JANUARY 2010
DEMOCRACY & PROGRESS
DPP wins three seats in January’s
legislative by-election
Headquarters of DPP Taoyuan county candidate Kuo Jung-tsung
DPP Secretary-General Su Chia-
chuan held a press conference to
express the DPP’s gratitude for
the outcome of the Jan. 9 legisla-
tive by-election. Below are his
comments:
“Tonight, we must thank our
voters for giving the DPP three
victories and thus bringing an
important balance to the legisla-
ture. This result is not the DPP’s
victory but a manifestation of the
Taiwanese people’s persistence
in democratic values for the sake
of fairness. The DPP will defi-
nitely exercise greater modesty,
and in the future, we will make
even greater efforts to win the
people’s trust and support.
“We believe that this is not
the end but rather the beginning
of the DPP’s commitment to
work harder. We don’t have any
room for complacency, and this
is why Chair Tsai made an spe-
cial appeal to our party members
to think that this election result
was an ‘encouragement’ and not
a ‘victory’. We must not fall un-
disciplined in this battle, and we
must place our sights on the ho-
rizon.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
DPP wins three seats in
January’s legislative by-
election
- Pg. 1
DPP’s next campaign
battle
- Pg. 3
DPP to China: respect
and release Liu Xiaobo
- Pg. 5
DPP Chair Tsai
highlights policy for
Taiwan’s economic
future
- Pg. 6
“This election result gave the
DPP wins in three areas, with
three significant meanings. First,
the voters, tired of vote-buying,
used their votes to ensure justice
in our democratic system. Sec-
ond, the DPP achieved one more
seat in these areas, which
... continued on the next page
PAGE 1

JANUARY 2010

DPP wins three seats in January’s legislative by-election

... continued #om the previous page

DPP candidate for

Taitung county,
Lai Kun-cheng
speaking at a panel
with supporters

granted the power of checks and balances, “We must thank all three
showing the voice of Taiwan’s pluralistic soci- candidates for their sacrifices in this time of cri-
ety. Third, the DPP surpassed the key mark of a sis, and, in such a short time and with limited
quarter of the legislature’s seats, thus becoming resources, for completing the task that the party
a stronger opposition. and the people entrusted to them. We also thank
“In Taoyuan, as a result of unity between the the entire party for investing their energy in this
DPP and its supporters, our candidate Kuo election and achieving a show of unity in this
Jung-tsung was able to win a significant victory. battle. Lastly, we must express our deepest
In Taichung county, our candidate Chien Chao- gratitude to the people of Taiwan who through
tung’s election win gave the DPP one more leg- their encouragement stood together with us and
islative seat and the ability to offer more serv- our collective
ices in Taichung county. Most especially in Tai- values in exert-
tung county, our candidate Lai Kun-cheng ing great effort.
scored an historic first as the first DPP candi- Go Taiwan and
date in the district. Winning these elections go democracy!”
means that the DPP is able to offer more com-
plete local services. These three legislators will Caricature of DPP’s
definitely provide the voters even greater assis- candidate for
tance and return their support through their Taichung county,
service.
Chien Chao-tung

PAGE 2

7-up: an era of more substantial checks and balances for
Taiwan’s democracy
The DPP’s next battle will be in Hualien,
Chiayi, Hsinchu and Taoyuan counties. Taiwan
will be holding legislative by-elections February
27 in these areas, where seats were left empty
due to some legislators winning the county gov-
ernor elections last December.
Suggestions were submitted by the DPP’s
Policy Committee and Chair Tsai Ing-wen then
nominated four candidates. They include:
Bikhim Hsiao, director of the DPP’s Depart-
ment of International Affairs, to run for the leg-
islative seat of Hualien county; former Chiayi
county governor Chen Ming-wen for Chiayi
county; former legislator Peng Shao-chin for
Hsinchu county and former Taoyuan city coun-
cilor Huang Jen-chu for Taoyuan county.
These candidates were selected for their
clean image and long-term dedication to public
service. Bikhim Hsiao has been active in the
promotion of Taiwan’s international affairs and
served for two terms as legislator in the Legisla-
Huang Jen-chu Peng Shao-chin
Taoyuan County Hsinchu County
JANUARY 2010
tive Yuan. Her former service as advisor in the
Presidential Office and Mainland Affairs Coun-
cil and current position as vice president of the
international organization, Liberal International,
bring a diversified perspective to Hualien
county, which largely depends on its tourism
industry for sustainable development.
“Even though Hualien county is what we call
a very hard constituency challenge for the DPP,
I was encouraged to take-on this task after see-
ing how beautiful Hualien is and the change I
could bring to Hualien’s internationalization
with my international experience,” Hsiao said.
Hsinchu county candidate Peng Shao-chin,
having served three-terms as legislator, has also
been actively engaged in promoting rights for
the large Hakka minority living in Hsinchu.
Last year, he participated as a candidate in the
county governor elections, which gave him a
chance to raise his image among Hsinchu resi-
dents.
... continued on the next page
Chen Ming-wen Bikhim Hsiao
Chiayi County Hualien County
PAGE 3

