Editing Democratic Progressive Party (section)

=={{anchor|Policies|Ideology|Political views|Political positions|Political ideology}}Ideology and policies==
{{Taiwan independence movement|Extant parties}}
{{Progressivism sidebar}}
The DPP is a [[Centrism|centrist]]<ref>{{bulleted list|{{cite book|last1=Derbyshire|first1=J. Denis|last2=Derbyshire|first2=Ian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RyAGDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA108|volume=1|title=Encyclopedia of World Political Systems|page=108|publisher=Routledge|date=15 April 2016|isbn=978-1-3174-7156-1|access-date=10 January 2020|archive-date=12 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412115115/https://books.google.com/books?id=RyAGDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA108|url-status=live}}|{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nFjPNItB6kAC|title=The Economist|page=58|publisher=Economist Newspaper Limited|date=2011|access-date=10 January 2020|archive-date=12 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412115106/https://books.google.com/books?id=nFjPNItB6kAC|url-status=live}}|{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nLAgAQAAMAAJ&q=dpp+centrist|title=Business Asia|page=40|publisher=[[Business International Corporation]]|date=2001|access-date=24 December 2020|archive-date=12 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412115120/https://books.google.com/books?id=nLAgAQAAMAAJ&q=dpp+centrist|url-status=live}}|{{cite web|url=https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2002/taiwan|title=Taiwan|work=[[Freedom in the World]] 2002|publisher=[[Freedom House]]|date=2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191226012925/https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2002/taiwan|archive-date=26 December 2019|access-date=26 December 2019}}}}</ref> to [[Centre-left politics|center-left]] party<ref name="anticom">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PecLEAAAQBAJ&q=taiwan+centre-left+Democratic+Progressive+Party&pg=PT129 |title=Introducing East Asia: History, Politics, Economy and Society |date=2020 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-317-40992-2 |editor=Carin Holroyd |quote=Launched in 1986, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is one of the two main political parties in Taiwan. The DPP is a centre-left, pan-Green party with a Taiwanese nationalist, strongly antiCommunist focus.}}</ref><ref>{{bulleted list|{{cite book|editor=Stephen Mills |title=The Australian Financial Review Asian Business Insight |quote=... the charade that Taiwan is simply a province of China-such as the centre-left Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ...|date=1994 |page=80 }}|{{cite journal|first=Dongtao|last=Qi|quote=Furthermore, the studies also suggest that the DPP, as a center-left party opposed to the center-right KMT, has been the leading force in addressing Taiwan's various social justice issues.|doi=10.1017/S0305741013001124|title=Globalization, Social Justice Issues, Political and Economic Nationalism in Taiwan: An Explanation of the Limited Resurgence of the DPP during 2008–2012|date=11 November 2013|journal=[[The China Quarterly]]|volume=216|pages=1018&ndash;1044|s2cid=154336295}}|{{cite journal|issn=1932-8036|url=https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/2820|title=Celebrity Political Endorsement Effects: A Perspective on the Social Distance of Political Parties|first=Hsuan-Yi|last=Chou|volume=9|journal=[[International Journal of Communication]]|date=30 January 2015 |page=24 |access-date=26 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191226031653/https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/2820|archive-date=26 December 2019}}|{{cite web |url=http://jppgnet.com/journals/jppg/Vol_2_No_2_June_2014/11.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321074013/http://jppgnet.com/journals/jppg/Vol_2_No_2_June_2014/11.pdf |archive-date=2020-03-21 |url-status=live |title=The Heuristic Value of the Left—Right Schema in East Asia |author=W Jou |work=American Research Institute for Policy Development |quote=KMT voters in 2001 scored both the left-wing Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) and center-left Democratic Progressive Party above 5.0, ... |date=2010 }}|{{cite journal|url=http://www.sppir.uav.ro/?p=53|title=Taiwanese consciousness vs. Chinese consciousness: The national identity and the dilemma of polarizing society in Taiwan|first=Li-Li|last=Huang|pages=119–132|volume=1|issue=1|journal=Societal and Political Psychology International Review|date=23 June 2010 |access-date=26 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200216001942/http://www.sppir.uav.ro/?p=53|archive-date=16 