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Taiwan Solidarity Union

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Taiwan Solidarity Union
台灣團結聯盟
LeaderChou Ni-an
Leader emeritusLee Teng-hui (non-member)
Founded12 August 2001
Split fromKuomintang
(Taiwanese nationalist factions)
HeadquartersTaipei, Taiwan
Membership500+[1]
IdeologyEconomic nationalism
Right-wing populism[2]
Taiwan independence[3]
Anti-Chinese nationalism[4]
Historical:
Political positionRight-wing[7][8][9][10]
Historical:[a]
Domestic affiliationPan-Green Coalition
Legislative Yuan
0 / 113
Municipal mayors
0 / 6
Magistrates/mayors
0 / 16
Councilors
3 / 912
Township/city mayors
0 / 204
Website
www.taiwanlp.org.tw
^ a: The TSU had also been less commonly described as centrist.[17]
Taiwan Solidarity Union
Traditional Chinese臺灣團結聯盟
Simplified Chinese台湾团结联盟
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinTáiwān Tuánjié Liánméng
Hakka
Pha̍k-fa-sṳThòi-vàn Thòn-kiet Lièn-mèn
Southern Min
Hokkien POJTâi-oân Thoân-kiat Liân-bêng
Tâi-lôTâi-uân Thuân-kiat Liân-bîng
Abbreviation
Traditional Chinese臺聯
Simplified Chinese台联
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinTáilián
Hakka
Pha̍k-fa-sṳThòi-lièn
Southern Min
Hokkien POJTâi-liân
Tâi-lôTâi-liân

The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU)[I] is a political party in Taiwan which advocates Taiwan independence, and is affiliated with the Taiwanese localization movement. It was officially founded on 12 August 2001 and is considered part of the Pan-Green Coalition. Unlike the Democratic Progressive Party, its larger companion party in the Pan-Green Coalition, the TSU actively campaigns for the creation of a de jure Republic of Taiwan. The future of the party is in doubt after the 2016 elections as the party failed to secure enough votes to be eligible for state funding.[needs update][18]

History

[edit]

In the summer of 2001, supporters of former President Lee Teng-hui formed the Taiwan Solidarity Union. In the 2000 presidential elections, the Kuomintang (KMT) suffered a devastating defeat, in which internal turmoil had caused the party to lose its grip on power. This was blamed on Lee, the KMT Chairman at the time, and he was forced to resign in March 2001. The hardliners in the KMT, as well as the supporters of James Soong recently expelled from the KMT, believed Lee secretly harbored support for Taiwan independence and had purposely sabotaged the KMT (by not allowing Soong to run under the KMT) in order to allow Chen Shui-bian, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate, to win. Meanwhile, after winning the presidential election, Chen Shui-bian moderated his pro-independence position, alienating some hardline independence supporters in the DPP. By July, just months before the December 2001 elections to the Legislative Yuan, these factors accumulated to result in the formation of the TSU to continue Lee's policies, and fill the void in Taiwanese politics caused by the DPP's abandonment of its strongly pro-independence political stance. It was hoped that this would lead to a pan-green majority in the nation's primary legislative body, thus giving the executive branch, under Chen, the political backing necessary to pursue policies supportive of Taiwanese independence.

The party name and emblem were announced on 25 July 2001, and was officially founded on 12 August.[19]

The TSU's stated political aim is the advocacy of the creation of a Republic of Taiwan and a policy of desinicization which consists of eliminating the symbols and concepts which connect Taiwan to the idea of China. The TSU argues that any lingering connection with the concept of China renders Taiwan an "abnormal nation" and that clearly separating Taiwan from China is necessary to prevent Taiwan from being dominated by an enemy and foreign nation. The TSU has also strongly advocated the creation of a new constitution for Taiwan and the abandonment of "Republic of China" as Taiwan's formal name.

Lee was, naturally, identified as the "spiritual leader" (though he personally never joined the party); the TSU hoped that Lee's popularity would help the TSU make the 5% support mark. Further, Lee's dominance in the party was revealed when the candidates TSU nominated had all been personally approved by Lee beforehand. Meanwhile, as Lee's actions increasingly departed from the KMT's unificationist positions, he was eventually expelled from the Kuomintang. Although there was some initial speculation that Lee's expulsion would cause mass defections in the Kuomintang, none of the major Kuomintang leaders or Lee's close associates changed sides. Nonetheless, former members of the KMT were still to be the fundamental building blocks of the new party, with half of TSU candidates coming directly from the KMT.

