protests Mass demand resignation of Taiwan's presidentWorld Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org
WSWS : News & Analysis : Asia : Taiwan Mass protests demand resignation of Taiwans president By John Chan 22 September 2006 Back to screen version | Send this link by email | Email the author A huge protest in Taipei last Friday besieged the office of President Chen Shui-bian and demanded his resignation over corruption allegations. Police estimated the number of protesters at 350,000, but organisers claimed that more than a million people took part in a march that stretched over five kilometres. The rally was organised by Shih Ming-Teh, a former chairman of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), with the backing of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT). The Taipei city government, headed by KMT leader Ma Ying-jeou, provided the venue for the rally and mobilised around 4,000 police to maintain order. On Saturday, the DPP organised its own rally of tens of thousands to boost the beleaguered president. The anti-corruption protests have drawn significant popular support from layers of working people, angry over the impact of Chens economic restructuring measures. Shihs campaign, however, reflects sharpening differences in Taiwans ruling circles over Chens increasingly open appeals to Taiwanese nationalism, which threaten to provoke a confrontation with China. Beijing regards Taiwan as a renegade province and has threatened to take military action if it declares formal independence. The corruption allegations first surfaced in May when prosecutors arrested Chens son-in-law, Chao Chien-min and charged him with insider trading related to a state-controlled property developer. Chao had amassed a fortune of $NT170 million ($US5.1 million). Further allegations have since emerged of corrupt activities by members of Chens family. In June, the opposition KMT attempted to formally recall Chen via parliamentthat is, dismiss himbut failed to achieve the constitutionally required two-thirds vote. Public anger continued to mount, however, over corruption charges and Chens failure to improve living standards. Shih launched his crusade on August 14 with a call for Chen to resign and an appeal to his supporters for donations of $NT100. Within a week he had received $NT109 million from more than a million people and launched a series of protests. On September 9, around 100,000 people participated in Shihs A Million Voices Against CorruptionChen Must Go rally in the centre of Taipei. Chen responded by promising more jobs and again appealing to Taiwanese nationalism. He declared last week that he would prepare a new constitution and press for a seat for Taiwan in the United Nations. Taiwan lost its seat in the UN and other international bodies in 1972 when the US administration reestablished relations with mainland China and formally adopted the so-called One China policy, which accepts Beijings claims over Taiwan. Shihs leadership of the anti-Chen movement indicates a breakup within the DPP, which was formed in the 1980s to oppose the KMTs dictatorial methods of rule. The party made a deliberate appeal to the native Taiwanese, against the KMT supporters who fled China in the wake of the 1949 Chinese revolution. In opposition to the KMT, which claimed to be the legitimate government of China in exile, the DPP advocated an independent Taiwan. Shih was a longstanding DPP activist. He was arrested in the 1960s for setting up the Taiwan Independence League and sentenced to life imprisonment. Released in 1977, he became one of the leaders in the emerging pro-independence movement that led to the DPPs formation. The DPP had the backing of layers of the corporate elite, who were demanding market reforms, an end to the KMTs
cronyism, and an independent state to integrate the island more closely into the global economy. As China emerged in the 1990s as the worlds premier cheap labour platform, support for Taiwanese independence waned in ruling circles. Taiwanese companies have their own massive investments in China and want closer relations with Beijing, rather than a confrontation over independence. The KMT has dropped its former opposition to Beijing and now advocates closer ties. Shih a represents layer of DPP leaders and supporters who are seeking to distance themselves from the DPPs call for Taiwanese independence. As DPP chairman from 1993-96, he began to call for a great rapprochement with China, bringing him into sharp conflict with Chen. He quit the DPP in 2000. In 2002, he was even considered as the KMT nominee for mayor of Taiwans second largest city, Kaohsiung. Behind Shih is a new political formation composed of DPP leaders, women associations and sections of the trade union leadership. The so-called Alliance of Fairness and Justice (AFJ), formed in 2003, is known as the purple camp, in contrast to the pro-independence parties, known as the green camp and the pro-China parties, known as the blue camp. The AFJ is not a formal political party but often claims to support the under-privileged and makes appeals for the building of a social welfare system. Its leader, Chien His-chieh, was a former leader of the largest DPP faction, New Tide. The DPP initially attempted to recruit the AFJ as a coalition partner in parliament, and thus undermine the opposition KMT and Peoples First Party (PFP), a former KMT faction led by James Soong. At the time, the KMT accused the AFJ being a left organisation. The AFJ has sought to capitalise on the growing disaffection with the DPP over declining living standards. Chien appeals for a return to the old DPP ideals, promoting the illusion that it would carry out social reforms. The grouping has become a convenient banner for sections of the trade union bureaucracy, who are looking to cover up its own failure to wage any consistent political campaign against the impact of free market restructuring. Taiwans top economic officialHu Sheng-cheng, chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Developmentadmitted last month that only 30 percent of the population had benefitted from economic growth while the remaining 70 percent experienced wage stagnation or decline. Not only are Taiwanese corporations transferring manufacturing operations to China, but many public sector workers face the loss of jobs and conditions as a result of economic restructuring. As the DPP has suffered major losses in parliamentary and local elections over the last two years, the AFJ has moved closer to the KMT. The KMT in turn has dropped its former objections to the AFJ, which provides a useful means for enhancing its own electoral standing. The KMT is still widely discredited by its decades of dictatorial rule and endemic corruption. It failed to defeat Che...