Taiwan's First Transfer of Power Between Parties

Background: From the First Direct Election to a Three-Way Race

On 23 March 1996 Taiwan held its first direct popular election for the leader of the Taiwan region (President of the Republic of China); the Kuomintang ticket of Lee Teng-hui and Lien Chan won with 54.00 per cent, against the backdrop of the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis. In July 1999 Lee described cross-Strait relations as a "special state-to-state relationship" (the "two-state theory").

Five tickets contested the election for the tenth-term president and vice-president on 18 March 2000. The Kuomintang nominated Vice-President Lien Chan with Vincent Siew; the former governor of Taiwan Province, James Soong, failed to reach an accommodation with the party, left it and ran as an independent with Chang Chao-hsiung; the Democratic Progressive Party nominated the former mayor of Taipei, Chen Shui-bian, with Annette Lu. Taiwanese media widely regarded Soong's departure as having split the Kuomintang vote.

Beijing's Signals

On 21 February 2000 the Taiwan Affairs Office and the Information Office of the State Council issued the white paper "The One-China Principle and the Taiwan Issue", which stated: "if a grave turn of events occurs leading to the separation of Taiwan from China in any name, or if Taiwan is invaded and occupied by foreign countries, or if the Taiwan authorities refuse, sine die, the peaceful settlement of cross-Strait reunification through negotiations, then the Chinese government will only be forced to adopt all drastic measures possible, including the use of force". The British scholar Christopher Hughes notes that this was the first time Beijing named an indefinite refusal to negotiate as a possible ground for using force.

On 15 March, three days before the vote, Premier Zhu Rongji, answering a question from Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao at his press conference after the Third Session of the Ninth National People's Congress, said Taiwan's election "is the affair of the people of Taiwan themselves, and we do not wish to interfere. But we must make it clear that no matter who comes to power, there absolutely must be no Taiwan independence". He added that "whoever pursues Taiwan independence will come to no good end", that "the Chinese people will defend the unity of the motherland and the dignity of the nation with their blood and their lives", and, addressing Taiwanese voters, "Compatriots in Taiwan, be on your guard!"

The Vote and the Result

According to the Central Election Commission, turnout was 82.69 per cent, the highest of any presidential election in Taiwan. Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu won with 39.3 per cent, about 4.978 million votes; James Soong and Chang Chao-hsiung took 36.84 per cent and Lien Chan and Vincent Siew 23.10 per cent. Chen won by plurality, more than 300,000 votes ahead of Soong. It was the first time the Kuomintang had lost power since it began governing Taiwan in 1945, and Taiwan's first transfer of power between parties through an election.

Reactions

Late on 18 March crowds angry at the defeat gathered outside Kuomintang headquarters demanding the resignation of the party chairman, Lee Teng-hui; Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou, who went to calm them, was pelted with eggs and then went to the presidential residence to relay their demands. Criticism of Lee within the party mounted over the following days, and in late March he resigned as party chairman and was succeeded by Lien Chan. Soong went on to found the People First Party.

On the day of the vote the CCP Central Committee's Taiwan Work Office and the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office issued a statement: "The election of the leader of the Taiwan region and its outcome cannot change the fact that Taiwan is part of Chinese territory", and "we will listen to what the new leader of Taiwan says and watch what he does, and wait to see where he leads cross-Strait relations". President Bill Clinton congratulated Chen the same day, saying that the election "clearly demonstrates the strength and vitality of Taiwan's democracy" and that the United States would continue its unofficial ties with the people on Taiwan through the American Institute in Taiwan in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act and its one-China policy.

Inauguration and the "Four Noes and One Without"

Chen was sworn in on 20 May 2000. In his inaugural address, "Taiwan Stands Up: Toward the Dawn of a Rising Era", he said Taiwan's people had "completed a historic transfer of power between parties through democratic ballots", "not only the first in the history of the Republic of China", and pledged: "as long as the CCP regime has no intention to use military force against Taiwan, I pledge that during my term in office I will not declare independence, I will not change the national title, I will not push forth the inclusion of the so-called 'state-to-state' description in the Constitution, and I will not promote a referendum to change the status quo in regard to the question of independence or unification. Furthermore, there is no question of abolishing the Guidelines for National Unification and the National Unification Council" — the "four noes and one without". He appointed Tsai Ing-wen chairperson of the Mainland Affairs Council.

According to the People's Daily, the two Taiwan affairs offices issued an authorised statement that day saying his "goodwill reconciliation" lacked sincerity and that he had been evasive and ambiguous on the key issue of accepting the one-China principle. Talks between the two sides' semi-official associations did not resume during the following eight years; in March 2005 the National People's Congress passed the Anti-Secession Law.