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Jan 14, 2012

Re: Taishang

After reading articles like this, I wonder: doesn't anyone consider whether Taishang in China will lie about their voting intentions while in China? Or even after they get back to Taiwan? After all, it's a secret ballot. Why take any risk? 

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://www.hi-on.org.tw/bulletins.jsp?b_ID=116288

Tommy said...

I forgot where I read this, but I have heard that more Taishang are green than people think precisely because of that reason. If I were a green Taishang, I would tell people I was blue too.

Anonymous said...

Because voting for the KMT is in their best interest?

Philip L said...

"With memories of the 2008 election still fresh, when incumbent Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang Nationalist Party was returned with just 30,000 of the 13 million votes cast, the Taishang are concerned that a change of government could stall the lucrative rapprochement with Beijing."

WTF!

Gilman Grundy said...

In the end, Ma's lead was much greater than the number of businessmen who returned (who at Foxconn were called "台干" - this is the first time I've heard the phrase "台商" used in this sense).

At least in my experience, Taiwanese on the mainland slant pro-KMT, but not overwhelmingly so. I never met a single Taiwanese on the mainland who was actually wholeheartedly in favour of unification at any cost - without exception the ones I knew either favoured continuation of the status quo, or eventual independence. Most, it's only fair to say, behaved in a fashion fairly similar to that of other expat communities in mainland China.

I remember one girl in particular who told me that living on the mainland had taught her to appreciate Taiwan and the Taiwanese identity, and that although she was not going to switch to supporting the DPP, she had made up her mind to think of herself as Taiwanese. However, few Taiwanese on the mainland will talk about politics except amongst friends for very obvious reasons.