Pan-Blue Coalition

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Pan-blue coalition
Leader of KuomintangWu Den-yih
Presidential CandidateTBD
Founded20 May 2000
IdeologyChinese nationalism
Conservatism
Three Principles of the People
Anti-Taiwan independence
Political positionCentre-right
Legislative Yuan
39 / 113
Pan-Blue coalition
Traditional Chinese泛藍聯盟
Simplified Chinese泛蓝联盟
Pan-Blue force
Traditional Chinese泛藍軍
Simplified Chinese泛蓝军
Pan-Blue groups
Traditional Chinese藍營
Simplified Chinese蓝营

The pan-Blue coalition, pan-Blue force or pan-Blue groups is a loose political coalition in Taiwan (Republic of China), consisting of the Kuomintang (KMT), the People First Party (PFP), New Party (CNP) and Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU). The name comes from the party colours of the Kuomintang. This coalition tends to favor a Chinese nationalist identity over a separate Taiwanese one and favors a softer policy and greater economic linkage with the People's Republic of China, as opposed to the Pan-Green Coalition.

Political stance

Originally, the Pan-Blue Coalition was associated with Chinese unification, but has moved towards a more conservative position supporting the present status quo, while rejecting immediate unification with mainland China. It now argues that reunification is possible only after the communist regime in China collapses and/or transitions to a democracy either as a new democratic government or with the re-establishment of Sun Yat-sen's Kuomintang government which fled to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War. This would also allow the body of Chiang Kai-shek to be returned to his ancestral home.

History

Lee Teng-hui presidency: 1988–2000

Throughout the 1990s, the Kuomintang (KMT) consisted of an uneasy relationship between those party members who had mainland China backgrounds (came from mainland China in 1949) and Taiwanese political elites, Taiwanese factions led by President Lee Teng-hui, who supported a stronger Taiwanese identity and distinction from Chinese nationalism. Lee won the party control after the indirect election in 1990. This led to a split in the early 1990s, when the New Party was formed by the anti-Lee dissidents in the KMT. After the dissidents of KMT members left, the KMT remained loyal and control by President Lee Teng-hui throughout his presidency.

During the 2000 presidential election, Lee Teng-hui arranged for Lien Chan to be nominated as Kuomintang candidate for president rather than the more popular James Soong, who left the party and formed his own People First Party after both he and Lien were defeated by Chen Shui-bian in the presidential elections. Despite Chen and the DPP won the presidency, they did not have majority in the Legislative Yuan while pro-KMT legislators in the Yuan had 140 out of 225 seats at that time. Soong and Lien later formed the coalition in opposition to the DPP minority government.

First time in opposition: 2000–2008

In the 2000 presidential election itself, the split in Kuomintang votes between Soong and Lien led in part to the election of Chen Shui-bian. After the election, there was widespread anger within the Kuomintang against Lee Teng-hui, who was expelled and formed his own pro-Taiwan independence party, the Taiwan Solidarity Union. After Lee's expulsion, the Kuomintang moved its policies back to a more conservative one and began informal but close cooperation with the People First Party and the New Party. This coalition became informally known as the Pan-Blue Coalition. Although the members of the Pan-Blue Coalition maintain separate party structures, they closely cooperate in large part to ensure that electoral strategies are coordinated, so that votes are not split among them leading to a victory by the Pan-Green Coalition.

The KMT and PFP ran a combined ticket in the 2004 presidential elections with Lien Chan running for president and James Soong running for vice president. The campaign emblem for the Lien-Soong campaign was a two-seat bicycle with a blue (the color of the KMT) figure in the first seat and an orange (the color of the PFP) figure in the second.

