Election Day

January 10, 2024 – Kaosiung – Tainan – 59 kms – Cambridge Hotel

January 11, 2024 – Tainan – Bahie- 59 kms – Third Great Uncles Homestay

January 12, 2024 – Bahie – Donggang Coffee Road loop – Bahie – Chaiyi – 58 kms – LAN Kwai Fong Garden Hotel

Gordon:  Taiwan is holding national elections today, with all seats in the legislature and the offices of President and Vice President to be filled.

There was an excellent article in the Globe & Mail recently by the daughter of immigrants to Canada from Taiwan.  She wrote of how the world sees Taiwan through the lens of its relationship with mainland China.  In reality, she argued, Taiwan has its own rich and distinct history, and issues other than the relationship with China dominate national politics.

A quick look at the platforms of the three principal parties contending the election discloses that the salient issues are in fact of the bread and butter variety: the percentage of a worker’s pay going into benefits, the minimum wage, and statutory holidays.  All three parties have a similar status quo position on the short term relationship with the mainland.

There are, however, differences in how the three parties see the country’s long term relationship with the mainland.  It even comes with a colour spectrum: the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) favours independence and is identified as “green”.  The opposition Kuomintang (KMT) still holds to the “one China” position and sees the two countries becoming closer, though not with a communist government.  They are “blue”.  The third party, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) hews to some position up the middle and uses the colour turquoise.  The colours on the campaign posters are so similar that once exposed to the sun it is difficult to tell them apart.  I guess the truly distinct colour red was already taken.

By a narrow margin the DPP are predicted to win the election.  The mainland sees them as an independence party, so a victory by the DPP will probably lead to saber rattling by the mainland in the following days.  Hopefully it won’t get out of hand, as we are hoping to fly home four days after the election.

Ruth:  We spent last night with Ken and Elaine, friends we met on line who are also here with Bike Fridays. We wandered through the night market in Chiayi, nibbling and sharing stories as the lively marked morphed into a political rally. The noise and shouting went on for hours after we went to bed. We will be eager to see the election results.