[Global Times reporter Wu Wei and Wang Qi] The reorganization of the "Executive Yuan" led by Tsai Ing-wen came to an end on January 31, but the 2024 "battle of positions" between different factions within the DPP may have just begun. It started to heat up.

Looking at the personnel arrangement of the new "cabinet", the most obvious ones are "co-governance by factions" and "balance among factions". theme.

The unscrupulous power struggle will only make the people on the island more and more disappointed with the DPP's "only for power, not for development".

　　The four major factions "have sugar to eat"

　　Let’s take a look at the reorganization of Taiwan’s “Executive Yuan” and the seats assigned to each faction: Chen Chien-jen from the British department serves as the “President of the Executive Yuan”, and the “Vice President of the Executive Yuan” is from the new trend department, but has a good relationship with the British department Zheng Wencan, former Keelung Mayor Lin Youchang, who belongs to the "Regular Congress" faction, served as the "Minister of the Interior".

The level of deputy heads of ministries and committees also basically continues this line. For example, Ruan Zhaoxiong of the "Speaking Association" serves as the "Vice Chairman of the Overseas Chinese Committee", and Liang Wenjie, a former Taipei City Councilor of the New Trend Department, serves as the Deputy Chairman of the MAC.

In the words of Taiwan media, "all factions have candy".

　　The above mentioned are the four major factions in the current DPP.

When the party was founded in 1986, it was formed by a combination of opposition politicians and local people, each with its own different political ideas, and then gradually evolved into factions.

Among them, the predecessor of the New Trend Department was the "Non-Party Editors and Writers Association" established in 1983. It can be said that "there was a new trend first, and then there was the DPP."

The British Department was established after Tsai Ing-wen was elected in 2016, with the "Friends of Xiaoying" as the main body. Representatives include Chen Jianren, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Qimai, etc.

The "Regular National Assembly" was established more than ten years ago, represented by the "Legislative President" You Xikun, and the main politicians include Lin Youchang, who just became the "Minister of the Interior".

The "Yongyanhui" was formed in 2016 by Lin Kunhai, the chairman of Sanli TV who is pro-green. It is commonly known as the "Shanghai School" and is represented by "legislator" Wang Dingyu.

There are also some small factions in the DPP, such as the Soviet faction headed by the former "Executive President" Su Zhenchang, whose representative is his daughter and "legislator" Su Qiaohui.

　　There are also smaller factions within each faction.

Former "legislator" Qiu Yi told the "Global Times" on February 1 that the new trend system is divided into "Nanliu" and "Beiliu". Tsai Ing-wen has a closer relationship, and Tsai Ing-wen also divided the north-south flow by drawing Zheng Wencan to check and balance Lai Qingde.

In addition, there are some factions that have disappeared, such as the Formosa Formation faction, which was established in 1984, represented by former DPP chairmen Shi Mingde and Xu Xinliang, and gradually declined after 1996.

　　In July 2006, the National Congress of the Democratic Progressive Party passed a proposal to disband the faction, calling for the immediate prohibition of setting up offices, recruiting members, accepting dues, and raising funds in the name of the faction. Party officials and public officials should declare their withdrawal from the faction during their tenure.

The "Welfare State Connection" established by Hsieh Chang-ting, Taipei's representative in Japan, was disbanded at this time.

This proposal was considered to be aimed at the new trend faction, but the faction immediately turned to the stage and established a "Taiwan New Society Think Tank" to continue to cultivate the succession echelon.

　　The New Trend Department is not like the British Department, which revolves around specific core figures, nor does it only need to pay one-time membership fee like other factions. Instead, it pays a fixed fee every month according to the position, ranging from a few hundred NT dollars for assistant staff to "legislators", The mayor spends tens of thousands of yuan a month, and this money has become his funding for personnel training and election campaign layout, and it is also the "secret" for him to become the most powerful faction of the DPP.

"Even more ruthless than the enemy"

　　Since its establishment, the DPP has been practicing "co-governance by factions", and people from all walks of life form alliances from time to time to share the "political cake".

For example, the British faction was weak before the 2016 election, so it chose to form an alliance with the second largest faction in the party at the time, the "National Congress".

In an interview with the Global Times on February 1, Wang Jianmin, honorary dean of a research institute at South Fujian Normal University, said factional struggle within the DPP is a political culture that has existed for a long time and is crucial to the distribution of power. Factions were abolished back then, but the reality of the existence and development of factions has not been fundamentally changed.

He bluntly said, "Talking about factions is actually talking about the distribution and struggle of political power within the DPP."

Taking the "Legislative Yuan" in 2020 as an example, among the 61 "legislators" of the DPP, only 6 have no factional background, and the New Trend Department has the largest number of people, with 18 people; followed by 14 people from the British Department; the third largest faction There are 9 people in the "Regular Congress".

　　"Is it necessary to be in such a hurry?" "I was killed by you 4 years ago, and this time I want to kill you, otherwise what will happen!" On the afternoon of December 13, 2018, the Tainan City Council DPP group with its doors locked Although the office did not allow the media to approach, the sound of choking and fierce quarrels in the office still came from the door.

