Opposition Kuomintang Fights Fire With Fire in Taiwan's Recall War

TaiwanPlus News

Taiwan's main opposition party, the Kuomintang, has launched a retaliatory recall campaign against efforts by the ruling DPP to remove almost two dozen of its legislators from office.

Transcript

00:00Taking down the Toads. The slogan marks the beginning of a retaliatory campaign by Taiwan's

00:09main opposition party, the Kuomintang, to recall rival legislators, with Toad a derogatory

00:15term referring to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, whose colour is green.

00:21Almost two dozen recall petitions were filed against KMT lawmakers by several citizen groups

00:26earlier this week. But now, the opposition, who hold more seats in the legislature, are

00:32fighting back, first by targeting two DPP politicians, both surnamed Wu.

00:48But Secretary-General of the DPP Legislative Caucus Roselia Wu, the other Wu targeted

00:54in the recall campaign, clapped back, arguing that whereas the campaign against the KMT

01:00is led by citizens, the opposition are using their campaign for political gain.

01:24And, despite the moves against their own members, at a press conference on Wednesday,

01:30the DPP said they support citizens' right to remove elected officials.

01:43Taiwan has experienced political turmoil since last year, when DPP candidate Lai Ching-de

01:49won the presidency, but lost his party's control of the legislature to the combined

01:54forces of the KMT and the Taiwan People's Party, or TPP, resulting in a fractured and

02:00often deadlocked government. These recall campaigns are seen by some as attempts by

02:05both sides to wrest back power. And with the KMT promising to fight fire with fire, they're

02:12set to escalate.

02:29Threatening mass recalls of legislators is just the latest battle occupying Taiwan's

02:34ruling powers. It's part of a larger, ongoing political war between two parties, with fundamentally

02:40different views on how best to govern Taiwan.

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