February 2020}}|{{cite book |editor=Dongtao Qi |title=The Taiwan Independence Movement In And Out Power |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=82jFCwAAQBAJ&q=taiwan+centre-left+DPP&pg=PA245 |quote=... two party-dominated system, with the center-right KMT and the center-left DPP, has been institutionalized in Taiwan. |date=2016 |page=245 |publisher=[[World Scientific]] |isbn=978-981-4689-44-1 |access-date=3 May 2021 |archive-date=12 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412115117/https://books.google.com/books?id=82jFCwAAQBAJ&q=taiwan+centre-left+DPP&pg=PA245 |url-status=live }}|{{cite book |editor=Catherine Jones Finer |title=Comparing the Social Policy Experience of Britain and Taiwan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vn10DwAAQBAJ&q=taiwan+centre-left+Democratic+Progressive+Party&pg=PT16 |quote=Taiwan's main, centre-left, party of opposition (the Democratic Progressive Party) has been committed to securing formal independence for Taiwan from the communist mainland, for all that its latest election success (March 2000) ... |date=2020 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-351-79397-1 }}|{{cite web |url=https://theconversation.com/populism-comes-to-taiwan-in-election-focused-on-future-relationship-with-china-129198 |website=The Conversation |title=Populism comes to Taiwan in election focused on future relationship with China |quote=The DPP, on the other hand, is a centre-left party that pushes for Taiwanese autonomy from China and stays closer to the Americans. |date=10 January 2020 |access-date=19 June 2020 |archive-date=20 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200620072519/https://theconversation.com/populism-comes-to-taiwan-in-election-focused-on-future-relationship-with-china-129198 |url-status=live }}}}</ref><ref name="economist" /><ref name="Jacobin magazine">{{cite news |date=10 January 2020 |title=Viewing Taiwan From the Left |work=[[Jacobin magazine]] |url=https://jacobinmag.com/2020/01/taiwan-elections-hong-kong-protests-china-dpp-kmt |access-date=6 May 2020 |archive-date=26 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201226000501/https://jacobinmag.com/2020/01/taiwan-elections-hong-kong-protests-china-dpp-kmt |url-status=live }}</ref> generally described as [[Progressivism|progressive]].<ref>{{cite web |date=12 January 2020 |title=Democracy prevails in Taiwan |url=https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3855810 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200114142120/https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3855810 |archive-date=14 January 2020 |access-date=7 July 2020 |publisher=[[Taiwan News]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=21 May 2020 |title=With Tsai's Inauguration Over – The Work Begins |url=https://thetaiwantimes.com/with-tsais-inauguration-over-the-work-begins/2762 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716124225/https://thetaiwantimes.com/with-tsais-inauguration-over-the-work-begins/2762 |archive-date=16 July 2020 |access-date=7 July 2020 |work=[[Taiwan Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=20 November 2019 |title=Why Do Taiwanese Empathize With Hong Kong Protesters? |url=https://international.thenewslens.com/article/127768 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200707102214/https://international.thenewslens.com/article/127768 |archive-date=7 July 2020 |access-date=7 July 2020 |work=[[The News Lens]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=9 January 2020 |title=Progressives: Taiwan Would Like Your Attention |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/taiwan-china-election-progressive/ |access-date=7 July 2020 |work=[[The Nation]] |archive-date=7 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200707164843/https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/taiwan-china-election-progressive/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="progressive" /> It has also been described as [[Liberalism|liberal]],<ref name="progressive">{{cite book |title=Policy Analysis in Taiwan |date=2018 |publisher=Policy Press |editor=Kuo, Yu-Ying |quote=The Democratic Progressive Party, founded in 1986 by [[Hsu Hsin-liang]], [[Hsieh Tsung-min]] and [[Lin Shui-chuan]], is a progressive and liberal political party in Taiwan.}}</ref><ref name="SD">{{cite book |title=Taiwan International Review, Volume 5 |date=1999 |publisher=Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan, Mission in the United States |page=13 |quote=The DPP resembles a cross - mix of Western social democratic and liberal values .}}</ref> as well as [[Social democracy|social democratic]].