MARCH 2010
DEMOCRACY & PROGRESS
DPP celebrates Month of
Democracy in March
On March 13, the DPP organized
a carnival-type festival in front
of the Taipei City Government
plaza to commemorate March
democracy month in Taiwan.
The purpose of the event was
two-fold. The first purpose was
to commemorate March as the
most important month that led to
Taiwan’s democratization. The
second purpose of the DPP was
to host fundraising activities for
the DPP and other civic organi-
zations.
Among the fundraising items
were a bike donated by DPP
Chair Tsai Ing-wen, one used
during the past campaign and
nicknamed the “Little Eagle”.
Civic organizations also auc-
tioned “Love Taiwan” T-shirts
and towels made in Taiwan.
The activity could not be held
without bringing food delights
from all over Taiwan. Dishes
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
were brought to be sold at the
event, such dishes made from
agricultural products from Hsin-
chu, Hualien, Ilan, all the way to DPP celebrates Month of
Tainan, Pintung and Kaohsiung. Democracy in March
The DPP also launched a “mo- - Pg. 1
bile cafe” designed to showcase
these products.
Historically, most of Taiwan’s DPP’s next mission:
democratization events happened “Ten Year Policy
in March after the 228 Incident Manifesto”
such as the White Lily Move-
- Pg. 3
ment in the 1990’s. March repre-
sents a significant month for the
DPP in the past, and it is also an
important starting point for the
DPP Chair Tsai Ing-wen
DPP for the future. As the DPP is
announces chair re-
undergoing a renewal, this event
represents the DPP’s new spring election bid
outlook. - Pg. 4
The DPP is planning for a
new policy package that is cur-
rently undergoing the first phase
of the process by working toward DPP garners three more
an internal party consensus. legislative seats in
February by-election
- Pg. 5
... continued on the next page
PAGE 1

MARCH 2010

DPP celebrates Month of Democracy in March

... continued "om the previous page

Additionally, the DPP has also launched the and the new administrative districts of Tai-
committee to conduct polling and examination chung, Tainan and Kaohsiung.
of candidates for the year-end election in the
five districts of Taipei City, New North City,

Above picture: the DPP launched a

mobile stand to showcase agricultural
products "om Taiwanese counties
"om mid and southern Taiwan.

Picture le#: DPP Spokesman Tsai

Chi-chang at a press conference to
show the MIT designed T-shirts and
towels to be auctioned at a festivity
to celebrate March as the Month of
Democracy for Taiwan.

PAGE 2
 MARCH 2010

DPP’s next important mission: “Ten Year Policy

Manifesto”

The DPP plans to release a ten-year policy plat- (3) Based on these issues, suggestions of DPP
form package highlighting the DPP’s vision for policy for the betterment of Taiwan.
Taiwan. The DPP issued a statement noting that
whether ruling or in opposition, it is the respon- The process of developing the new policy
sibility of the DPP as a party to develop policy package involves four phases. The first phase
standpoints for the betterment of the Taiwanese will engage debate from within the DPP, and
people. reach a consensus. In the second phase, the DPP
In the statement, the DPP highlighted the will organize a series of conferences engaging
point that the current standpoints reflected in the the recommendations from all aspects of civic
DPP platform already represent the foundation society. The third phase will involve writing the
for a democratic society, but changes that have first drafts of the policy package, and in the
occurred in the past ten years demonstrate the fourth phase, the policy package will be pre-
need to readjust the current DPP platform. The sented at the National Party Congress for ap-
adjustments planned in the new policy package proval.
include suggestions on how Taiwan should deal The intended deadline for the policy package
with the globalization of economics and trade, to be completed is set for the National Party
the aging population in Taiwan, national debt, Congress in August of this year. The DPP wel-
energy needs and global warming, among other comes suggestions from the public, and invites
issues. participants who wish to take part in the confer-
The DPP has emphasized that the new policy ences in the upcoming months.
package will not be a substitute for the current
DPP platform that includes a set of resolutions
that have been set in practice since these resolu-
tions were adopted. The DPP plans to incorpo-
rate debate from all aspects of society to create
the new policy package. The agenda is to exam-
ine the major challenges for Taiwan in the next
ten years and to make recommendations for a
better direction.
The DPP’s Policy Coordinating Committee
has issued a Q&A regarding the new policy
package, highlighting the major issues that will
be covered. In the Q&A, the three major issues
highlighted are:

(1) Major challenges faced by Taiwan in the next

ten years,

(2) The historical problems that Taiwan must

face in the future, and

PAGE 3
 MARCH 2010

DPP Chair Tsai Ing-wen

announces re-election bid for
party chair
DEMOCRACY &
PROGRESS
PUBLISHED BY:

Department of International
Affairs Democratic
Progressive Party

9F, No. 30, Pei-Ping East

Road, Taipei, Taiwan

Tel: 886-2-2392-9989 ext. 306

Fax: 886-2-2393-0342

At a March 17 Central Executive Committee meeting, current Email: foreign@dpp.org.tw