There were talks in late 2004 that the KMT and the PFP would merge into one party in 2005, but these talks have been put on hold. In the 2004 legislative election the three parties from the pan-blue coalition organized themselves to properly divide up the votes (配票) to prevent splitting the vote. The New Party ran all but one of its candidates under the KMT banner. The result was that the KMT gained 11 more seats and the PFP lost 12 seats. Right after the election, PFP chairman James Soong began criticizing the KMT for sacrificing the PFP for its own gains and stated that he would not participate in any negotiations regarding to the two parties' merge. Soong's remarks have been strongly criticized by the KMT, a majority of PFP members, and the New Party, whose rank and file were largely absorbed by the PFP following the 2001 elections. Nonetheless, shortly after the legislative election, the PFP legislative caucus agreed to cooperate with the DPP over the investigation into the KMT's finances. On 24 February 2005, James Soong met with President Chen for the first time in four years and issued a 10 point declaration[1] supporting the name "Republic of China", the status quo in cross-Strait relations, and the opening of the Three Links. Unlike Soong, Lien did not respond to the offer from Chen to meet.

However, after the 2005 Pan-Blue visits to mainland China, Soong and Chen stopped their partnership. The popular Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou was also elected the new head of the Kuomintang, and was considered the leading contender for the KMT nomination in the 2008 presidential election. However, it was uncertain whether the KMT and PFP could agree to field a common ticket. On the 2005 chairmanship election, Soong had made a televised endorsement of Ma's opponent Wang Jin-pyng.

In the December 2005 3-in-1 local elections, the KMT made large gains and held 14 seats, the DPP suffered defeat and held only six, the PFP retained only one, and the TSU was completely shut out. Ma Ying-jeou was now virtually assured of leading the KMT and pan-blues for the 2008 presidential election.

Ma Ying-jeou presidency: 2008–2016

In the 2008 legislative election, the coalition won 86 of 113 seats in the Legislative Yuan, giving it the supermajority needed to recall the president and pass constitutional amendments for a referendum. The KMT, PFP, and NP coordinated their candidate lists in the new single-member constituency system. Candidates of the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union, who despite their party's official stance of not non-affiliation, were deemed sympathetic to the coalition and ran unopposed by other blue candidates in almost all the seats it contested. The PFP ran almost all of their candidates under the KMT banner, with some placed under the KMT party list. While having all its district candidates run under the KMT banner, the New Party ran its own party list but failed to gain the 5% threshold for representation. The Kuomintang controlled the Legislative Yuan during the Ma Ying-jeou presidency from 2008 to 2016.

Second time in opposition: 2016–present

In 2016 general election, the KMT lost the presidential election and for the first time in the history of the Republic of China, it lost the control in the Legislative Yuan. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) control the legislature for the first time, with winning the presidency. The KMT become the largest opposition party and for the first time without control the Legislative Yuan. The PFP despite being a member of the coalition, its leader James Soong has some cooperation with Tsai Ing-wen's administration, as being the representative of Chinese Taipei in APEC summit.

Electoral performance

Presidential elections

Election 1st Candidate Party Votes % 2nd Candidate Party Votes %
2004 Lien Chan Kuomintang 6,423,906 48.9
2008 Ma Ying-jeou Kuomintang 7,658,724 58.5
2012 Ma Ying-jeou Kuomintang 6,891,139 51.6 James Soong People First 369,588 2.8
2016 Eric Chu Kuomintang 3,813,365 31.0 James Soong People First 1,576,861 12.8
2020 Han Kuo-Yu Kuomintang TBD TBD James Soong People First TBD TBD

Legislative Yuan elections

Election Number of
popular votes 		% of
popular votes 		Total seats +/− Status
2001 5,159,943 50.0
115 / 225
 — Opposing majority
2004 4,905,995 50.5
120 / 225
 Increase 5 Opposing majority
2008 5,465,988 55.9
85 / 113
 Decrease 33 Opposing majority
Majority
2012 7,651,622 51.5
69 / 113
 Decrease 16 Majority
2016 4,839,835 39.7
38 / 113
 Decrease 31 Minority

Local elections

Election Number of
popular votes 		% of
popular votes 		Total seats +/−
2014 4,864,624 39.9
399 / 907
 —
2018 5,415,647 43.7
413 / 912
 Increase 24

National Assembly election

Election Number of
popular votes 		% of
popular votes 		Total seats +/− Status
2005 1,869,596 48.2
145 / 300
 — Minority

See also

References

  1. ^ "e-Government Website/Homapage". 23 February 2005. Archived from the original on 23 February 2005.

External links

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