Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: Eric Chu/Facebook
IN AN UNUSUAL series of events, KMT chair Eric Chu has doubled down on comparisons between the Nazis and the current DPP government after a condemnation issued by the German Institute Taipei. The German Institute Taipei is Germany’s representative office in Taiwan in the absence of formal diplomatic relations.
Past months have seen increasingly hyperbolic rhetoric from the KMT directed at the DPP. With a wave of recalls facing all KMT legislators because of the KMT’s efforts to block the national budget. While the right of recall is one enshrined in the constitution, the KMT has painted the efforts to recall KMT legislators as orchestrated by the DPP, and suggested that this is a means of political terror.
As KMT attempts to gather sufficient signatures to recall DPP legislators in retaliation have stumbled, this appears to have led some KMT local chapters to begin copying information from party rolls rather than soliciting signatures. This has led a number of KMT local chapter heads to be taken in for questioning on the basis of suspected signature fraud.
The KMT has framed the resultant investigation, as well as the arrest of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je on corruption charges, as the DPP seizing control of government institutions. As such, the KMT railed in the election rallies that it held against the DPP as being a form of “Green Communism”. Nevertheless, there is plenty of evidence against Ko, with charges against him actually originating with KMT Taipei city councilor Chung Hsiao-ping.
The German Institute’s statement read that, “Any attempt […] to draw parallels between the atrocities committed in Germany and Europe between 1933 and 1945 and the current political situation in Taiwan is profoundly troubling.” The statement then goes on to say that, “We must state unequivocally: Taiwan today is in no way comparable to the tyranny of National Socialism. The institutions in Taiwan cannot and must not be likened to the instruments of terror employed by the Nazi regime.”
Still, what proves of note is that Chu doubled down on his comments comparing the DPP to Nazism after the German Institute issued the statement. Chu subsequently lashed out at the German Institute, claiming that it was speaking up on behalf of authoritarians.
The issue of the KMT’s attempts to frame the DPP as analogous to Nazism was flagged last month after Sung Chien-liang, the leader of the KMT’s efforts to recall DPP legislator Lee Kun-cheng, sparked controversy after appearing in court wearing a Nazi uniform. Sung was photographed making a Roman salute, also known as a Nazi salute, and holding a copy of Hitler’s Mein Kampf.
Chu, too, refused to criticize Sung’s actions, claiming that they were still meant to highlight rising authoritarianism in Taiwan. At the time, Sung’s act of political theater led to criticisms from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, the Israeli representative office, and the German representative office.
The two incidents go to show to what extent the KMT leans into its narrative of “Green Communism” or a “Green Terror” as a means of attacking the DPP. Deep Blue rhetoric has clearly taken hold of the KMT leadership, with Chu, historically a moderate, also leaning into such attacks.
And yet this also goes to show how the KMT has failed to reckon with its authoritarian past. Certainly, the DPP is not jailing its critics, cracking down on rallies with armed force, and sending KMT politicians off to prison camps where they would face torture and execution. The KMT, in reaching for comparisons to Nazi Germany, further shows that it does not take reckoning with the authoritarian past of other countries seriously except with regards to how it can leverage them as part of political attacks.
This has long been the case, as the KMT’s attempts to compare the DPP to the Nazis go back decades. In 2004, the KMT took out a newspaper ad accusing Chen Shui-bian, the first non-KMT president in Taiwanese history, of being a dictator. The ad compared Chen to Hitler and was criticized by Taiwan’s Jewish community, leading to an apology from the party. Pan-blue protests in those years often compared Chen to Hitler, including in posters at protests featuring Chen’s face on a swastika, and large puppets that depicted Chen as Hitler.
Chu’s comments prove an odd contrast with President Lai Ching-te of the DPP’s speech today, reflecting on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Still, far from it for the KMT to reflect critically on its own history.