JANUARY 2010

... 7-up: an era of more substantial

checks and balances for Taiwan’s
democracy
... continued #om the previous page
DEMOCRACY &
PROGRESS
Huang Jen-chu, who served as Taoyuan city councilor in
the past, also ran for mayor of Chungli in Taoyuan county PUBLISHED BY:
last year, but lost the election by just a few votes. This
showed that the residents of Taoyuan had a good impression Department of International
of Huang and wanted to continue seeing him serve the Affairs Democratic
community. Progressive Party
Chair Tsai said that all these candidates bring a myriad of
experiences to local elections. She cited as an example Chen 9F, No. 30, Pei-Ping East
Ming-wen, who has served two terms as Chiayi county gov- Road, Taipei, Taiwan
ernor and would be able to bring a cohesive effort in the
DPP’s stronghold in this region. Tel: 886-2-2392-9989 ext. 306
The DPP hopes that along with the recent election re-
sults, the DPP will be able to garner a total of 7 seats by
Fax: 886-2-2393-0342
Feb. 27, and be able to bring better checks and balances in
the Legislative Yuan for the people of Taiwan. Over the last
two years, with the legislature taken over by a KMT major- Email: foreign@dpp.org.tw
ity of over 75%, the DPP has been unable to push for major
reforms important for the people. Website:
The DPP headquarters has announced the campaign slo- http://www.dpp.org.tw
gan of “7-Up: An Era of More Substantial Checks and Bal-
ances for Taiwan’s Democracy” for this upcoming election
campaign.
DIRECTOR:
Bikhim Hsiao

DEPUTY DIRECTORS:
Huang Chih-ta
Hsieh Huai-hui

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:
Michael J. Fonte

EDITOR:
Ping-Ya Hsu

PAGE 4
 JANUARY 2010

DPP to China: respect and release Liu Xiaobo

Regarding China's recent sentencing of Chinese and human rights into the common language be-
democracy activist Liu Xiaobo, the DPP de- tween both sides. Once again, we solemnly ap-
clares: peal to our government to take a clear stand with
We believe that democracy, freedom and hu- the Chinese side and request Liu's immediate
man rights are universal values upon which the release, taking concrete action to show our sup-
government cannot infringe. We also believe port for China's democratic reform movement
that Liu Xiaobo, in starting the Charter 08 and, at the same time, showing to the world that
Movement, appealed to China to implement Taiwan has consistently taken a firm position
human rights, initiate political reform, and prac- concerning democracy and human rights.
tice constitutional democracy, and as such this
appeal represents his basic right to freedom of
expression. Therefore, we believe that Liu
Xiaobo's arrest and detention by the Chinese
government was improper, and, even more, we
don't think that using the groundless charge of
"incitement to subvert state power" justified the
11-year sentence that Liu received. We make an
appeal to China to respect the fundamental
rights of its citizens and immediately release
Liu.
We must also emphasize that since Liu's ar-
rest, statements condemning China's actions
have been issued by the United States, the Euro-
pean Union and the United Nations, but our
government has been silent on this issue, turning
a blind eye to China's suppression of human
rights. Furthermore, President Ma Ying-jeo pub-
licly praised China's improvement of human
rights and democracy during this year's June 4th Liu Xiaobo was born Dec. 28, 1955 in
commemoration. This not only made it appear China. He is a human rights activist re-
that Taiwan was conspiring with the Chinese sponsible for writing Charter 08, which
government to suppress democracy activists, but
appeals the Chinese government to imple-
it also sent the wrong message to the world that
Taiwan supports China's clamping down on de- ment democratic principles, but he has since
mocracy, thus causing great damage to Taiwan's been arrested and sentenced to 11 years in
international image. prison for his writings. We believe his ar-
We strongly believe that democracy, freedom rest and sentencing do not correspond to the
and human rights are Taiwan's most important universal rights of #eedom of expression
assets, and these values are ones for which the and respect for human rights, therefore, the
world respects us. We believe that in promoting
DPP demands the Chinese government for
cross strait relations, the Ma administration
should utilize its advantages and support China's the immediate release of Liu Xiaobo.
democratization process, converting democracy

