep them there 100 years if necessary. Despite strong opinions of Taiwanese people, the voices of the parties remained much more subtle, with real policy to be revealed Cai Ying-Wen's future actions.
Finally, During the election, there was one major media story that largely attracted my attention. The story that was broadcast nonstop for days, at the expense of possibly more important news elsewhere, namely in the Middle East (Taiwanese news is notoriously mundane), was the story of Zhou Zi-Yun, a 16 year Taiwanese singer for Twice, a hugely popular K-Pop Korean band was betrayed by Huang-An, a Taiwanese singer, who notoriously “betrayed” Taiwan for the mainland, today performing there, and making many high profile betrayals of Taiwanese musicians for using illegal national symbols of Taiwan. Most recently, the accusation fell upon Zhou Zi-Yun, who had held a Taiwanese flag when describing her heritage in a South Korean interview. She then released a video online, bowing to the camera, and describing her true identity, as well as the identity of all Taiwanese people as Chinese. The fury of Taiwanese people seeing a 16 year old have to apologize for using their national flag helped strengthen Cai Ying-Wen's and the liberal cause, on the day of the election, due to their promotion of the free expression of such Taiwanese culture.
Being in Taiwan during the election was definitely a very unique, interesting and educational experience. Strong political differences from the United States, allowed me to better understand politics from an East Asian prospective, and feel the power of Taiwanese democracy, as well as its influence on international affairs. I hope Taiwan can one day express itself as a truly independent nation, truly free from the dictatorial influences of its past, and that the DPP's election can better advance that cause in a strong and peaceful manner. Regardless, any peaceful transition of power, to the DPP, or from any ruling party to another is a powerful sign of progress and prosperity, and I hope such progress can continue, both in Taiwan, and across the rest of East Asia.