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| Tangwai movement | |||||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 黨外 | ||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 党外 | ||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Outside theparty | ||||||||||||||
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TheTangwai movement, or simplyTangwai (Chinese:黨外;pinyin:Dǎngwài;Wade–Giles:Tang3-wai4), was a loosely knitpolitical movement in Taiwan in the mid-1970s and early 1980s. Although the rulingKuomintang (KMT) had allowed contested elections for a small number of seats in theLegislative Yuan, opposition parties were still forbidden. As a result, many opponents of the KMT, officially classified as independents, ran and were elected as members "outside the party." The movement was at times tolerated and other times suppressed, the latter being the case particularly after theKaohsiung Incident of 1979. Members of the movement eventually formed theDemocratic Progressive Party, which after opposition political parties were legalized, contested elections and won the presidency with candidateChen Shui-bian, ending decades of single party rule in Taiwan.
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Early figures associated with the movement includeKang Ning-hsiang andHuang Hsin-chieh. College professors led a series of demonstrations and open demands for political change in city streets.[1] By 1973 the government began to arrest the leaders of this new movement and fire those professors who openly criticized the regime. While leading an authoritarian government,Chiang Ching-kuo appeared to be open minded to the possibility of political dissent.[1]
Because the majority of seats in the Legislative Yuan were held by delegates purportedly representing constituencies inmainland China, who were elected in 1947 and appointed thereafter (because the "electorate" in mainland China was unable to cast votes in an election in theTaiwan Area), pending the promised retaking of mainland China, thetangwai movement had no possibility of gaining power. They were, however, able to use the legislature as a forum for debating the ruling KMT.
In response to more native Taiwanese taking public office, thetangwai attempted to contest elections in 1975-1976 and demand even more changes to the political system.[1] Thetangwai politicians were reluctant to associate themselves with theNational Assembly, as those positions were ostensibly tied to constituencies on mainland China. They had been able to win victories in contests for theTaiwan Provincial Assembly where affiliated candidates were able to win 21 out of 77 seats.[2] They also won in four of twenty magistrate and mayoral races. Irregularities in the vote counting process in the city ofZhongli, lead to violent clashes between protesters and police in what is now known as theZhongli incident.Shih Ming-teh was released from prison soon after Zhongli, and attempted to involve himself with a Provincial Assembly election.
In 1979, the same year which the US ceased its recognition of the Republic of China, conflict between authorities and thetangwai again turned violent in theKaohsiung Incident. The writers of a political publication calledFormosa Magazine orMei-li-tao planned a series of political marches, first in the southern city of Kaohsiung and later a larger one in Taipei, although the Taipei rally ended up not occurring due to the arrest of the magazine's leaders. Police tapped phones and surveilled those associated with the magazine. On the day of the demonstration, activists took to the streets in a parade formation in Kaohsiung, but were diverted several times due to police blocking their intended route. They attempted to reorganize in Tainan, but many of their leaders were arrested over the next few days. Shih Ming-teh evaded arrest for several months by being harbored by members of thePresbyterian Church of Taiwan (PCT). Shih was sent to the infamousGreen Island, as was PCT General Secretary Kau Chih-min. The Kaohsiung incident marked the end to open demonstrations by thetangwai.[3] Faced with the struggle for diplomatic recognize by the international community, theKuomintang-led government decided to end political dissent, determining that political activists outside of the party were giving the impression that the government was not stable.[4]
Throughout the 1980s the Chiang administration continued to limit free speech. On the other hand, scholars argue that the various other demonstrations by common citizens helped keep thetangwai movement alive despite the mass imprisonment of its leaders. Examples of other social movements from both the middle and working classes which who staged public demonstrations included farmers protesting against corporate farms, and environmentalists opposing a proposed factory fromDuPont to be built inLukang.
The Presbyterian Church of Taiwan was linked to many members of the Tangwai, and the Church itself was at the center of government censure for publishing works in RomanizedTaiwanese Hokkien in the 1970s. The government confiscated these works, which led the Church to appeal to theCarter administration of the United States to highlight what it considered a human rights violation.
Efforts to counter thetangwai may have included the opening of the political system to Taiwanese who did not hold radical beliefs. Various individuals helped recruit intellectuals to work within the Kuomintang. Sung Shih-hsuan, then chairman of the Provincial Party Committee, introduced social service orientation to local party work, perhaps in an effort to counter the social activism of the Presbyterian Church andMaryknoll order.
Members of theTangwai movement formed theDemocratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 1986.[5] Although still illegal, the KMT did not take action against the DPP and the party was legalized in 1991. Many current politicians in Taiwan, most notably formerPresidentChen Shui-bian and Vice PresidentAnnette Lu, were active in thetangwai movement.[6]
Tangwai members, including Shih Ming-teh andLin Yi-hsiung, were often harassed or imprisoned by the KMTgovernment, especially in the wake of the Kaohsiung Incident.
