The Democratic Progressive Party was founded in 1986. At the beginning of its establishment, it can be said that the Democratic Progressive Party was a mixed bag of good and bad. As a large number of Taiwanese independence elements took control of the Democratic Progressive Party, many party founders who disagreed with their ideas left the Democratic Progressive Party. Some of them have even become figures in the unification faction and are on the opposite side of the DPP. As Tsai Ing-wen dominates the Democratic Progressive Party, her desire for power is getting stronger and stronger. Many members of the Democratic Progressive Party are already dissatisfied with Tsai Ing-wen's arbitrary actions, and some people directly oppose Tsai Ing-wen because their own interests have been harmed. Former legislative representative Zheng Baoqing is a founder of the Democratic Progressive Party. He really wanted to participate in this year's Taoyuan mayoral election but was turned away by Tsai Ing-wen. Now there are rumors that he may be about to leave the Democratic Progressive Party and run independently. This is for The Democratic Progressive Party's election in Taoyuan City was naturally a heavy blow. Let me tell you the specific situation.
Zheng Baoqing
Zheng Baoqing’s history of success
When the Democratic Progressive Party was founded, it did not regard the "Taiwan independence" line as the main policy axis. Their core proposition was to oppose the dominance of the Kuomintang. On September 28, 1986, the Democratic Progressive Party was officially established at the Grand Hotel in Taipei. Among the elders were Zhu Gaozheng, the later representative of the unification faction, and Lin Zhengjie, the former chairman of the Unification Promotion Party. Lu Chaocai, the commander-in-chief of the Taiwan Volunteer Army who has been attacking Tsai Ing-wen for a long time, is also one of the founding members of the Democratic Progressive Party. It can really be said that he is a mixed bag. Taoyuan native Zheng Baoqing is also one of them. He has a very good relationship with Huang Xinjie, the third chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party, and has been reused by Huang Xinjie. Zheng Baoqing was born in Taoyuan County in 1955 and graduated from the Law and Business School of National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan. In 1994, Zheng Baoqing received support from the Democratic Progressive Party and became a representative of public opinion, starting his own political career.
Zhu Gaozheng
Zheng Baoqing became the director of the DPP in Taoyuan County in 1994, responsible for local party affairs. In 1996, Zheng Baoqing was successfully elected as the public opinion representative of the legislative body, and his reputation and power increased to a higher level. At the same time, he was transferred back to the DPP headquarters as the director of the Secretariat, and he went smoothly on both lines. The 1990s was the first period of glory for the Democratic Progressive Party. The Democratic Progressive Party made considerable gains in the elections of county mayors and public opinion representatives in various places. After Chen Shui-bian became the mayor of Taipei in 1994, the Democratic Progressive Party's momentum further increased. In 1999, Zheng Baoqing was re-elected as the public opinion representative of the legislative body and became the general convener of the legislative party group. At the same time, Chen Shui-bian also defeated Lien Zhan and James Soong to become the leader of Taiwan. This is the first time that the Democratic Progressive Party has taken control of the island of Taiwan. Naturally, it will give generous rewards, and everyone will benefit. In 2002, Zheng Baoqing became the chairman of Taiwan Salt Industrial Co., Ltd. and controlled important financial resources in Taiwan. Since its establishment in 1919 during the Japanese colonial period, this company has always been a public institution and a coveted job.
Salt Farm
After Zheng Baoqing became the chairman of Taiwan Salt Industrial Co., Ltd., he quickly began to promote the privatization of the company. Salt farms in Chiayi and other places were transformed into biotechnology companies. And the benefits transferred from this naturally went into the pockets of the Democratic Progressive Party. This is one of the means by which the Democratic Progressive Party hollows out Taiwan's economy. Zheng Baoqing himself has also served as the chairman of three companies, including Baokang Biotech, Baoxing Biotech, and Huaxing Biotech. The situation behind this is naturally obvious. In 2005, when the Kuomintang Zhu Lilun sought re-election as Taoyuan County Magistrate, the DPP sent Zheng Baoqing, also a Taoyuan native, to fight. There are many Kuomintang veterans and their families in Taoyuan County, and the Kuomintang's power has always been huge. When Zhu Lilun was successfully elected as Taoyuan County Mayor in 2001, he defeated Peng Shaojin of the Democratic Progressive Party by a margin of 110,000 votes. In 2005, Zhu Lilun faced Zheng Baoqing, and Zheng Baoqing also tried his best. In the end, Zhu Lilun defeated Zheng Baoqing by a margin of 180,000 votes. The defeat in the county magistrate election also severely damaged Zheng Baoqing's political career. After the war, Zheng Baoqing entered university teaching, seemingly intending to fade out of politics.