DPP Chair Tsai Ing-wen officially announced that she will seek
re-election as the DPP chair. Website:
“Due to the current 5-City Election nomination phase and http://www.dpp.org.tw
the number of variables that have sprung up, there are a great
many issues that need to be fully addressed,” DPP Chair Tsai
said. “In order to allow for a stable process to handle these
tasks, I consider that it is appropriate at this stage to minimize DIRECTOR:
these variables and seek re-election as party chair.” Bikhim Hsiao
Since 2008, DPP Chair Tsai Ing-wen has lead the party in
completing a series of important tasks during its renewal proc- DEPUTY DIRECTORS:
ess, such as confronting the Ma administration and its majority Huang Chih-ta
in the Legislative Yuan, developing a balanced and fair direc-
Hsieh Huai-hui
tion for the DPP as an opposition party, and leading the party to
be closer to the people by returning to its grassroots.
DPP Spokesman Tsai Chi-chang said that recent voices EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:
within the party have raised expectations for Tsai Ing-wen to Michael J. Fonte
continue serving as DPP chair. The DPP will respect these
voices as well as welcome other party members to join the re- EDITOR:
election race. Ping-Ya Hsu

PAGE 4

DPP garners three more legislative seats in February
by-election
The DPP held a Feb. 27 press conference thank-
ing supporters for their support in the legislative
by-elections and the encouragement the results
gave to the DPP. DPP Secretary General Su
Chia-chuan hosted the press conference. Below
are his comments:
“First, the DPP would like to thank all our
compatriots and supporters nationwide for their
support. Once again, they gave the DPP great
encouragement. We want to especially thank our
four candidates, who regardless of the weather,
walked through each district to gather the peo-
MARCH 2010
ple’s support. The DPP would like to give our
candidates our deepest gratitude.
“During this election, the DPP exerted all its
effort to fight a hard battle. Having achieved
such a wonderful result, we would like to thank
the voters once again for giving the DPP another
chance to prove that the DPP is a party with a
vision. Even though, during the course of this
campaign, we encountered campaign smears,
negative publicity, lack of resources and rumors
of vote buying, these results show that the peo-
ple do not differentiate themselves by green or
blue, but rather judge the capability of candi-
dates and the party they represent, achieving the
people’s will to use their votes to confirm their
support. Therefore, we treasure these results
deeply.
“In many electoral districts, the pan-blue
structure was greater than the pan-green, but we
garnered three seats in four districts, and in
Hualien, one of our most difficult districts, we
achieved more than 40% support. This repre-
sents the DPP’s solidification in the Hualien
district, and it is also a victory for the people of
Taiwan. Since the four past elections, starting
continued in the next page...
Above picture: DPP Chair Tsai Ing-
wen campaigning for DPP Taoyuan
Candidate Huang Jen-chu, who was
able to garner one more seat for the
DPP in Taoyuan County.
Picture le#: DPP Hsinchu Candi-
date Peng Shao-chin, who chose not
to engage in negative campaigning,
won the race in Hsinchu County by-
election.
PAGE 5

DPP garners three more legislative seats in February
by-election ... continued "om the previous page
from the by-election in Yunlin, the people have
sent a message to President Ma Ying-jeou
showing their dissatisfaction with government
policy. It is also commendable that our four
candidates achieved a new high in percentage
support for the DPP.
“Our candidate in Chiayi County, Chen
Ming-wen, garnered 70% of the votes, a great
increase this time. This is a confirmation of the
8 years of DPP governance in the region, and it
is also the people’s protest against the KMT
smear campaign. Furthermore, the DPP’s win in
Taoyuan County by our candidate Huang Jen-
chu represents the people’s confirmation of his
years of service in the region. The DPP not only
has recently garnered two seats in Taoyuan
County, but it has also increased its vote per-
centage. This shows that the people in Taoyuan
County are dissatisfied with both the central and
local government. Additionally, our win in
Hsinchu County by our candidate Peng Shao-
chin shows that a good deed doesn’t go unno-
ticed. Peng chose not to engage in negative
campaigning, and this led the people’s affirma-
tion of his character.
“Even though our candidate Bi-khim Hsiao
didn’t win in Hualien County, her big effort in
such a short period of time already brought
great scores for the DPP. Her professionalism
MARCH 2010
and clean image received the affirmation of
Hualien voters. Even though Bi-khim didn’t
succeed, she was successful in expanding
Hualien’s image nationwide, giving an opportu-
nity for the voice of Hualien’s citizens to be
heard. The DPP gives its greatest acknowledg-
ment to Bi-khim, understanding that the work in
Hualien must continue and promising not to
abandon our continued service in this district.
“Lastly, we would like to remind our party
comrades that elections are not only about win-
ners and losers. Regardless of this time’s results,
we must take an even more positive attitude to
face the next time. These results do not show
that we will continue holding this advantage in
the future, and our next step is to continue the
hard work in a thoughtful way to overcome our
next challenges, accumulating society’s strength
to continue making the future of Taiwan better.”
DPP Secretary General
said that although
Hualien Candidate Bi-
khim Hsiao (pictured with
DPP Chair Tsai Ing-wen)
didn’t win the by-election,
her professionalism and
clean image enhanced the
image of the DPP in the
district of
Hualien.
Picture le#: DPP Hualien Candidate Bi-khim
Hsiao’s campaign invention: an old Volkswagen
painted in pink - Hsiao’s main campaign color.
PAGE 6