Introduction Introduction 7 In fact,the failure of the Ma administration to produce economic growth abetted the DPP's efforts to play on local nationalist sentiments.Ma's plans Thus the stage was set for the DPP,which was not as crippled by its hinged on(particularly from the perspective of the DPP)"integrating"Tai- election defeats or as disadvantaged by the new political balance of power as wan's economy with China's.During the campaign,Ma had spoken of tear- it appeared,to do pitched battle with the KMT employing those tactics that ing down barriers to cross-strait economic relations and his proposals won brought the DPP to power.This meant street politics,demonstrations and strong kudos from the business community and as well the support of the protests,and appeals to ethnic Taiwanese nationalism.These aggressive ac- general population.At the time (and this still holds)Taiwan faced the fright- tions DPP leaders conflated with protecting Taiwan's democracy and its ening prospect of being excluded from the quickly evolving ASEAN-plus national sovereignty. one(China)or some variation of it,a dynamic East Asian common market, The KMT responded by citing,and repeating often,the Chen admini- and thus being isolated economically.35 stration's and the DPP's corruption while not distinguishing between the two. But DPP leaders portrayed the situation quite differently:as Taiwan be- The complicated and seemingly never ending nature of the legal case against coming dependent on China economically-a first step in China's strategy Chen as anticipated facilitated KMT efforts.In July,prosecutors indicted for absorbing Taiwan.Upon closer examination,these charges could be seen nine more Chen administration officials,including five former ministers. as specious for two reasons:One,during the Chen era his administration In mid-August,the media reported that former president Chen admitted he oversaw a vast increase in Taiwan's economic ties with China and thus its had lied about the use of campaign funds during two mayoral elections and dependence on China.3 Two,Taiwan was becoming integrated with China two presidential elections going back to 1994 that he had run in (though he economically;but so were nearly all of the nations in East Asia."Neverthe- said his wife had taken the money--SUS21 million).Chen then cancelled his less,the DPP's argument that Taiwan might become dangerously dependent membership in the DPP and apologized for dishonoring the party and caus- upon China had resonance,especially among their supporters. ing it irreparable damage.In response,DPP critics said that the Ma ad- Another advantage for the DPP was the fact that the two KMT election ministration had leaked information to further humiliate Chen and the DPP victories in early 2008 had created the rather widely held impression the and complained the judiciary was not acting independently.46 KMT could,and indeed would,return to its former dictatorial-style of rule. In early October,the DPP's new (but previous employed)policies were Instances of KMT arrogance were fed this view,including some officials put into practice in a very overt fashion.Party activists in the Legislature stating in public that former president Chen should be executed.Also there assaulted Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan in a dustup over unsafe food were indications the lines between the government and ruling party (the imported from China.Later in the month the DPP organized a rally in KMT)were blurring.In mid-July,in what some viewers saw as an effort at Taipei to demand President Ma resign over concession he made to China damage control,President Ma apologized for the KMT's authoritarian past, during talks on cross-strait commercial relations.48 noting that during that time three to four hundred thousand had been killed The big test for the DPP's tactics came when Zhang Mingqing,vice or disappeared.9 chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait,a semi- Finally,the KMT was divided internally by disagreements over both official organization in China established to maintain relations with Taiwan, leadership and policies.There was an on-going power struggle between the arrived in Taiwan to attend an academic seminar.Pro-independence DPP KMT-controlled executive and the KMT-controlled legislative branches of activists quickly confronted him.In front of television cameras one of them government and between the legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng and Presi- shoved him to the ground knocking off his glasses.He was later treated by a dent Ma.40 Bolstering Wang's position many KMT legislators (and certainly doctor for a back muscle injury.Premier Liu Chao-shiuan and Lai Shin- DPP legislators)did not want the Legislative Yuan to become a rubber yuan,chairwoman of the Mainland Affairs Council,condemned the violence stamp body for the Ma administration.This showed up in the budget proc- saying it hurt Taiwan's democratic image.50 ess (not perfunctorily approving it as was usual),President Ma's effort to It was forthwith revealed that Chen Shui-bian helped orchestrate the as- control corruption by amending the Punishment for Corruption Act (not sault to shift the focus of attention away from his crimes by stirring up local passed),Ma's appointments(which legislators said took politics into consid- nationalist sentiment and ill feelings against China.Chen had told reporters eration too little and were too much aimed only at getting the best person for that Chen Yunlin,Zhang's boss and who was scheduled to visit Taiwan soon, should be arrested "because he is a communist bandit."Chen then asserted mewith China (which playcd into the hands of DP that Zhang deliberately came to his hometown and this was "equivalent of a provocation."52