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Taiwan opposition wins big
12/01/2008 22:24 - (SA)
Taipei, Taiwan - Taiwan's opposition Nationalist Party won a landslide victory in legislative elections on Saturday, giving a big boost to its policy of closer engagement with China two months before a presidential poll it now seems poised to win.
President Chen Shui-bian, who has been criticised for aggravating relations with China by promoting policies to formalise Taiwan's de facto independence from the mainland, resigned as chairperson of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP, immediately after the extent of the defeat became clear.
"I should shoulder all responsibilities," Chen said. "I feel really apologetic and shamed."
His resignation does not affect his status as president.
With all votes counted, the official Central Election Commission said the Nationalists had won 81 seats in the 113-seat Legislature, against only 27 for the DPP, with four going to Nationalist-leaning independents, and one to a Nationalist satellite party.
Critics say Chen's China policies have allowed Taiwan's once-vibrant economy to lose competitiveness, and have ratcheted up tension in the perennially edgy Taiwan Strait.
'We need to be cautious...'
Washington has made it clear it finds Chen's policies toward Beijing dangerous and provocative - particularly a planned referendum on Taiwanese membership in the United Nations, which appears designed to underscore the self-governing, democratic island's political separateness from the communist mainland.
A March 22 presidential election to chose a successor to Chen, who must step down after eight years in office, pits Frank Hsieh of Chen's DPP against the Nationalists' Ma Ying-jeou. Recent opinion polls give Ma a 20-point lead, and Saturday's win by his party is likely to give a further boost to Ma, a former mayor of the island's capital, Taipei.
"The DPP needs to avoid further electoral declines," said election specialist Tsai Chia-hung of Taipei-based National Chengchi University. "Losing by only a small margin in the upcoming elections would even mean a gain for them."
The DPP wants to make official the independence the island has had since Taiwan and China split amid civil war nearly 60 years ago - but the party has held off, out of fears that China would carry out its repeated threats to attack. In contrast, the Nationalists favour more active engagement with China, and do not rule out eventual unification.
Speaking at Nationalist headquarters in Taipei, Ma relished his party's victory - enough to give it a 3/4 majority together with the five allies - but warned against over-confidence going into the presidential elections.
"We need to be cautious about the presidential poll, and hopefully we can win," he said. "With a Nationalist presidency and Nationalist-controlled legislature, we can push forward the reform expected by the Taiwanese people."
- AP
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