Pan-Blue Coalition

Pan-Blue Coalition Phiếm lam liên minh
Leader	Eric Chu
Ideology	Majority: Conservatism(Taiwanese) Tridemism Chinese nationalism Factions: Chinese unification ROC independence National conservatism Liberal conservatism Conservative liberalism
Political position	Centre-righttoright-wing
Colours	Blue
Legislative Yuan	54 / 113 (48%)
Politics of the Republic of China Political parties Elections

Pan-Blue coalition
Traditional Chinese	Phiếm lam liên minh
Simplified Chinese	Phiếm lam liên minh
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Fànlán Liánméng Bopomofo ㄈㄢˋ ㄌㄢˊ ㄌㄧㄢˊ ㄇㄥˊ Wade–Giles Fan4-lan2Lien2-meng2 Tongyong Pinyin Fàn-lán Lián-méng IPA [fân.lǎn ljɛ̌n.mə̌ŋ] Southern Min HokkienPOJ Hoān-lâm-liân-bêng
Pan-Blue force
Traditional Chinese	Phiếm lam quân
Simplified Chinese	Phiếm lam quân
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Fànlán Jūn Bopomofo ㄈㄢˋ ㄌㄢˊ ㄐㄩㄣ Wade–Giles Fan4-lan2Chün1 Tongyong Pinyin Fàn-lán Jyun IPA [fân.lǎn tɕýn] Southern Min HokkienPOJ Hoān-lâm-kun
Pan-Blue groups
Traditional Chinese	Lam doanh
Simplified Chinese	Lam doanh
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lán Yíng Bopomofo ㄌㄢˊ ㄧㄥˊ Wade–Giles Lan2Ying2 Tongyong Pinyin Lán Yíng IPA [lǎn ǐŋ] Southern Min HokkienPOJ Lâm-iânn

Thepan-Blue coalition,pan-Blue forceorpan-Blue groupsis apolitical coalitionin theRepublic of China (Taiwan)consisting of theKuomintang(KMT),People First Party(PFP),New Party(CNP),Non-Partisan Solidarity Union(NPSU), andYoung China Party(YCP). The name comes from the party color of the Kuomintang.

Regarding thepolitical status of Taiwan,this coalition maintains that the Republic of China instead of thePeople's Republic of Chinais the legitimate government of China, favors a Chinese and Taiwanese dual identity over an exclusive Taiwanese identity, and favors greater friendly exchange withMainland China,as opposed to thePan-Green Coalition.

Political stance

The Pan-Blue Coalition's political stance can be characterized as centre-right,conservatismand Republic of China-centeredChinese nationalism.

Originally, the Pan-Blue Coalition was associated withChinese unification,but has moved towards a more conservative position supporting the presentstatus quo,while rejecting immediate unification with mainland China. It now argues that reunification is possible only after thecommunist regimein mainland China collapses or transitions to ademocracyeither as a new democratic government or with the re-establishment ofSun Yat-sen's Republic of China government which fled toTaiwanafter theChinese Civil War.This would also allow the body ofChiang Kai-shekto be returned to his ancestral home inXikou.

History

Lee Teng-hui presidency: 1988–2000

Throughout the 1990s, the Kuomintang (KMT) consisted of an uneasy relationship between those party members who had mainland China backgrounds (came from mainland China in 1949) and Taiwanese political elites, Taiwanese factions led by PresidentLee Teng-hui,who supported a strongerTaiwanese identityand distinction fromChinese nationalism.Lee won the party control after theindirect election in 1990.This led to a split in the early 1990s, when theNew Partywas formed by the anti-Lee dissidents in the KMT. After the dissidents of KMT members left, the KMT remained loyal and with control by President Lee Teng-hui throughout his presidency.

During the2000 presidential election,Lee Teng-hui arranged forLien Chanto be nominated as Kuomintang candidate for president rather than the more popularJames Soong,who left the party and formed his ownPeople First Partyafter both he and Lien were defeated byChen Shui-bianin the presidential elections. Though Chen and the DPP won the presidency, pro-KMT lawmakers held 140 out of 225 seats in theLegislative Yuan.Soong and Lien later formed a coalition in opposition to the DPPminority government.

First time in opposition: 2000–2008

In the 2000 presidential election itself, the split in Kuomintang votes between Soong and Lien led in part to the election of Chen Shui-bian. After the election, there was widespread anger within the Kuomintang against Lee Teng-hui, who was expelled for forming his own pro-Taiwan independenceparty, theTaiwan Solidarity Union.After Lee's expulsion, the Kuomintang moved its policies back to a more conservative one and began informal but close cooperation with the People First Party and theNew Party.This coalition became informally known as the Pan-Blue Coalition. Although the members of the Pan-Blue Coalition maintain separate party structures, they closely cooperate in large part to ensure that electoral strategies are coordinated, so that votes are not split among them leading to a victory by the Pan-Green Coalition.

