Taiwan | Elections under the shadow of the Chinese threat

(Taipei and Tainan, Taiwan) This Saturday, Taiwanese will elect twenty mayors and county leaders, an exercise that takes place every four years, like the midterm elections in the United States. Local issues are generally discussed there. But this year, they are also presented as a message to China.

Forget door-to-door. Election campaigns in Taiwan take place in the streets.

Gigantic election posters line buildings and shop windows, are displayed in parks, and have even managed to embed themselves in temples.

From morning until evening, shouting trucks circulate without interruption. And it is not uncommon to see candidates parading in vehicles of all kinds, displaying a winning air, greeting passers-by, and always repeating the same speech at the microphone.

No city escapes this din.

In Taipei, the capital, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the ruling pro-independence party, called on its supporters to yet another rally in a small park a week before the elections. Dozens of volunteers are busy distributing packets of handkerchiefs, calendars or sanitary masks in party colors. With each speech, a hundred small green flags are waved and slogans fuse.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-Wen’s speech is the centerpiece of the event.

Re-elected to the presidency in 2020, the 66-year-old woman came to support her candidates for mayor of the main cities of the island. Always friendly, relaxed, the leader of the pro-independence party never misses the opportunity – with her calm tone – to provoke the ire of China, especially when she implies that voting for her party is taking awareness of “the importance of democracy”. A week earlier, in a similar gathering, the president had gone even further, recalling that “Taiwan belongs to the Taiwanese”.

“I am not afraid of China”

The DPP views Taiwan as a de facto sovereign nation, while neighboring China views the island of 23 million as part of its territory. Beijing has repeatedly promised to regain control, by force if necessary.

Beside us, Shieh Ling-Ju, a resident of Taipei, says she will unequivocally vote for the DPP and its mayoral candidate, Chen Shih-Chung. “They are the only ones who can protect us from China. »

A little further, M.^me Xu, who did not want to give his first name, also supports the DPP’s position vis-à-vis Beijing. “I’m not afraid of China. Our determination to protect ourselves is very important and President Tsai cares a lot about our national defense and military affairs,” she said.

However, the question of national security, although it galvanizes the crowds, is not on the agenda for these local elections. The Nov. 26 exercise instead aims to elect 22 mayors and county leaders across Taiwan.

political message

“Usually the DPP does not emphasize the Chinese threat in local elections,” said Wang Yeh-Lih, professor of political science at National Taiwan University. But since the situation between Taiwan and China is much more tense than in the past, the DPP is using this argument to get more votes.”

Tensions between Taipei and Beijing reached their highest level in August, after the visit of Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. China responded by carrying out major military maneuvers in the Strait of Formosa.

In the 2020 presidential election, Tsai Ing-Wen won hands down, helped by the protest movement in Hong Kong the same year, and thanks to the slogan “resist China, defend Taiwan”. This slogan, the PDP continues to use it during the local campaign.

But this strategy is doomed to failure, believes Courtney Donovan Smith, columnist for the media taiwan news.

Candidates could have presented proposals on how their local governments would perform “in case the worst happens”, he argues. “If there was an invasion, local leaders would be called upon to play an important role, as has been demonstrated in Ukraine. »

Avoid stirring up tension

In Tainan, the former capital and fifth largest city on the island (800,000 inhabitants), John Liu distributes Greenpeace flyers. If the environment is his priority, he admits that he will “never vote for a candidate who wants to get closer to China. Even in local elections.

The main opposition party, the KMT, will also have to clarify its position towards China. “He is traditionally pro-reunification, but events in recent years have caused him to change course and several disagreements have arisen between the members,” explains Brian Hioe, editor-in-chief of the magazine. New Bloom located in Taipei.

As for the DPP, even if its position towards China is categorical, the party will have to be careful with its anti-China strategy so that it “does not increase tensions” with its neighbor, notes Mr. Wang, even, so that the hypothetical does not become inevitable.

With the collaboration of Tien Tsun-Sheng