Green Party Taiwan Explained
| P: | Táiwān Lǜ Dǎng |
| W: | Taiwan Lu Tang |
| H: | Thòi-vân Liu̍k Tóng |
| Poj: | Tâi-ôan Le̍k Tóng |
Green Party Taiwan is a political party in Taiwan established on 25 January 1996. Although the party is sympathetic to Taiwanese nationalism and shares a number of centre-left positions with the Pan-Green Coalition, the party emphasizes campaigning primarily on social and environmental issues. The party is not a member of, and should not be confused with, the Pan-Green Coalition. Green Party Taiwan is a member of the Asia Pacific Greens Federation and participates in the Global Greens.
Much of the 400-strong membership are affiliated with the non-governmental organisation sector of Taiwanese society, as well as from academia and the youth community.[2]
Electoral history
In 1996, Green Party Taiwan’s Kao Meng-ting was elected to the National Assembly. However, he left the party in 1997.
In the 2008 legislative election, the Green Party of Taiwan formed a red-green coalition with a labour-led organization Raging Citizens Act Now! (人民火大行動聯盟), but failed to win any seats.
In the 2012 legislative election, Green Party Taiwan garnered 1.7% of the party vote. While still far short of the 5% threshold to win a seat in the legislature, this makes it the largest extraparliamentary party in Taiwan.[3] Its best showing is in Ponso no Tao where Taiwan’s nuclear waste storage facility is located. There, the party collected 35.76% of the party votes due to its strong antinuclear stance.
In the 2014 local elections, the party won two seats. Wang Hao-yu was elected to the Taoyuan City council and Jay Chou to the Hsinchu County Council.[4]
In the 2016 general election, the party ran in a coalition with the newly founded centre-left Social Democratic Party[5] and fielded candidates in both constituency races and the nationwide party ballot.[6] The coalition garnered 2.5% of the party vote without winning any seats.[7]
In the 2020 legislative election, the Green Party nominated five young professionals, including famed psychologist Cheng Hui-wen and party founder Kao Cheng-yan.[8] They got 2.4% of the votes and did not win any seats. They were the second largest party that didn’t win a seat.[9]
In the 2022 local election, the party won only one seat. was elected to the Hsinchu City Council.[10]
The Green Party nominated Taiwan's first transgender legislative candidate, Abbygail ET Wu (吳伊婷), in the 2024 election cycle. The party won 117,298 votes (0.85%), not enough to seat any candidate named on the Green Party list.[11]
On March 30, 2024, Liu Chong-hsian resigned from the party.[12] This leaves the party with no members holding public office.
The Green Party averages around 3% of total votes cast in metropolitan urban areas, with support in rural areas, such as Orchid Island, as high as 35.8%.
| Election | Mayors &<br />Magistrates | Councils | Third-level
Municipal heads | Third-level
Municipal councils | Fourth-level
Village heads | Election Leader |
|---|
2018
| | | | | | Wang Hao-yu |
|---|
2022
| | | | | | Yu Hsiao-ching | |
|---|
List of chairpersons
- Kao Cheng-yan (Chinese: 高成炎), 1996–1997 and 2003–2004 Chair. Professor of Computer Science at National Taiwan University; Green Party Taiwan's founding chair; former director of Taiwan Environmental Protection Union; candidate for the Legislative Yuan in 1998 and 2001.
- Shin-Min Shih (Chinese: 施信民), 1998 Chair. Professor of Chemical Engineering at National Taiwan University; President of the Institute of Environment and Resource; former Director of Taiwan Environmental Protection Union;
- Kuang-Yu Chen (Chinese: 陳光宇), 1999–2000 Chair. candidate for the Taipei City Councilor in 1998.
- Ayo Cheng (Chinese: 鄭先祐), 2001–2002 Chair. Dean of College of Environment and Ecology at National University of Tainan; former director of Taiwan Environmental Protection Union.
- Yenwen Peng (Chinese: 彭渰雯), 2005 Chair. Assistant professor of Public Administration and Management at Shih Hsin University; candidate for the Taipei City Councilor in 1998.
- Sam Lin (Chinese: 林聖崇), 2006 Co-chair. Former Chair of Taiwan Ecology Conservation Union.
- Jolan Hsieh (Chinese: 謝若蘭), 2006 Co-chair. Assistant professor of Indigenous Culture at National Dong Hua University.
- Chen Man-li (Chinese: 陳曼麗), 2007 Co-chair. Former president of the Homemakers' Union and Foundation; former president of the National Union of Taiwan Women Association; candidate for the Legislative Yuan in 2008. Elected to the legislature in 2016 after joining the Democratic Progressive Party.
- Huei-Sean Hong (Chinese: 洪輝祥), 2007 Co-chair. President of Pingtung Environmental Protection Union; candidate for the Legislative Yuan in 2004.
- Bau-Ju Chung (Chinese: 鍾寶珠), 2008–2009 Co-chair. President of Hualien Environmental Protection Union; candidate for the Hualien County Councilor in 1998, 2002.
- Hong-Lin Chang (Chinese: 張宏林), 2008–2009 Co-chair. Secretary General of the Taiwan NPO Self-regulation Alliance; former Secretary General of the Society of Wildness; candidate for the Taipei City Councilor in 2006.
- Gelinda Chang, co-chair for 2011; educator.
- Robin Winkler, co-chair for 2011 and 2012; lawyer and founder of Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association; naturalised Taiwanese citizen.
- Karen Yu (Chinese: 余宛如), co-chair from 2012 to 2015; social entrepreneur and co-founder of Öko-Green Café, a Fairtrade coffee shop. Elected to the Legislative Yuan in 2016 as a member of the Democratic Progressive Party.
