As Power Wanes, Kuomintang Struggles to Hang On in Taiwan
For the Kuomintang to reverse its electoral fortunes in next year’s local elections and the 2020 general election, it will need to change its messaging, said Ms. Drun, noting
that the Democratic Progressive Party moderated its views on formal independence after eight years under President Chen Shui-bian, who often rocked the cross-strait relations boat.
He said China would take Taiwan "in one stroke." Ni Yongjie, deputy head of the Shanghai Institute of Taiwan Studies, said in a telephone interview
that the future of the Kuomintang was uncertain, while noting incorrect predictions that the now-governing Democratic Progressive Party was doomed after losing the presidency in 2008.
Weeks later, that uncertainty spiked even higher when Mr. Trump, still president-elect, told The Wall Street Journal
that "everything is under negotiation, including One China." Mr. Trump climbed down from that statement in his first call as president with China’s president, Xi Jinping, committing to honor Washington’s previous One China policy.
In dealings with China, he said, Taiwan should "maintain a certain degree of mutual contact, maintain a certain degree of friendship — this is the path of the
K.M.T." The Kuomintang chairwoman, Hung Hsiu-chu, met with Mr. Xi in Beijing last November, continuing her party’s talks with its erstwhile adversary.
Mr. Wang, one of the Kuomintang’s more popular members, said Ms. Tsai’s administration had mishandled relations with China.
Wang Hongguang said that The Kuomintang can’t be lifted up again,