Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: Lai Ching-te/Facebook
AN ATTEMPT BY the KMT and TPP to impeach President Lai Ching-te failed earlier this week. This was not surprising, seeing as the two parties did not have the votes to impeach Lai. As such, the impeachment was defeated.
56 voted in favor of impeachment, while 50 voted against it. For an impeachment vote, a two-thirds majority would be required in the legislature. meaning that 76 would be in favor of the vote.
In spite of its defeat, the KMT and TPP will likely attempt to frame the vote as still indicating that there is a majority disapproval of Lai, to the extent that he should be removed from office. This points to the stark partisan politics that exist in Taiwan, in that the KMT and TPP allege that Lai’s performance is not merely unsatisfactory, but that he should be removed from office.
In the meantime, one notes that the KMT and TPP was perhaps more enthusiastic about its impeachment vote against Lai than it was on matters of defense. After months of intractability, the KMT finally passed a pared-down version of defense spending earlier this month.
Even so, when it came to the prospect of passing defense spending, splits emerged almost immediately in the KMT as to how much spending to allow. The KMT maintains that it is not against defense, just that it does not wish to sign a blank check to the DPP–and by extension, the US.
Nevertheless, in the version of spending that was passed, the KMT cut domestic weapons production that would have allowed for greater self-reliance. Arms sales from the US were, on the other hand, among what was approved. At times, the KMT has leaned into a narrative that casts doubt on Taiwan’s defense industry, suggesting that the DPP is seeking to benefit a small coterie of untested companies who it financially benefits from.
This is largely the same narrative that the KMT leaned into during COVID-19, alleging that the DPP’s establishment of a “national team” to boost the production of needed medical supplies such as medical masks, or its efforts to boost the development of domestically-produced and manufactured vaccines as Medigen were because of illicit links to such companies. Similarly, the KMT has alleged that efforts to steer Taiwan’s energy transition toward renewables also occur just because of the DPP’s illicit financial links to green energy companies, while renewables are dangerous, new, untested sources of energy.
Even as the Mainland Affairs Council has warned of the threat from Chinese drones, funding for drone and anti-drone capabilities has been cut by the KMT. In the meantime, the recall vote against Lai was apparently of greater importance.
It may be that the KMT perceives itself as hitting out against the failed recall vote against it last year. What was known as the “Great Recall Movement” was the historic first attempt to recall all KMT legislators, as an organic response from society to the KMT’s attempts to drastically cut the government budget, slashing one-third of all government spending in what was the largest series of cuts in Taiwanese history.
All recalls were ultimately successful, probably due to the fact that they all took place in districts that voted KMT in the preceding elections, and in light of that messaging for the Great Recall Movement was primarily on the issue of China. Certainly, such districts had not been prevented from voting for the KMT in spite of concerns about China in past elections. And yet, the Great Recall Movement was not DPP-organized, as the KMT claims, and it represents that there continues to be significant pushback against the KMT. It would be impossible for the KMT to organize a similar recall effort against the DPP, hence any attempts to register dissatisfaction–such as with regard to the impeachment vote against Lai–occur in a top-down manner.