Pan-Green Coalition
Taiwanese nationalist political group
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Political stance
The Pan-Green Coalition has been referred to as "centre-left" or "left-wing". It is composed of parties oriented toward Taiwanese nationalism, some of which support Taiwan independence, opposing the Republic of China–centered Chinese nationalist pan-Blue Coalition. The American left-wing Democratic Socialists of America official publication described it as being composed of "mostly social democratic parties".
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History
The name comes from the colours of the Democratic Progressive Party, which originally adopted green in part because of its association with the anti-nuclear movement. In contrast to the Pan-Blue Coalition, the Pan-Green Coalition favors Taiwanization and Taiwan independence over Chinese unification, although members in both coalitions have moderated their policies to reach voters in the center.
This strategy is helped by the fact that much of the motivation that voters have for voting for one party or the other are for reasons that have nothing to do with relations with China. This is particularly true among swing voters. For much of the 1990s, the parties which later formed the Pan-Green Coalition greatly benefited because they were less corrupt than the ruling Kuomintang (KMT). However, due to the controversies and the alleged corruption cases involving the former DPP nominated President Chen Shui-bian, the public perception of the Coalition is seemed to have been altered somewhat.
The Pan-Green Coalition formed in the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election, after which Lee Teng-hui was expelled from the Kuomintang and created his own party, the Taiwan Solidarity Union, which maintains a pro-independence platform.
Unlike the internal dynamics of the Pan-Blue Coalition, which consist of relatively equal-sized parties with very similar ideologies, the Pan-Green Coalition contains the DPP, which is much larger and more moderate than the TSU. So rather than coordinating electoral strategies, the presence of the TSU keeps the DPP from moving too far away from its Taiwan independence roots. In local elections, competition tends to be fierce between Pan-Green candidates from different parties, and as a rule, joint candidates are not proposed.
The Green Party Taiwan is not considered as part of the Pan-Green Coalition, but the Green Party has similar views with the Democratic Progressive Party, especially on environmental and social issues, and the Green Party is also allied with the Social Democratic Party.
Member parties
Current members
Former members
Legislative strength
Legislative Yuan
Media
- Liberty Times
- Sanlih E-Television
- Formosa Television
- Newtalk News