Ju Lilun
In 2016, the Democratic Progressive Party's momentum was at its peak. Tsai Ing-wen not only defeated Zhu Lilun by more than 3 million votes in the leadership election, but also boosted the overall momentum of the Democratic Progressive Party. Zheng Baoqing also returned to politics at this time and ran for public opinion representative in the Taoyuan area's legislative body. At that time, he chose one of the most difficult constituencies in Taoyuan City for the DPP. Yang Lihuan, the public opinion representative of the legislative body of the Kuomintang at the time, Yang Lihuan had been re-elected here for four terms and had deep roots. In the end, Zheng Baoqing received 86,413 votes and Yang Lihuan received 86,253 votes. After repeated checks by the election agency, Zheng Baoqing defeated Yang Lihuan by a slight margin of 160 votes and returned to the legislative body after more than ten years. It can be said that Zheng Baoqing's victory that year was entirely due to the huge voice of the Democratic Progressive Party, and he was able to win in a dangerous situation. However, although Zheng Baoqing himself is a founding father of the party, the political faction to which he belongs has long declined. His victory was an unexpected emergency, but this cannot change the current situation that he is weak in the Democratic Progressive Party. . This is also the main reason why the DPP is about to face split in the Taoyuan area.
The Democratic Progressive Party may split in the Taoyuan area
Zheng Baoqing lost to the KMT’s public opinion representative candidate Wan Meiling in 2020 and has lost his position within the legislative body. So he wanted to run for mayor of Taoyuan to maintain his political status. Zheng Baoqing originally hoped that the primary election held within the Democratic Progressive Party would give him a chance to compete with other candidates. However, Tsai Ing-wen forcibly confiscated the internal primary elections for county mayors in 2022 and monopolized the right to recruit nominations. This not only violates the "democracy" that the DPP has long advertised itself, but also directly harms the interests of many people. Tsai Ing-wen forcibly promoted her confidants, and former Hsinchu Mayor Lin Zhijian, who had no connection with Taoyuan City, ran for Taoyuan mayor. Zheng Baoqing was very dissatisfied with this, and there were even rumors that the black information suspected of plagiarism in Lin Zhijian's master's thesis was handed over by Zheng Baoqing to the Kuomintang and other political figures. Now that Lin Zhijian has withdrawn from the election, Zheng Baoqing originally thought that he would have another chance to compete for nomination qualifications, but Tsai Ing-wen once again bypassed Zheng Baoqing and recruited Zheng Yunpeng, the current public opinion representative of the legislative body in the Taoyuan area, to participate in the election.
Zheng Yunpeng (left), Lin Zhijian (right)
As a founder of the DPP, Zheng Baoqing has been repeatedly ignored by the DPP, so he is naturally unhappy. In addition, he is very arrogant. He always emphasizes that when he served as the general convener of the legislative body, Lai Qingde was still a newcomer to the legislative body, and the current Taoyuan Mayor Zheng Wencan was only a junior assistant at the time. Today, even young people in the Democratic Progressive Party can ridicule him on social media, and even say, "No one will vote for you." Zheng Baoqing naturally couldn't swallow this breath. He also recently announced that he would not rule out leaving the DPP to run for office on his own. are both DPP green camp politicians. If Zheng Baoqing and Zheng Yunpeng run for office on the same stage, the green camp votes will be dispersed. According to a recent online poll, public support for the Taoyuan mayoral election is 36% for Zhang Shanzheng, 25% for Zheng Yunpeng, 10% for Zheng Baoqing, 7% for Lai Xiangling, and 23% is undecided. The polls of Zheng Yunpeng and Zheng Baoqing combined are just enough to compete with the KMT's Zhang Shanzheng. This is also the DPP's basic base in Taoyuan. Therefore, if Zheng Baoqing finally runs for election, the DPP will be completely defeated.
