A Chinese paper had an article on a new 22,000-strong political party founded by Chinese brides. Ever heard of it?
Lu, 48, is the chairperson of the Chinese Production Party (中华生产党), which she founded in 2010 to fight for the rights of mainland-Chinese immigrants in Taiwan. The party, which has more than 22,000 members, has become an essential player in Taiwan's political landscape.The article describes how she supports the KMT. Interesting how this Chinese paper presents Taiwan democracy as total normal -- you can even found your own political party, even if you are an immigrant. More ominously, it also gives a glimpse of how the Chinese themselves see the Chinese bride population, as a sort of potential fifth column.
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"I want mainland brides to have an impact on Taiwan's political parties and facilitate cross-Strait peace and exchanges. Taiwan has 340,000 mainland spouses. That means 340,000 households, and out of those more than 200,000 have got Taiwan ID cards," says Lu. "This gives us a huge political power."
UPDATE: TT ran a story a few days later.
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EXTRA! EXTRA! SPOUSES OF POOR PEASANTS AND OTHER LOW INCOME EARNERS ABOUT TO TAKE OVER THE COUNTRY! NEWS AT 11!
ReplyDeleteImpossible. But the Chinese apparently think so.
ReplyDelete' ... how the Chinese themselves see the Chinese bride population, as a sort of potential fifth column.
ReplyDeleteAnd maybe not just in Taiwan ...
The argument that mainland (im)migrants form a potential Fifth Column that is being manipulated by the CCP/KMT has been around for some time. Reasearch on their voting habits, policy preferences, their and others' perception of their national identity and their own views on the unification/ independence debate might allow conclusions to be drawn. The question is, though, do they form a large and powerful enough group to tip the balance? If not now, will a tipping point come? How do CCP/KMT elites consciously exploit/ respond to this constituency? Are they discriminated against/ seen as Other by those who identify as Taiwanese? Are there communities/ situations in other parts of the world that can be used as comparators?
ReplyDelete"do they form a large and powerful enough group to tip the balance?"
ReplyDeleteElectoral balance? Dunno - it's difficult to get stats that includes recent mainalnd immigrants but excludes pre-1949 ones. At a guess, based on how close the last election was: yes.
"If not now, will a tipping point come?"
Probably already has come.
"How do CCP/KMT elites consciously exploit/ respond to this constituency?"
Mainland brides in particular? They don't, not as far as I can work out. Recognising they exist is kind of embarassing to the CCP, and the KMT like to play an "we're all mainlanders" game whilst disciminating against and exploiting the mainlanders. But hey, this is just my impression.
"Are they discriminated against/ seen as Other by those who identify as Taiwanese?"
We saw the whole "no Mainlanders or Taiwanese traitors" kerfuffle a while back, and the stuff about mainland tourists misbehaving. Does that count as discrimination? Maybe.
"Are there communities/ situations in other parts of the world that can be used as comparators?"
Most obvious one is support for the DAB in Hong Kong. Funnily enough, mainland immigrants aren't the automatic constituency that some people think they ought to be there. Maybe you won't see them waving blue ensigns, but they're as likely to vote pan-dem as not as far as I understand.