<ref name="SD" /><ref>{{cite news |date=20 May 2020 |title=Terry Glavin: Taiwan and its courageous leader a rare bright spot in our dreary COVID world |newspaper=National Post |url=https://nationalpost.com/opinion/terry-glavin-taiwan-and-its-courageous-leader-a-rare-bright-spot-in-our-dreary-covid-world |access-date=19 June 2020 |quote=President Tsai went into Wednesday's ceremony with an approval rating of 70.3 per cent after besting her opponents in a landslide re-election in January, all the while quietly enduring Beijing's subversive efforts to unseat her and Xi Jinping's constant threats of war and occupation.The Taiwanese have been blessed with four years of Tsai's avowedly liberal, mildly social-democratic and happily free-enterprise government. |url-status=live |archive-url= https://archive.today/20200520192115/https://nationalpost.com/opinion/terry-glavin-taiwan-and-its-courageous-leader-a-rare-bright-spot-in-our-dreary-covid-world |archive-date= 20 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4c1a1fKz4YkC&dq=Taiwan%27s+Democracy+on+Trial%3A+Political+Change+During+the+Chen+Shui-bian+Era+and+Beyond.+University+Press+of+America+socialist+DPP&pg=PA37 |title=Taiwan's Democracy on Trial: Political Change During the Chen Shui-bian Era and Beyond |date=2012 |publisher=University Press of America |isbn=978-0-7618-5320-6 |editor=John Franklin Copper |page=37 |quote=The DPP advanced a socialist agenda; the KMT copied much of it in order to preempt the DPP's program and weaken the DPP's political appeal. As it did this Taiwan became more and more a Western (social) democracy. |access-date=8 December 2021 |archive-date=12 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412115121/https://books.google.com/books?id=4c1a1fKz4YkC&dq=Taiwan%27s+Democracy+on+Trial%3A+Political+Change+During+the+Chen+Shui-bian+Era+and+Beyond.+University+Press+of+America+socialist+DPP&pg=PA37 |url-status=live }}</ref> The party takes a [[Taiwanese nationalism|Taiwanese nationalist]] position, advocating for strengthening Taiwanese identity;<ref name="anticom" /> the party opposes the KMT and mainland China's pan-[[Chinese nationalism]], and criticizes China's claims of sovereignty over Taiwan as '[[Neocolonialism|colonialism]]' or '[[Chinese imperialism|imperialism]]'.<ref name="Baogang He">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wEMkDQAAQBAJ&dq=anti-imperialist+DPP+taiwan&pg=PT154 |author=Baogang He |title=Governing Taiwan and Tibet: Democratic Approaches |quote=In the DPP's anti-China and anti-KMT message, the KMT is represented as equivalent to China, while 'democracy' is linked to Taiwanese nationalism. The DPP used the language of colonialism and imperialism to portray China's claims of sovereignty over Taiwan. |date=July 8, 2015 |publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]] |isbn=978-1-4744-0498-3 |access-date=15 August 2024 |archive-date=26 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240826230857/https://books.google.com/books?id=wEMkDQAAQBAJ&dq=anti-imperialist+DPP+taiwan&pg=PT154 |url-status=live }}</ref> Programs supported by the party include moderate [[social welfare]] policies involving the rights of women, senior citizens, children, young people, labor, minorities, indigenous peoples, farmers, and other disadvantaged sectors of the society. Furthermore, its platform includes a legal and political order based on human rights and democracy; balanced economic and financial administration; fair and open social welfare; educational and cultural reform; and, independent defense and peaceful foreign policy with closer ties to United States and Japan. The party is socially liberal<ref name="SD" /><ref name="casey">{{cite web |last=Casey |first=Michael |date=12 June 2016 |title=Time to Start Worrying about Taiwan |url=http://nationalinterest.org/feature/time-start-worrying-about-taiwan-16551 |access-date=9 February 2018 |website=The National Interest |quote=The DPP's ideology emphasizes Taiwanese nationalism and the notion of a Taiwan that is politically and culturally distinct from mainland China. It also advocates social liberalism and is commonly associated with small- to medium-sized companies and organized labor. While the DPP wishes for greater independence from mainland China, the party is divided on the nature of that independence. |archive-date=9 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180209182244/http://nationalinterest.org/feature/time-start-worrying-about-taiwan-16551 |url-status=live }}</ref> and has a progressive stance that includes support for [[gender equality]] and [[Same-sex marriage in Taiwan|same-sex marriage]] under Tsai's leadership, and also has a conservative base that includes support from the [[Presbyterian Church in Taiwan]].

