Regardless of home politics, 77% of expats favor the DPP-TSU

A MARCH 24 poll on Forumosa asked our field of mostly expat users to state their preferred political “color” in Taiwan – blue (KMT-PFP) or green (DPP-TSU) – along with their political leanings back in their home countries – left, right, or apolitical. The results were interesting. Of the 37 Forumosans who responded, a significant majority – 77 percent – say they support the pan-greens, despite the fact that they are spread very evenly when it comes to their politics at home. In their own countries, 31 percent considered themselves to be politically left, 31 percent were right, and 15 percent were apolitical.

The pan-blues were in the minority, with only 18 percent of poll respondents considering themselves “blue” – six percent with leftward leanings, three percent to the right, and nine percent undeclared.

Such demonstrable pro-green sentiment raises the question: Why do foreigners in Taiwan, no matter what their political inclinations back home, so overwhelmingly support the ruling party?

Answers given point to a generally macro, not micro, analysis of the situation. To wit, we foreigners rarely argue about the economic policy of the greens versus the blues, which side is better at job creation, or public housing scandals. That leaves the real bogeyman and only major topic of concern as China. And until the perceived threat from China is diminished, it is likely that foreigners will continue to naturally gravitate to whichever party distances itself from Beijing the most. For now, that’s clearly the greens.

Mr. He wrote: “I come from a country, like most Forumosans, where democracy, respect for human rights, and acceptance of other people’s opinions are seen as givens. Therefore I would come out for the most democratic parties here, no matter what their failings. Also, the unhealthy mix of money and power traditionally a part of KMT’s heritage is also a great turnoff for me.”

David concurs, adding that foreigners don’t have the same emotional attachment to China – fostered in large part by KMT grade-school brainwashing – that many Taiwanese do. This author agrees. For us, the right to self-determination, independence, and democracy are almost emotional extensions of our own experiences. Meanwhile, we more or less commonly view the KMT as an incompetent, corrupt, and ruthless regime which lost one country and oppressed another.

Screaming Jesus sums up the pro-green preference nicely, writing that the pan-green’s platform resonates both with foreign right wingers for its anti-China position and with the expat left for its claimed attention to human rights. There’s “something there for liberals and conservatives alike.”

The counter-argument (i.e. the pro-blue take), is somewhat more subtle. Zeugmite notes: “If you can accept Taiwan being completely different from ten years ago, you have to accept that the political landscape is also different….Yes, the KMT is an old party…but all the old stuff they did is, frankly, not all that relevant. How can people on the one hand believe that Lee Deng-hui ‘changed his mind,’ so whatever he did before ‘doesn’t matter’?” While on the other hand, expat green supporters “refuse to believe that the other people in KMT…underwent changes as well?”

Then, there are those who see both political factions in the same light. Ever the curmudgeon, Sandman decries: “Politically, they’re all like a bunch of elementary school kids squabbling in a schoolyard, so I can’t take any of them at all seriously….It’s not that I don’t care, it’s that there’s no choice – morons, morons or morons.”

Posters of this “politicians are all the same” school are in the minority, however, as only two percent professed apathy about Taiwan politics.

For the moment, it appears that the pan-greens will continue to be the default choice for expat sympathies, leaving the KMT crying the blues.

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Maoman is one of two administrators on www.forumosa.com, a discussion forum for Taiwan’s online community.