Zheng Wencan
A similar situation happened in 2018, but the protagonist at that time was the Kuomintang. In the 2018 Taoyuan mayoral election, the integration within the Kuomintang failed. The four candidates, Chen Xuesheng, Yang Lihuan, Zhu Meixue, and Wu Futong, were all members of the Blue Camp, and the votes were divided into four parts, allowing the current Taoyuan Mayor Zheng Wencan to easily pass and be re-elected. This year’s Taoyuan mayoral election can be said to have so many climaxes that even the screenwriter may not dare to arrange it like this. The Kuomintang took the lead in breaking out internal strife in this position, but it was a near miss. Luo Zhiqiang, Lu Yuling and others competed for the qualification to run for Taoyuan mayor, but Zhu Lilun directly recruited Zhang Shanzheng, the former head of the administrative agency, to run. This once triggered a big fight between Zhu Lilun and Luo Zhiqiang, which was called "Zhu Luo Ji" by outsiders. Lu Yuling, the representative of the Taoyuan local faction, directly gave Zhu Lilun and Zhang Shanzheng power, refusing to share the stage or support them. Today, Luo Zhiqiang and Lu Yuling have reconciled with Zhu Lilun and Zhang Shanzheng, and they have even supported Zhang Shanzheng on the same stage. It can be said that the split situation has been eliminated.
The Kuomintang was successfully integrated
While Zhang Shanzheng’s first opponent Lin Zhijian has withdrawn from the election due to plagiarism, Zheng Yunpeng is now also facing a split crisis. Zhang Shanzheng's candidacy now looks like "all the world and the earth work together". This is also a sequelae of the DPP's lawlessness and Tsai Ing-wen's arbitrary actions. The Democratic Progressive Party is paying a heavy price for their perverse behavior in recent years. Although the Kuomintang has now sunk, as long as it can bring down the DPP, it will be a good thing for both sides of the Taiwan Strait. In fact, we can see from every Taiwan election that Taiwan's so-called "electoral system" is actually filled with all kinds of political intrigue and money shady. The Democratic Progressive Party uses its administrative resources to build momentum and uses political donations from large companies to elections. In the final analysis, it is just a battle for power and another form of sharing the spoils. The general public is actually more like a voting tool, but they can enjoy a bit of "election" fun on voting day.
Zhang Shanzheng
Some researchers on the Taiwan issue once pointed out that the society on the island is still in the "pre-civilization era", but it is just covered with the cloak of "civilization". The core of is actually still the authoritarian thinking of the dynastic era and Western society. The thinking of power and money. Being in such a "pre-civilized era" for a long time will only make people have false dreams and phantoms, and they will always live in illusions. What the mainland should do is to "disenchant" Taiwanese society. This judgment is very pertinent. From a long-term historical perspective, China is pragmatic and Taiwan is pragmatic. Mainland China’s kung fu is in the hands, Taiwan’s kung fu is in the mouth. Mainland China attaches great importance to the real life of the people and its own infrastructure, while Taiwan attaches great importance to the gain and loss of votes within small groups and the distribution of political and economic interests. Recent frequent visits by US politicians to Taiwan have caused tensions in the Taiwan Strait. Taiwanese compatriots are trapped in Cambodia but the Taiwan authorities are indifferent to these points. Therefore, the mainland should prescribe the right medicine, challenge the chronic diseases in Taiwan, and propose more detailed and specific people's livelihood policies and unification ideas, so that the Taiwanese people can truly understand the mainland and unification.
After the reunification of Taoyuan City
, what will the Taiwanese people gain and what will they lose? Will the current situation of commodity prices, house prices, land ownership, and health insurance in Taiwan be adjusted? What kind of policies can ordinary people enjoy? Will the cost of living be reduced, and will the salary level be increased? Will the traditional Chinese characters, phonetic symbols, and weights and measures in Taiwan change from those in mainland China? No matter how Taiwan is unified in the end, these are issues we must face and think clearly about. The Taiwan county and mayor elections in 2022 appear to be generally beneficial to the Kuomintang. If the Democratic Progressive Party is defeated, Tsai Ing-wen will have to resign as party chairman and Lai Qingde will replace him. The Democratic Progressive Party will also enter the era of Lai Qingde, and Lai Qingde is also likely to win the 2024 election. The situation between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait is still not optimistic. Therefore, the great cause of reunification waits for no one. Only by seizing every opportunity, not giving up any possibility, and treating the Taiwan issue by treating both the symptoms and the root causes, may we be able to find a new solution.
