Taiwan: Beijing's favorite candidate fails to chair opposition
Éric Chu, (center) surrounded by his supporters after being elected head of the Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang Party (KMT) in Taipei, on Saturday September 25, 2021. AP - Chiang Ying-ying
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The Chinese nationalist party of the Kuomintang, the first opposition party in Taiwan, organized this Saturday the election of its secretary general.
An old party figure finally won against a candidate for "unification" with China.
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With our correspondent in Taipei,
Adrien Simorre
The surprise will not have happened in the end.
Eric Chu, an old figure of the party, was finally elected at the head of the Kuomintang with more than 45% of the votes.
His rival, Chang Ya-chung, had created a surprise in the polls a few weeks before the poll.
Favorable to unification with Communist China, he was by far the “
favorite candidate for Beijing,
” according to Michael Cole, a Canadian analyst based in Taipei.
He finally came second with 32% of the votes.
"
I voted to obstruct Chang Ya-Jun, I did not want him to be elected,
confesses, relieved, Mr. Tian, in his thirties, member of the party.
These elections have done a lot of harm to the party, now we will have to work to unify us.
"
The Chinese Nationalist Party is the leading opposition party in Taiwan.
Favorable to a rapprochement with Beijing, he remains officially opposed to an unconditional Chinese annexation.
Hence the surprise created by the meteoric rise in power of a candidate known for his connivance with the Communist regime, and openly in favor of unification with Communist China.
"
There is now a divide within the Chinese Nationalist Party, between on the one hand those who want to move away from China, and on the other, those who think that it is necessary to double the stake and to come even closer from Beijing,
analyzes Brian Hioe, Taiwanese journalist and activist.
But the fact that the third candidate, the youngest and most moderate [Johnny Chiang, note] lost, also shows that this party is more and more pro-Chinese.
In this context, in my opinion, he has no political future in Taiwan, because he does not manage to attract young people.
"
Young Taiwanese indeed largely prefer the Progressive Democratic Party in power since 2016 and firmly opposed to
Beijing's demands
.
Events in Hong Kong like repeated threats to invade Communist China reinforce this tendency.
Today, nearly 90% of Taiwanese are opposed to Chinese annexation.
► To read also: Centenary of the Chinese Communist Party: Taiwan "determined" to defend itself
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