PAGE 5
DPP Policy Paper
Taiwan and Globalization: An Island Nation Perspective
by Chair Dr. Tsai Ing-Wen
As a major political party in a Taiwan which
faces today’s globalization challenges, the DPP
has a responsibility to offer our perspective on
Taiwan’s path forward, especially regarding eco-
nomic development.
I will take the case of the United Kingdom as
an example because, like the UK, Taiwan is an
island nation greatly influenced by large conti-
nental countries, influence which touches all as-
pects - such as our daily livelihood, environment,
culture, education, trade, etc. When I mention
large continental countries, I refer to the U.S.
and China. Taiwan’s culture is greatly influenced
by these two countries. When we are facing to-
day’s globalization challenges, taking the ap-
proach of large continental countries might not
be suitable models for Taiwan. Thus, Taiwan
should evaluate its situation, as does the United
Kingdom, from the economic perspective of an
island nation as it faces today’s globalization
challenges.
“An Outward-Looking Approach”
Many people warn us not to get caught up in a
pan-green or pan-blue division, and some people
have asked me why Taiwanese people take an
inward, rather than outward, looking approach.
They ask me why Taiwanese people only see
their problems and their internal contradictions.
Reflecting on the past, isn’t this something that
we learned thanks to American influence? Even
though Taiwan is not as big as China or the U.S.,
the Taiwanese people have learned to absorb an
inward-looking culture from these two countries,
leading to our whirlpool of domestic politics to-
day.
Many people have also asked me why the
DPP has not issued a China policy. My response
JANUARY 2010
is to ask whether our society is truly ready for
one. Has Taiwan been able to figure out where it
stands in this world? This is not simply a ques-
tion of the world image China has imposed on
Taiwan. Taiwan can not deal with the temporary
nature of the relationship with China and forget
how to face today’s globalization challenges. As
a small island nation, Taiwan has no other choice
but to take an “outward-looking approach”.
Taiwan must move in the direction of external
expansion by conducting exchanges with other
countries. We must let people from the outside
interact with Taiwanese people and let them
know our way of thinking as well as our vision.
Not only must Taiwan take an outward look-
ing approach, but we must also take an interna-
tional approach. Besides absorbing viewpoints
from China and the U.S., we must also find ways
to produce a balanced viewpoint. In order to find
a way to remove these existing restrictions, we
must first adjust our entire attitude. Only if our
people remove these restrictions, will political
parties then definitely follow. If you say that po-
litical parties must shoulder the responsibility for
leading the people, this is true, but if the people
aren’t ready, no matter how big the political
party, it will be unable to lead the people to re-
move these obstacles. Therefore, the future of
Taiwan lies on the hands of the people.
Supply Exceeding Demand in Ten Years
What are the economic challenges that the
future will bring? We have taken a look at the
future of Taiwan from the economic perspective,
and we present these findings today so that peo-
ple can evaluate what a better direction for Tai-
wan might be. In the past, globalization and trade
liberalization allowed for Taiwan’s rapid eco-
nomic growth. However, this time has past. Now
the problem of globalization is that supply is far
... continued on the next page
PAGE 6

