Politics Taiwan election

[the_alliance]

what do you guys think about this?

 

[nance]

i think the vp hired someone to shoot his stomach for more votes. if it was a real assasin, he would've fired more shots. *laugh* if i was trying to kill someone, i'd aim for the head... isn't that true?

 

[the_alliance]

true dat! that's that i think too! only in taiwan would a president hire someone to "assassinate" him. i heard this joke.

so reagan, gorbachev, and marcos (pres of phillipines i think) were debating on who should get this pile of gold sitting in front of them. so they all casted their votes and reagan revealed that he got 2 out of the 3 votes, so since the majority voted for him, he should get it. but gorbachev revealed that he had got all 3 votes, because in a communist state, everyone must agree with the head and therefore, he should get the gold. but marcos just started laughing and revealed that he had received 50 votes. reagan asked, "how did you receive 50 votes when there are only 3 people?" marcos answered, "in asian politics, anything goes"

haha! :lol: i just thought this joke applied to President Chen. he'll do anything to get reelected! :angry:

 

[the_alliance]

The party of Taiwan's president has won most seats in an assembly to change the constitution - a move China fears could lead to the island's independence.
Chen Shui-bian's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won 42.5% of the vote - the opposition Nationalist Party 38.9%, election officials announced.

Mr Chen will see the result as a vote of confidence in his policy towards China, says the BBC's Chris Hogg.

Beijing had tried to build support for anti-independence parties.

It invited opposition leaders to Beijing for historic talks in the run-up to the poll.

After the result, Vice-President Annette Lu congratulated the party and criticised China.

"I would like to thank the Chinese Communist Party, because each time there is pressure from China, the people show that democracy is what people embrace here in Taiwan," she said.

"One billion three hundred million Chinese friends on the mainland and (Chinese) President Hu Jintao, you have heard the voice of Taiwan's people, Taiwan belongs to its 23 million people."

New system

Taiwan's government says it wants to change the constitution to improve the way the island is run.

The most controversial plan would be to subject any future change to the constitution to a national referendum.

The amendments include:

1. Halving the number of lawmakers in the island's parliament

2. Extending their term of office by a year

3. Changing the way they are elected.

Both the governing DPP and the opposition nationalists - or Kuomintang - support the proposed changes to the constitution.

And this ballot came to be seen instead by many as a referendum on wider issues, most importantly, the best way to move forward relations with China, says our correspondent.

The result will be a boost for President Chen's robust approach, he says.

It is a setback for the nationalist leader, Lien Chen, who made a historic trip to Beijing in the run up to the polls to meet China's President Hu Jintao, our Taipei correspondent says.

Low turnout

Voters in the election were for the first time asked to vote for parties rather than individuals in each constituency.

The parties put up lists of candidates, declaring whether or not they support the constitutional changes.

Those who gain a seat are then obliged to vote in the assembly according to the position their party set out on the ballot paper.

Fewer seats should mean a better choice of candidate, President Chen says.

Our correspondent in Taipei says the legislative chamber has in the past been better known for its punch-ups than the standard of debate there.

Voters were offered raffle tickets with prizes ranging from electronic gadgets to a million Taiwanese dollars ($32,000) in cash, as an incentive to turn up.

In the event, only about 23% turned out - a new record low.

A national assembly will now be formed based on the proportion of votes cast for each party.

It will begin the ratification of a number of constitutional amendments at the end of this month.

 

[the_alliance]

Taiwan's largest opposition party, which favours closer ties with China, has elected Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou as its new leader.

He beat legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng to take over as head of the nationalist Kuomintang party (KMT).

Ma - whose family are from mainland China - is said to be reformist and incorruptible, correspondents say.

China's president says he hopes Ma's victory will mark a period of closer, peaceful relations with Taiwan.

Closer ties

Hu Jintao said he hoped that the KMT could work with the Communist Party of China "to promote the peaceful and steady development of cross-Straits relations".

The election was the KMT's first leadership contest since the party's creation some 110 years ago.

The party, which governed Taiwan for more than half a century until 2000, is hoping that the 55-year-old mayor, who was educated at Harvard, will reinvigorate the party following two election defeats.

The KMT once ruled Taiwan with an iron fist, but it is now trying to boost its image after two presidential election losses and damaging splits, the BBC's Caroline Gluck in Taiwan says.

Both candidates ruled out independence for Taiwan and said they would continue a process begun by the current chairman, Lien Chan, who made an historic visit to China in April and worked to push for closer ties with the mainland, which considers Taiwan as part of its territory.

