Failure to remove opposition lawmakers from legislature shakes Taiwan’s ruling party

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – The failure of a mass legislative recall vote targeting opposition lawmakers has shaken Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party, whose secretary-general Lin Yu-chang stepped down on Monday.

“What we need least is to make excuses for the outcome, but instead to move forward," Lin said in a statement.

The top-level resignation from the Democratic Progressive Party came after all 24 Kuomintang lawmakers survived the recall campaign in Saturday’s unprecedented vote, allowing the Kuomintang and Taiwan People’s Party to retain their opposition majority in the Legislature.

After winning a record third term in last year’s elections, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party nevertheless lost its majority in the legislature, known locally as the Legislative Yuan. Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te has since faced repeated setbacks.

Chien-Yu Shih, associate research fellow at the Taipei-based Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told Anadolu that the Democratic Progressive Party government, or the executive power, “should endeavor to expand and unite Taiwan's society to cope with the challenges, rather than allowing populist movements to develop and expand confrontation.”

“Taiwan society must be cohesive and united, not divided, to be able to face the various crises under the confrontation between the US and China,” he said.

Shun-wen Wang, a professor at National University of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, told Anadolu the outcome of the recall vote “indicates that the people of Taiwan do not simply use an anti-China narrative as the sole standard for their voting behavior — after all, the ruling party remains the DPP.”

“They still think that there should be a counterbalance in the congress (legislature). Looking ahead, it is clear that the ruling party must be more willing to humble itself and coordinate with the parliamentary majority in the Legislative Yuan, rather than adopting a confrontational approach,” said Shun-wen.

China on Monday reiterated Taiwan “is an inalienable part of China’s territory.”

“(The) Taiwan question is China’s internal affairs and no external forces should intervene with it,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters in Beijing.

Separately, the US shipment of the second batch of 42 M1A2T Abrams tanks arrived in Taipei late Sunday and was later transported on Monday to the Taiwanese Army's Armored Training Command in Hsinchu's Hukou Township.