Domestic Politics and the Democratic Progressive Party's China Policy

In a surprising turn of events Chen Shui-bien won the 2000 presidential election in Taiwan, and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) became the ruling party of Taiwan. This marked a dramatic change in Taiwan's China policy, in that the DPP's China policy was quickly characterized by Taiwan’s objection to the one China principle, the DPP’s insistence on cross-Strait relations is a two-state’s relationship and emphasize Taiwan independence. However, Chen's actions prompted China to pass the Anti-Secession Law in March of 2005 and to force Chen and the DPP to moderate Taiwan’s China Policy. Part of the reasons for Chen's provocative actions toward China and China's response are Taiwan's domestic politics where elections control what the political parties do. The electoral factor in Taiwan has had a critical effect of the establishment of the DPP’s China policy. Therefore, the electoral factor in Taiwan’s domestic politics influences the DPP’s China policy because the DPP is primarily motivated by maintaining their power through vote maximization in elections and uses Taiwan’s China policy as a tool to increase their vote totals. This thesis explores how such domestic political issues have affected Chen and the DPP's China policy and China's response. It also explores how these domestic factors will affect Taiwan's China policy in the future under the DPP. Keywords: Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Taiwan domestic politics, DPP’s China policy, elections in Taiwan