...An Island Nation Perspective
greater than demand. Due to
the financial turmoil caused by
the credit crunch, large con-
sumer countries such as the
U.S. have lowered their de-
mand. The problems of eco-
nomic maturity and the phe-
nomenon of an aging and de-
clining birthrate have caused
overall world economic de-
mand to drop. Nevertheless,
many emerging countries are
actively preparing to join the
market. These countries, in-
cluding China, India and many
developing countries, have also
become suppliers in the mar-
ket, driven by their labor sup-
ply. China, for example, has
still 200 million people pre-
pared to enter the agricultural
workforce. We do not see that
demand can be expanded in the
short-term. Taiwan is now fac-
ing the biggest challenge,
which is that of countries are
exporting less and less, but also
more countries are suppliers.
Everyone believes that
China is the place to look for
markets. The first demand that
American leaders and other
high officials ask from China is
that China open up its market.
The most problematic question
is, where is the market in
China? Does China have a
market at all? Who can take
hold of the China market? Eve-
ryone thinks that because
China has 1.3 billion people, it
should be a humongous mar-
ket. American economists have
pointed out that the biggest
problem in China is that its
people do not spend enough
because consumers need confi-
dence, and there isn’t enough
of it in China. Chinese people
do not have enough confidence
in the market because they
have no security blanket, and
the Chinese people are saving
their money for retirement or
to sustain their children’s edu-
cation.
Three issues the government
should pay attention to be-
fore signing ECFA:
Many people have asked me
how come the DPP opposes
ECFA? I must make it clear
that after taking over as DPP
chair, I have not become a pro-
tectionist and I fully support
free trade. Why, then, do we
have objections about ECFA?
We believe that there are three
issues that the government
must take care of before sign-
ing ECFA.
(1) Establish defense mecha-
nisms
After signing ECFA, if
cheaper goods enter Taiwan
and our domestic workforce is
threatened, what will the gov-
ernment’s response be? The
JANUARY 2010
continued #om the previous page
government has, as its largest
responsibility, giving people
job opportunities. If there are
less jobs for the people, there
will be a larger gap between
rich and poor and more societal
problems will arise, causing
the public to lose its confi-
dence. Therefore, the govern-
ment must have defensive
measures to prevent foreign
goods from attacking the bal-
ance in our market structure
and from creating great unem-
ployment.
(2) Establish an industrial ad-
justment mechanism
The government must assist
people looking for jobs by cre-
ating more job opportunities,
which is also the biggest chal-
lenge in today’s world econ-
omy. Just creating a new indus-
try takes a considerable amount
of time, but it doesn’t take long
to get rid of one because the
outside world has plenty of
competitors willing to take
their place. The government
should not just pursue one
item, that of increasing eco-
nomic growth, so that some
corporations become richer at
the expense of people losing
more jobs. President Ma has
said that it is imperative to sign
ECFA now, but we ask if the
government has already cre-
ated new industries and pro-
... continued on the next page
PAGE 7

... An Island Nation Perspective
vided more job opportunities
for the people?
(3) Strike a global strategic
balance
We absolutely do not be-
lieve that we should place all
our eggs in one basket. If
one does choose to do so, one
must ensure that the basket is
a solid one. Most think that
China’s economic future will
not reach maturity even in the
next ten years. This is be-
cause even though the world
has opened up its markets to
China, there are also more
countries entering the compe-
tition and the international
market is gradually shrinking.
China is not forced to develop
its domestic economy and to
make structural adjustments.
In general, relying on foreign
markets to achieve economic
growth is relatively simple,
but only through the restruc-
turing of the domestic econ-
omy is possible to achieve
this goal, and this is an even
more difficult challenge for
China. Over the next decade,
China will have to face very
harsh economic restructuring,
which will pose a great socie-
tal change and create much
uncertainty. Why must Tai-
wan put all its eggs in one
uncertain place? We believe
that Taiwan’s overseas expan-
sion must maintain a good
strategic sense of balance.
Expanding Taiwan’s Econ-
omy includes Establishing a
Political and Military Net-
work
Many people believe that
globalization has to do only
with economics, but we must
not minimize the importance
of political and military secu-
rity. If Taiwan wishes to play
an important economic role in
Asia, it must ensure its politi-
cal and military security. In
the current situation where
China is a big country and
Taiwan a small one, it is im-
portant for Taiwan to main-
tain an invincible position. In
both political and military
affairs, we must engage the
cooperation of democratic
countries to collectively en-
sure this region’s stability.
Therefore, Taiwan is not
alone when dealing with Asia,
nor it is alone facing China,
but it is inside this network in
Asia where we all must ad-
dress these problems.
Therefore, we must reflect
on not only how to deal with
China, but also on how to es-
tablish a symbiotic relation-
ship of mutual benefit with
the rest of Asia. Some of our
neighboring countries are
JANUARY 2010
continued #om the previous page
afraid to stand with Taiwan
because they’re afraid of
China, but at the same time,
when we’re fearing China, we
also consistently share some
common interests. We must
find our common interests
and establish a network of
mutual benefit.
Engaging the People and
Shaping Policy Together
Present-day Taiwan is a
rich society with well-
rounded and educated people.
I have always believed in the
people of Taiwan and their
ability to think for them-
selves. As the DPP is starting
to recover, we hope that we
can begin engaging the peo-
ple’s opinion and share each
other’s viewpoints on how to
tackle these globalization
challenges. If we do so, we
can formulate a policy solu-
tion together. We have always
believed that it is not one per-
son or one party who can lead
Taiwan, but rather, the entire
nation and its people who can
shape policy together.
PAGE 8