Eva Cheng
After five decades of mostly military rule by the Nationalist Party (KMT), a former lawyer and member of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) — Chen Shui-bian — won Taiwan's second ever presidential election by popular vote in 2000.
Activists from Taiwan's pro-democracy movement formed the DPP in 1986, defying a ban under martial law issued by the KMT government. The 40-year military rule ended a year later.
Since its formation, the DPP has been campaigning for democratic reforms and against reintegration with China. The DPP has emphasised its progressive aspirations and activism on the street, and has been winning a growing number of local, regional and national elections.
Despite this, after four years in presidency, Chen Shui-bian scored a mere 0.2% higher vote than rival KMT candidate, Lien Chan, in the March 20 presidential ballot. Even this lead is now in dispute, pending a recount.
A press conference held on June 17, 2003, by a coalition of social and labour groups and activists to denounce the alleged degeneration of the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions (TCTU) provided an indication of the DPP's lack of credibility while in power.
The TCTU was formed on May 1, 2000, to represent the independent trade unions that have been leading the emerging workers' struggles in Taiwan. Its formation represented a rejection of Taiwan's Chinese Federation of Labour (CFL), which had long been tailing the KMT.
A report of the press conference on the <http://www.xiachao.org.tw> website indicated trade unionists' disappointment at the TCTU's rising tendency to please the bosses in close collaboration with the DPP government.
Speakers likened the TCTU's subservience to the DPP with the CFL's relationship to the KMT, and denounced the DPP government's attempt to intervene in the TCTU election.
Reverse Robin Hood
During the press conference, Wang Li-xia, a veteran trade union leader since the martial law period, described the DPP's labour policies as "reverse Robin Hood". "The workers have been earnestly looking up to the TCTU, yet it turned out to be so hesitant and weak in the face of the anti-worker legislation."
Yang Kun-chuan, who is credited with pioneering the island's independent trade union movement, highlighted the lack of "meaningful actions" from the TCTU in the face of rising unemployment, escalating privatisation and the worsening plight of workers.
Another respected trade union leader, Lo Mee-min, asked what remains "progressive" in a government when it fails to defend the interests of the workers and the socially disadvantaged. He claimed that the TCTU had become a tool of the DPP, instead of remaining loyal to its founding aspirations serving workers' interests.
A joint statement by Wang, Yang and Lo pointed to the worsening inequity in Taiwan's tax system: "Using various pretexts, the new government granted the conglomerates and capitalist class tax cuts totalling [Taiwanese] $700 billion per year, while the wage-earners and working class won not a cent of reduction in their personal tax."
The statement claimed that both the DPP government and TCTU proclamations of seeking to build a new and just society had become pipe dreams.
Soon after he became president, Chen initiated controversial amendments to labour legislation, a move he billed as "pro-worker", but most labour activists thought otherwise. In a March 7, 2002, statement, Taiwan's Labor Rights Association pointed out how the amendments would restrict workers' right to strike in some government departments, impose a mandatory "cooling down period" in several industries before workers can legally engage in strike actions, and deprive strikers of their normal wages.
A May 2003 Day statement by a coalition of worker, student, fisherpeople and aboriginal organisations, accused the Chen government of going to great lengths to protect the capitalist class' high profit level, despite Taiwan's economic downturn. It highlighted the government's pro-rich measures such as gift, inheritance and land appreciation tax deductions, and Chen's approval, despite a 30,000-strong protest, of a socially regressive premium rise for the national health insurance scheme.
The statement also pointed to the escalating privatisation under Chen's presidency, which had lowered wages and cost jobs. In the early 1990s the top tenth of Taiwan's population earned 19 times the bottom tenth. By 2001 this had risen to 61 times, and it continues to worsen.
Insufficient seats?
In response to allegations that it has betrayed workers and favoured the bosses, the DPP affirmed on its website that it continued to defend workers' interests and "has never deserted" them, even claiming it has "actively brought about reforms in workers' interests" since winning power.
Pointing to its record of shortening work hours from 48 per week to 84 hours per fortnight, the DPP claimed that it couldn't further reduce the hours because this may put small and medium sized companies out of business. It stressed the importance of "balancing the interests between capital and labour".
The DPP pointed to its "insufficient" seats in the legislature as its key defence against criticism. It has 87 seats in the 225-seat legislature while the KMT and its close ally the People First Party (PFP), which split away from the KMT in 2000, hold 68 and 46 seats respectively. The DPP's collaborator, the Taiwan Solidarity Union, has 13 seats.
However, as the labour organisations' 2003 May Day statement pointed out, "not only has the new [DPP] government not reformed the rotten policies from the past, it has either preserved them or taken them further".
China policy
The policies toward China of the DPP and the KMT are supposed to be miles apart, favouring independence and reunification respectively. But the gap has been narrowing as both parties have an active agenda to facilitate the investment of Taiwan capital in mainland China.
The KMT, the party of China's ruling class, fled to Taiwan and ruled the island with US imperialism's backing after China's 1949 revolution. It had insisted on reclaiming its rule over the entire mainland until 1991. Since then, it has scaled down its claim only to Taiwan and the associated islands. In 1991 the KMT recognised the legitimacy of the post-1949 government for the first time.
In its January 29 election statement, the KMT-PFP coalition proposed that Taiwan and China should freeze their debate on Taiwan's sovereignty, maintain the status quo "indefinitely", and focus instead on strengthening their economic collaboration. Until 2000, the KMT had tried to stall Taiwanese investments in China.
In his inaugural speech in May 2000, Chen had already started to tone down the DPP's independence stance. He guaranteed that, as long as China does not use force against Taiwan, he won't take Taiwan to independence, change its name, amend the island's constitution to formalise Taiwan as a separate country, nor call for a referendum on independence.
The KMT is in favour of keeping Taiwan's formal name, "Republic of China", while the DPP prefers to adopt "Taiwan". Beijing strongly objects the DPP proposal.
On the DPP website, the party poured scorn on the KMT's former position of forbidding Taiwanese investment in China. The DPP argued, instead, for a policy of "active opening" of investment to China and "effective management".
Both parties now see the shift of low-value-added industries to China as a key way to preserve Taiwanese capital's profit levels. Both favour Taiwan focusing on higher technology industries, while making use of China's cheap labour and other productive resources to complement Taiwan's needs.
Worried that the DPP-proposed referenda (to shore up Taiwan's defence in face of China's missile threat and to negotiate with China as equal parties) would antagonise Beijing, the KMT and PFP boycotted the votes, which also took place on March 20. Both ballots lapsed after failing to gain more than 50% participation from eligible voters.
From Green Left Weekly, April 7, 2004.
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