- Lee Keng-cheng (Chinese: 李根政), co-chair from 2013 to 2017; artist, educator and founder of Citizen of the Earth Taiwan, an environmental organisation.
- Chang Yu-jing, co-chair from 2015 to 2017; environmental activist.
Notable persons
- Linda Gail Arrigo, international affairs officer for the party; ex-wife of Shih Ming-teh.
- Thomas Chan,[13] at-large candidate for the legislature in the 2016 election.[14] Although not elected, he was later appointed as deputy minister for the Environmental Protection Administration, in the first cabinet of the Tsai Ing-wen administration led by premier Lin Chuan.
- Peter Huang: famous for his failed assassination attempt against Chiang Ching-kuo in 1970; erstwhile National Policy Advisor on human rights issues to the President of the Republic of China; avid supporter of the party since it was founded.[15]
- Pan Han-Chiang (潘翰疆), member of the Central Supervisory Committee of the party, 1999; erstwhile vice secretary-general of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union. He split from Green Party Taiwan in 2014 to form the Trees Party.
- Kao Meng-ting, who won a seat in Yunlin County for Green Party Taiwan in the ROC National Assembly in 1996, but later defected to the Democratic Progressive Party.
- Lin Cheng-hsiu (林正修), erstwhile Research, Development and Evaluation Commission Director, Taipei City (apparently the only party member holding a public office in 2004); he ran unsuccessfully as an independent candidate in the 2004 legislative election. In 2007, Lin was a campaign manager for Pan-Blue Coalition's presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou.
- Sinan Mavivo (希婻‧瑪飛洑; 賴美惠), the top candidate of the Green Party Taiwan list in the legislative election 2012, is an anti-nuclear campaigner. She is of the Tao people from Pongso no Tao.[16]
- Calvin Wen (溫炳原), a former Secretary-General of the Party, competed in the by-election in Daan District due to the resignation of Diane Lee in 2009.
- Rita Jhang (張竹芩) — also known as Zukkim Zong (spelled in Hakka), or JhuCin Jhang (Mandarin Chinese) — served as Secretary-General of Green Party Taiwan from 1 April 2020 to 31 May 2021.[17] She is the current president of the North American Taiwan Studies Association[18] and co-host of the feminist podcast "Z Green Party (Z色派對)".[19]
- Zoe Lee (李菁琪), current Secretary-General of Green Party Taiwan,[20] cannabis advocate and podcaster, and Taiwan's first "weed lawyer" whose law firm only takes on clients accused of cannabis-related crimes.[21]
See also
References
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: 台灣綠黨. https://web.greenparty.org.tw/.
- Web site: Green Party Taiwan. 20 July 2014. Global Greens. en. 6 December 2019. 25 February 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210225190256/https://www.globalgreens.org/party/green-party-taiwan. dead.
- http://news.chinatimes.com/focus/11050105/112012011500276.html 綠黨超越新黨 成小黨落選頭
- News: Chen. Christie. Green Party's historic win to bring 'green politics' to Taiwan. 30 November 2014. Central News Agency. 30 November 2014.
- Web site: Greens, Social Democrats to cooperate. taipeitimes.com. 18 August 2015.
- Web site: Green Party Taiwan issues list of legislative candidates. taipeitimes.com. 26 August 2015.
- Dafydd Fell. Fell. Dafydd. Peng. Yen-wen. The Electoral Fortunes of Taiwan's Green Party: 1996–2012. Japanese Journal of Political Science. 29 January 2016. 17. 1. 63–83. 10.1017/S1468109915000390. 154855947.
- Web site: Green Party Taiwan nominates high-profile psy.... Taiwan News. 14 November 2019. 6 December 2019.
- Web site: Staff. T. N. L.. 10 January 2020. Taiwan's 2020 General Elections: Live Map and Updates. 13 June 2021. The News Lens International Edition. en.
- Web site: 新竹市議會 . 2020-09-17 . 議員介紹 . 2024-07-11 . 無.
- News: Chung . Yu-chen . FEATURE/Taiwan's 1st transgender legislative candidate vows to continue activism . 19 January 2024 . Central News Agency . 19 January 2024.
- Web site: 聯合新聞網 . 綠黨全台僅存議員 竹科工程師出身劉崇顯宣布退黨 . 2024-07-11 . 聯合新聞網 . zh-Hant-TW.
- Web site: Groups condemn rejection of appeal to return Dapu land to original owners – Taipei Times. taipeitimes.com. 23 April 2016. 13 October 2016.
- Web site: 詹順貴凝聚20年經驗作長梯 助小黨進國會 – 新頭殼 newtalk. newtalk.tw. 13 October 2016. 25 August 2015.
- http://www.greenparty.org.tw/index.php/actions/release/276-2009-12-18-12-21-54 我為甚麼支持綠黨？
- Web site: Taiwan Today (2012) Tao Orchid Islanders continue fight for nuclear-free homeland. 14 March 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140314205116/http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=183719&CtNode=436. 14 March 2014.
- Web site: Home 張竹芩博士 JhuCin Rita Jhang, PhD. 23 January 2022. JhuCin Rita Jhang. en.
- Web site: 2022 Team Members. 23 January 2022. NATSA Website. en.
- Web site: 19 June 2021. 【環境 X 大麻 X 李菁琪】. 23 January 2022. 綠黨. zh-tw.
- Web site: 認識綠黨. 23 January 2022. web.greenparty.org.tw.
- Web site: 12 June 2021. Interview: Green is the colour for Taiwan's pioneering 'weed lawyer'. 10 November 2021. Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. en-GB.
