Some Implications of the Turnover of Political Power in Taiwan

On March 18, 2000, Taiwan's citizens voted the Nationalist Party (KMT) out of office and the Democratic Progressive Party's candidate Chen Shui-bian in as president. The implications of this peaceful turnover of political party are that, instead of negotiating with mainland China's authorities to achieve a political settlement of the divided China problem, President Chen has opted for negotiations to take place under a special state-to-state relationship. At the same time, President Chen's administration has launched a "silent revolution"; promoting Taiwan a shared belief that Taiwan has the qualifications of a sovereign nation, that it has a special state-to-state relationship with mainland China, and that its people have the ethnic identity of Taiwan, not Taiwan and China. Meanwhile, the Chen administration, like the Lee Teng-hui administration before it, is changing symbols, rewriting Taiwan's history, and promoting cultural values of Taiwan inclusiveness to promote Taiwan nationalism and to carry out the de-Sinofication of Taiwan. In response, mainland China's authorities offered a new interpretation of the "one-China" principle, but the Chen administration rejected that concession. Political fragmentation continues. These developments have frozen cross-strait negotiations and put Taiwan and mainland China on a collision course. But long-term developments, such as growing integration of the Taiwan--mainland China market economies, a revitalized political opposition, and a favorable perception of mainland China's modernization could neutralize Taiwan's nationalism and restart cross-strait talks.