On the same day, the Tainan City Council’s Democratic Progressive Party Group A mobilized to discuss the election of the chairman and deputy speaker candidates. As a result, everyone quarreled and the atmosphere was hot.

In the end, seven members of the non-mainstream faction headed by the then deputy speaker Guo Xinliang walked away angrily. When they walked out of the venue, they kept scolding "reckless, too domineering".

Afterwards, Guo Xinliang formed an alliance with the Kuomintang and the Alliance of Non-Party Parliamentarians, and was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives after two rounds of voting.

　　In order to get "sugar" to eat, the DPP's various party elections often go to the bone. There are many more exciting situations. The island media often mentions the 2019 DPP primary In order to let Tsai Ing-wen qualify, the British team manipulated the Internet army to attack Lai Qingde of the new trend department, forcing Lai Qingde to "beg for mercy" at the press conference.

　　There is also some infighting that takes place behind the scenes.

In March 2021, Wang Dingyu, a "legislator" of the DPP of the "Yongyanhui", was revealed to have entered and left the residence of Yan Ruofang, a beautiful spokesperson of the same party, several times. They were suspected of having extramarital affairs.

For a while, Wang Dingyu became the target of public criticism.

Afterwards, some media broke out that it might involve factional struggles within the Democratic Progressive Party.

Former "legislator" Li Junyi said that it is possible that the New Trend Department wanted to keep the current Tainan mayor Huang Weizhe, and took action to repair Wang Dingyu. After this incident, Wang Dingyu probably had no chance to be elected as the mayor of Tainan.

An anonymous media person also questioned who made Wang Dingyu's rumors on the Facebook fan page.

He said that generally this kind of extramarital affairs are revealed to be mostly from the original partner, but it feels like Mrs. Wang doesn't know about it.

Reminiscent of the fact that the male and female protagonists of the gossip are all members of the Democratic Progressive Party, "it is difficult to obtain relevant information unless they are their own people; even media reporters, if they are not very trusted people, they will not know", so "the only people who broke the news are The next possibility is the DPP’s own people.”

　　Wang Jianmin recalled to the "Global Times" reporter the scene when Su Zhenchang and Xie Changting competed for party candidates.

He said that the two fought very fiercely, insulting each other, and in addition to political attacks, some slanderous language used was "unprecedented" and even more ruthless than enemies.

For another example, Lai Qingde was once "repaired" by Tsai Ing-wen's online army. He immediately eliminated Cai's think tank Hong Yaofu after he came out this time. "This is the beginning of Lai Qingde's revenge."

However, Qiu Yi mentioned that Tsai Ing-wen controls the administrative machinery and intelligence units, and the British department can collect evidence and release it to the media for exposure, and use financial and tax investigations to deter business owners from aiding Lai Qingde.

　　The essence is to "divide the spoils"

　　"Factional co-governance" is regarded by the DPP as the "cornerstone" of its stability. Chen Shui-bian once said in an interview that when he was the chairman of the party, there was a voice to disband the faction and the proposal was passed, but "the faction cannot be dissolved. ".

　　However, some factions are considered to have "no good prospects".

One is the Soviet Union. In the past, Su Zhenchang could rely on the position of "Executive President" to maintain the Soviet Union, but now he will face the situation of no successor.

The second is the British faction, which is highly dependent on Tsai Ing-wen personally, and also shares the "political dividend" brought by Tsai Ing-wen to the greatest extent.

Once Tsai Ing-wen resigns in 2024, the loosely organized British faction will inevitably decline, and many of the original members will switch to the new leader for their own political future and seek political backing.

That's why Tsai Ing-wen wooed Chen Jianren into the party to strengthen the power of the British faction and avoid lameness in advance.

　　The unscrupulous power struggle will only make the people on the island feel disappointed that the DPP is "only for power, not for development".

Wang Jianmin said that if the conflict cannot be resolved, the light green voters in the middle will definitely feel disappointed and abandon the DPP.

Lianhe News stated on January 30 that "co-governance by factions" has always been a more polite term, and its essence is not much different from "dividing spoils". Judging from the list of "cabinet members", "at best, it is only through the allocation of resources to appease the various hilltops in the party, and the subtext is that no one can even think about rebelling."

The "China Times" stated that since last year's "nine-in-one" election, the DPP's election situation is in a critical state. Factions will surely lose their heads in scrambling for resources. A slight mistake will break the balance of factions. Tsai Ing-wen seeks a superficially balanced layout. It may cause even worse imbalances, which will affect the 2024 election.

　　However, the DPP has always made the conflict superficial.

Lai Yueqian, a political scholar on the island, said in an interview with the Global Times on February 1 that although the new trend group occupies a dominant position in the DPP, due to the DPP’s gameplay, they basically do not win all. "It's the ones who take the big chunks, and they follow the politics of sharing the spoils." This is why the power struggle within the DPP is fierce, but everyone will leave a way out.

Tsai Ing-wen also claimed after winning the election, "The DPP can compete, but unity is when the competition is over."

For the 2024 election, the Kuomintang must still maintain high vigilance.