Musings of the Future

It's quite hard to digest all the contradictory and ironic talk that comes out of Taiwan's government these days. I was thinking about writing about another ridiculous statement a former KMT chairman stated on the ECFA, but decided it wasn't worth my time. After all, it's been pretty much all the same over the past year - say one thing to the person on your left, and another to the person on your right, and what actually happens is neither what you told the left nor right.

So, I was thinking about the endless possibilities that could turn out in Taiwan over the next two years and wondered if what some other people have stated could be true - that is, Taiwanese will be just as quick to "punish" the KMT at the polls as they did the DPP in 2008, if the KMT swing way too far into the hands of China. So far, the small signs point to this being a real possibility - and the November elections will further cement this hypothesis for the 2012 presidential elections if the DPP come away with wins.

What I think would really boost the DPP in the upcoming elections are the votes from the younger Taiwanese (those in the 20s to 30s). Though if not properly informed, this block of voters could potentially lift the KMT to another win quite easily. The negative image that Chen Shui-bian left on the many young Taiwanese my age is quite deep and hard to reverse. Especially because this group of voters are already quite apathetic to politics in Taiwan, so for the most part all they still know about DPP and the KMT is that Chen Shui-bian was a horrible corrupt president, and Ma Ying-jeou was voted in with great popularity and that's it. They hardly know of the implications surrounding the ECFA or Ma's mishandling of Typhoon Morokat, and all his other blunders.

I say this because my generation of Taiwanese and Taiwanese-Americans have already got the Taiwanese identity down. The issue during the 90s and early 2000s of Taiwanese not recognizing themselves as Taiwanese is a forgotten past by now (ironically, much to do with Chen Shui-bians efforts). What likely concerns these Taiwanese are the social and economic future of Taiwan. Do they know that Taiwan != China? Yes. Do many consider themselves Taiwanese, not Chinese? Yes. But does that translate to voting for the DPP? No.

Not sure where I'm going with this, but just felt like putting it down in writing. You must understand that China's ultimate goal is the unification of Taiwan with them. There is a reason they have 1500/1800/2000 missiles pointed at Taiwan this very moment. So do not be so naive in thinking that China has signed this ECFA with Taiwan (and claiming Taiwan is getting more out of it than China) knowing that they received the short end of the stick. Trust me, they aren't. Being a communist does not mean you aren't smart; they are, and they know exactly what they are doing.