=== Stance on Taiwanese independence ===

The primary political axis in Taiwan involves the issue of [[Taiwan independence]] versus [[Chinese unification]]. Although the differences tend to be portrayed in polarized terms, both major coalitions have developed modified, nuanced and often complex positions. Though opposed in the philosophical origins, the practical differences between such positions can sometimes be subtle.

The current official position of the party is that Taiwan is an independent and sovereign country whose territory consists of Taiwan and its surrounding smaller islands and whose sovereignty derives only from the ROC citizens living in Taiwan (similar philosophy of [[self-determination]]), based on the 1999 "[[Resolution on Taiwan's Future]]". It considers Taiwan an independent nation under the name of Republic of China, making a formal declaration of independence unnecessary.<ref name="resolution" />  Though calls for drafting a new constitution and a declaration of a Republic of Taiwan was written into the party charter in 1991,<ref name="1991article" /> the 1999 resolution has practically superseded the earlier charter.  The DPP rejects the so-called "[[One China principle]]" [[1992 Consensus|defined in 1992]] as the basis for official diplomatic relations with the PRC and advocates a Taiwanese national identity which is separate from mainland China.<ref name="92c">{{cite web |title=DPP denies existence of '1992 consensus' |url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/12/25/2003491835 |website=[[Taipei Times]] |date=25 December 2010 |access-date=18 December 2020 |archive-date=2 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802211135/https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/12/25/2003491835 |url-status=live }}</ref>

By contrast, the KMT or pan-blue coalition agrees that the Republic of China is an independent and sovereign country that is not part of the PRC, but argues that a one China principle (with different definitions across the strait) can be used as the basis for talks with China. The KMT also opposes Taiwan independence and argues that efforts to establish a Taiwanese national identity separated from the Chinese national identity are unnecessary and needlessly provocative. Some KMT conservative officials have called efforts from DPP "[[anti-China]]" (opposing migrants from mainland China, who DPP officials did not recognize as Taiwanese, but Chinese). At the other end of the political spectrum, the acceptance by the DPP of the symbols of the Republic of China is opposed by the [[Taiwan Solidarity Union]].

The first years of the DPP as the ruling party drew accusations from the opposition as a self-styled Taiwanese nationalist party, the DPP was itself inadequately sensitive to the ethnographic diversity of Taiwan's population. Where the KMT had been guilty of Chinese [[chauvinism]], the critics charged, the DPP might offer nothing more as a remedy than [[Hoklo people|Hoklo]] chauvinism.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Island the Left Neglected |url=https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/island-left-neglected-taiwan-dppp-tsai |access-date=2022-09-11 |website=Dissent Magazine |archive-date=11 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220911040435/https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/island-left-neglected-taiwan-dppp-tsai |url-status=live }}</ref>  The DPP argues that its efforts to promote a Taiwanese national identity are merely an effort to normalize a Taiwanese identity repressed during years of authoritarian Kuomintang rule.

=== Support ===

Since the democratization of Taiwan in the 1990s, the DPP has had its strongest performance in the [[Taiwanese Hokkien|Hokkien]]-speaking counties and cities of Taiwan, compared with the predominantly [[Taiwanese Hakka|Hakka]] and [[Taiwanese Mandarin|Mandarin]]-speaking counties, that tend to support the [[Kuomintang]].

The deep-rooted hostility between [[Taiwanese aborigines]] and (Taiwanese) Hoklo, and the effective KMT networks within aboriginal communities contribute to aboriginal skepticism against the DPP and the aboriginals' tendency to vote for the KMT.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Damm|first1=Jens|editor1-last=Damm|editor1-first=Jens|editor2-last=Lim|editor2-first=Paul|title=European perspectives on Taiwan|date=2012|publisher=Springer VS|location=Wiesbaden|isbn=978-3-531-94303-9|page=95|chapter=Multiculturalism in Taiwan and the Influence of Europe}}</ref> Aboriginals have criticized politicians for abusing the "indigenization" movement for political gains, such as aboriginal opposition to the DPP's "rectification" by recognizing the Truku for political reasons, where the Atayal and Seediq slammed the Truku for their name rectification.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=0t_CU9gmi8cC&dq=truku&pg=PA220 ed. Vinding 2004] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412115332/https://books.google.com/books?id=0t_CU9gmi8cC&dq=truku&pg=PA220 |date=12 April 2023 }}, p. 220.</ref> In 2008, the majority of mountain townships voted for [[Ma Ying-jeou]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOusAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA28 Simon 2011] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412115102/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOusAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA28 |date=12 April 2023 }}, p. 28.</ref> However, the DPP share of the aboriginal vote has been rising.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://frozengarlic.wordpress.com/2014/11/30/dpp-vote-share-in-aboriginal-townships/|title=DPP vote share in Aboriginal townships|date=30 November 2014|website=Frozen Garlic|access-date=10 April 2017|archive-date=11 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170411060055/https://frozengarlic.wordpress.com/2014/11/30/dpp-vote-share-in-aboriginal-townships/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.nationalia.info/new/10792/taiwan-president-to-apologize-to-aboriginal-people-promises-law-on-autonomy|title=Taiwan president to apologize to Aboriginal people, promises law on autonomy|work=Nationalia|access-date=10 April 2017|language=ca|archive-date=11 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170411055828/http://www.nationalia.info/new/10792/taiwan-president-to-apologize-to-aboriginal-people-promises-law-on-autonomy|url-status=live}}</ref>