After winning nine seats in the 225-member Legislative Yuan in December 2001, the TSU has largely displaced the Taiwan Independence Party (TAIP) as the strongly pro-Taiwan-independence political force and the TSU legislators began advocating relevant resolutions. For instance, they have opened the debates about changing the national flag and national anthem. In the 2002 Taiwanese municipal elections in Taipei and Kaohsiung, TSU fielded no mayoral candidate, and it suffered a defeat in winning no seats in the Taipei City council and won only two seats in the Kaohsiung City council.

Yasukuni Shrine visit

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The visit to the Yasukuni Shrine by TSU chairman Shu Chin-chiang in April 2005 generated a controversy across the political spectrum and further made their party goals more ambiguous to the voters. However, the TSU has made it clear that it would achieve its goal of total independence by all means. Chairman Shu denied the visit should be seen as support for militarism, and claimed it was a goodwill gesture to Taiwan's former colonial master Japan to further strengthen the security of the Pacific region. Chairman Su also emphasized that there is a need to remind the Taiwanese public that the People's Republic of China is aiming 700 missiles towards Taiwan and that Japan would be an important ally if China were inclined to invade.[20]

Chairman Shu's visit, however, gave opportunity to aboriginal legislator Kao Chin Su-mei to gain publicity by protesting with her supporters at the chairman's arrival at the Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport, now renamed Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. Later on the TSU press conference was disrupted by an angry mob from the members of pro-unification Patriot Association (愛國同心會), who showed their disagreement and dissatisfaction by throwing eggs at the conference building. The DPP, the ruling party, kept a low profile in this controversy and attempts to distance itself from the incident.

Current status

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The TSU suffered defeat in the December 2005 local elections, along with its pan-green partner the DPP, and failed to win any municipal mayoral or county magistrate seats. Its representation in the Legislative Yuan was eliminated by the 2008 election when it failed to win any district-contested seats and failed to gain the 5% threshold for proportional representation.

In the 2012 legislative elections, the TSU won 8.98% of the popular vote and earned three representatives to the Legislative Yuan, renewing its status as a credible third party in Taiwanese government. The 2016 legislative elections saw the TSU win 2.51% of all votes, not enough for representation. The latest loss lead to the resignation of party chairman Huang Kun-huei.[21] Shortly after, all of the party's workforce was laid off.[18]

Election results

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Legislative elections

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Election Total seats won Total votes Share of votes Outcome of election Election leader
2001
13 / 225
 801,560 8.5% Increase13 seats; Minority governing coalition (Pan-Green) Huang Chu-wen
2004
12 / 225
 756,712 8.28% Decrease1 seats; Minority governing coalition (Pan-Green) Huang Chu-wen
2008
0 / 113
 344,887 3.5% Decrease12 seats; No seats Huang Kun-huei
2012
3 / 113
 1,178,896 8.96% Increase3 seats; Opposition coalition (Pan-Green) Huang Kun-huei
2016
0 / 113
 305,675 2.51% Decrease3 seats; No seats Huang Kun-huei
2020
0 / 113
 50,435 0.36% Steady; No seats Liu Yi-te
2024
0 / 113
 43,372 0.31% Steady; No seats Liu Yi-te

Local elections

[edit]
Election Mayors &
Magistrates 		Councils Third-level
Municipal heads 		Third-level
Municipal councils 		Fourth-level
Village heads 		Election Leader
2001-2002
0 / 23
7 / 897
0 / 319
 — — Huang Chu-wen
2002
municipalities only
0 / 2
2 / 96
 — — — Huang Chu-wen
2005
0 / 23
11 / 901
0 / 319
 — — Shu Chin-chiang
2006
municipalities only
0 / 2
3 / 96
 — — — Huang Kun-huei
2009
0 / 17
3 / 587
0 / 211
 — — Huang Kun-huei
2010
municipalities only
0 / 5
2 / 314
 — —
0 / 3,757
 Huang Kun-huei
2014
unified
0 / 22
9 / 906
0 / 204
0 / 2,137
1 / 7,836
 Huang Kun-huei