The KMT and PFP ran a combined ticket in the2004 presidential electionswith Lien Chan running for president and James Soong running for vice president. The campaign emblem for the Lien-Soong campaign was a two-seat bicycle with a blue (the color of the KMT) figure in the first seat and an orange (the color of the PFP) figure in the second.

There were talks in late 2004 that the KMT and the PFP would merge into one party in 2005, but these talks have been put on hold. In the2004 legislative electionthe three parties from the pan-blue coalition organized themselves to properly divide up the votes (Xứng phiếu) to prevent splitting the vote. The New Party ran all but one of its candidates under the KMT banner. The result was that the KMT gained 11 more seats and the PFP lost 12 seats. Right after the election, PFP chairman James Soong began criticizing the KMT for sacrificing the PFP for its own gains and stated that he would not participate in any negotiations regarding to the two parties' merge. Soong's remarks have been strongly criticized by the KMT, a majority of PFP members, and the New Party, whose rank and file were largely absorbed by the PFP following the 2001 elections. Nonetheless, shortly after the legislative election, the PFP legislative caucus agreed to cooperate with the DPP over the investigation into the KMT's finances. On 24 February 2005, James Soong met with President Chen for the first time in four years and issued a 10-point declarationsupporting the name "Republic of China", the status quo incross-strait relations,and the opening of theThree Links.Unlike Soong, Lien did not respond to the offer from Chen to meet.

However, after the2005 Pan-Blue visits to mainland China,Soong and Chen stopped their partnership. The popularTaipeimayorMa Ying-jeouwas also elected the new head of theKuomintang,and was considered the leading contender for the KMT nomination in the2008 presidential election.However, it was uncertain whether the KMT and PFP could agree to field a common ticket. On the2005 chairmanship election,Soong had made a televised endorsement of Ma's opponentWang Jin-pyng.

In theDecember 2005 3-in-1 local elections,the KMT made large gains and held 14 seats, the DPP suffered defeat and held only six, the PFP retained only one, and the TSU was completely shut out. Ma Ying-jeou was now virtually assured of leading the KMT and pan-blues for the2008 presidential election.

Ma Ying-jeou presidency: 2008–2016

In the2008 legislative election,the coalition won 86 of 113 seats in theLegislative Yuan,giving it thesupermajorityneeded to recall the president and pass constitutional amendments for a referendum. The KMT, PFP, and NP coordinated their candidate lists in the new single-member constituency system. Candidates of theNon-Partisan Solidarity Union,who despite their party's official stance of non-affiliation, were deemed sympathetic to the coalition and ran unopposed by other blue candidates in almost all the seats it contested. The PFP ran almost all of their candidates under the KMT banner, with some placed under the KMT party list. While having all its district candidates run under the KMT banner, the New Party ran its own party list but failed to gain the 5% threshold for representation. The Kuomintang controlled the Legislative Yuan during theMa Ying-jeoupresidency from 2008 to 2016.

Second time in opposition: 2016–present

In2016 general election,the KMT lost the presidential election and, for the first time in the history of the Republic of China, the control in the Legislative Yuan.TheDemocratic Progressive Party(DPP) took control of the legislature for the first time, winning the presidency. The KMT became the largest opposition party. The PFP's leaderJames Soong,despite being a member of the coalition, cooperated withTsai Ing-wen's administration, becoming the representative ofChinese Taipeiin theAPEC summit.

Member parties

Current members

Party		Ideology	Leader
	Kuomintang(KMT)	Conservatism	Eric Chu
	New Party(NP)	National conservatism	Wu Cherng-dean
	People First Party(PFP)	Liberal conservatism	James Soong
	Non-Partisan Solidarity Union(NPSU)	Conservative liberalism	Lin Pin-kuan

Legislative strength

Legislative Yuan

Term	Member Party Seats		KMT Seats	NP Seats	PFP Seats	NPSU Seats
1st(1992)	95 / 130		95 / 95	-	-	-
2nd	95 / 162		95 / 95	-	-	-
3rd	106 / 164		85 / 106	21 / 106	-	-
4th	134 / 225		123 / 134	11 / 134	-	-
5th	115 / 225		68 / 115	1 / 115	46 / 115	-
6th	120 / 225		79 / 120	1 / 120	34 / 120	6 / 120
7th	85 / 113		81 / 85	-	1 / 85	3 / 85
8th	69 / 113		64 / 69	-	3 / 69	2 / 69
9th	39 / 113		35 / 39	-	3 / 39	1 / 39
10th	40 / 113		40 / 40	-	-	-
11th	54 / 113		54 / 54	-	-	-

Media

• China Times
• Commercial Times
• United Daily News
• China Television
• Chung T'ien Television
• TVBS

See also

• History of the Republic of China
• Chinese nationalism in Taiwan
• One nation, two states
• Pan-Green Coalition
• Pan-Purple Coalition
• Pro-ROC camp

External links

• Kuomintang – Official website( Trung Quốc quốc dân đảng, Zhōngguó Guómín Dǎng)
• People First Party – Official website( thân dân đảng, Qīnmín Dǎng)
• New Party – Official website( tân đảng, Xīn Dăng)