"My only objective of running for the KMT party chairman is to create a favourable condition to win back ruling power in 2008," Mr Ma said after his election victory.

"The KMT cannot afford to split," he said.

 

[the_alliance]

Taiwan opposition wins key poll
Taiwan's Nationalist party has won key mid-term elections seen as a test of the popularity of the president.

The Kuomintang (KMT) party and its allies won 17 of the 23 constituencies after a campaign focused on allegations of corruption in the ruling party.

The governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won six seats, prompting the chairman of the party to resign.

Analysts says the KMT victory will make it easier for the party to press on with its policy of dialogue with China.

China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province which should be reunited with the mainland.

'Self-defeat'

President Chen Shui-Bian's party lagged behind the opposition throughout the short campaign as it fought allegations of corruption involving party stalwarts.

"The KMT did not beat the DPP. The DPP was defeated by itself," KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou said.

DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang conceded that the "contest is over".

"It is a severe setback for the DPP... [and] warning from the people to the DPP," he told reporters. "I hereby resign to shoulder full responsibility."

The president used a tried-and-tested method to try to boost his support - China-bashing in his election addresses, says the BBC's Chris Hogg.

In the past, this kind of rhetoric has helped to motivate pro-independence supporters to back him, but it is a risky strategy, says our correspondent.

The opposition had said the election should be seen as a vote of no-confidence in President Chen.

The government and the opposition had each insisted they needed to win the most seats to show they had a mandate for their strategy to improve relations with mainland China.

 

[the_alliance]

China warns Taiwan of 'disaster'
China has warned that Taiwan's decision to scrap a council on reunification with the mainland could bring disaster.

The move will "create antagonism and conflict within Taiwan and across the strait," China's ruling Communist Party and government said in a statement.

Mr Chen announced on Monday that the National Unification Council and its guidelines would "cease to function" due to China's "military threat".

China said Mr Chen was pushing Taiwan towards formal independence.

China and Taiwan have been governed separately since a civil war ended in 1949, but China still sees Taiwan as its territory and has threatened to use force if the island moves towards declaring independence.

The US, Taiwan's closest ally in the face of this threat, has made clear that it supports the status quo.

The US State Department said on Monday that it would take Mr Chen at his word that his latest move meant no change to the situation.

"It's our understanding that President Chen did not abolish it, and he reaffirmed Taiwan's commitment to the status quo," spokesman Adam Ereli told Reuters.

Mr Chen took care to use the phrase "cease to function" rather than abolish when he made the announcement, possibly because he promised in 2000 that he would not abolish the council or its guidelines.

China dismissed the difference as a "play of words".

No military threat

In a joint statement carried by China's official Xinhua news agency, the ruling Communist Party and the cabinet's Taiwan Affairs Office said Mr Chen's determination to push for independence "will only bring disaster to Taiwan society".

The comments did not include any threat of military action, or say what sort of disaster Beijing was predicting.

China's President Hu Jintao took the unusual step of commenting directly on the Taiwanese move.

"We will continue to strive for peaceful reunification, but we will absolutely not allow Taiwan to break away from the motherland," he was quoted as saying by Chinese state TV.

Chinese newspaper editorials on Tuesday also slammed Mr Chen's decision.

The official China Daily newspaper said his actions were "risky and provocative" and threatened "to destroy peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region".

Despite China's reaction, Mr Chen signed the documents which officially disbanded the council on Tuesday.

Taiwan complains that China has been building up its military offensive capability across the Taiwan Strait, and has at least 700 ballistic missiles targeting the island.

Mr Chen's wish to get rid of the Council and its guidelines has long been known.

Analysts said he had moved to scrap it now because - with only two years left in office - he wants to recover some political momentum for his Democratic Progressive Party.

The National Unification Council was set up in 1990 as an attempt to convince the Chinese authorities that Taiwan was committed to reunification, and it helped kick-start landmark talks between the two sides in the early 1990s.

there's no point in creating independence if the moment you do, the Commies blow Taiwan to kingdom come! why doesn't President Chen understand that? at the moment, the only regulation that the PRC is imposing on the ROC is that they cannot declare independence. the Mainland doesn't care about the religions, form of government, or culture of the Island. what is wrong with the status quo? why must the President insist that the Mainland continue to build up its military arsenal in hopes of bombing the island? it makes no sense!