National Assembly elections

[edit]
Election Total seats won Total votes Share of votes Outcome of election Election leader
2005
21 / 300
 273,147 7.05% Increase21 seats; Opposition (Rejecting amendments) Shu Chin-chiang

Chairperson

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^

References

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  1. ^ Tu, Aaron (17 April 2016). "TSU elects new party chairman in landslide win". Taipei Times. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  2. ^ "台聯黨賭上政治生涯！刊廣告「輸給新黨 台聯收攤」". Formosa Television. 10 October 2021. Archived from the original on 9 October 2021.
  3. ^ "台灣團結聯盟".
  4. ^ 撕毀踩踏五星旗！台聯撐香港 籲小英射出「三支箭」 - YouTube
  5. ^ Larry Diamond, Gi-Wook Shin, ed. (2014). New Challenges for Maturing Democracies in Korea and Taiwan. Stanford University Press. p. 374. ISBN 9780804789226.
  6. ^ W Jou (2010). "The Heuristic Value of the Left—Right Schema in East Asia". International Political Science Review. 31 (3): 366–394. doi:10.1177/0192512110370721. S2CID 145568847.
  7. ^ "王浩宇酸台聯：完美示範了如何分化台派" (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 新頭殼新聞網. 16 August 2019. Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2022. 王浩宇批評，台聯黨完美示範如何「分化台派」，幫民進黨貼上「支持廢死」、「資本主義」的標籤，在本勞、外勞權益方面卻走得比民進黨更右派，讓他直呼「這樣能幫台聯黨換到政黨票」？
  8. ^ "「林義雄之怒」的微言大義與當頭棒喝" (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 民報. 25 May 2015. Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2022. 至於台聯與親民黨基本上也是右派的一脈相傳[...]
  9. ^ "台聯黨賭上政治生涯！刊廣告「輸給新黨 台聯收攤」" (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Formosa Television. 8 January 2020. Archived from the original on 22 January 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2021. 對內：反對左傾害經濟[...]
  10. ^ "第11屆全國不分區及僑居國外國民立法委員選舉選舉公報" (PDF). Central Election Commission: 4. 3 January 2024. 16台灣團結聯盟，反左正右派[...]
  11. ^ Larry Diamond, Gi-Wook Shin, ed. (2014). New Challenges for Maturing Democracies in Korea and Taiwan. Stanford University Press. p. 374. ISBN 9780804789226.
  12. ^ W Jou (2010). "The Heuristic Value of the Left—Right Schema in East Asia". International Political Science Review. 31 (3): 366–394. doi:10.1177/0192512110370721. S2CID 145568847.
  13. ^ "CCTV.com-台聯黨主席稱台聯黨走"中間偏左"路線". news.cctv.com (in Chinese). 25 February 2007. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021.
  14. ^ "台聯黨轉型中間偏左 今起黨員重登記_島內政經_台灣_新聞中心_台海網". www.taihainet.com (in Chinese). 12 May 2008.
  15. ^ Jean-Pierre Cabestan, Jacques deLisle, ed. (2014). Political Changes in Taiwan Under Ma Ying-jeou: Partisan Conflict, Policy Choices, External Constraints and Security Challenges. Routledge. p. 44. ISBN 9781317755098. ... even more radical positions at the far left (TSU) or far right (NP) of the spectrum.
  16. ^ Robert Ash; John W. Garver; Penelope Prime, eds. (2013). Taiwan's Democracy: Economic and Political Challenges. Routledge. p. 91.
  17. ^ "CCTV.com-"台聯黨"試圖走中間路線？". news.cctv.com (in Chinese). 29 January 2007.
  18. ^ a b Gerber, Abraham (22 January 2016). "All TSU staff laid off after legislature losses". Taipei Times. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  19. ^ Lin, Chieh-yu; Hsu, Crystal (25 July 2001). "Party with ties to Lee picks name". Taipei Times. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  20. ^ "TSU head visits controversial shrine". Taipei Times. 5 April 2005. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  21. ^ Chang, Hsiao-ti; Chin, Jonathan (20 January 2016). "TSU considering disbanding after election losses". Taipei Times. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
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