People First Party (Taiwan)

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People First Party




Chairman	James Soong

Founded	2000
Headquarters	Taipei City

Political ideology	Conservatism, Chinese nationalism, Chinese reunification, Centre-right.
Domestic affiliation	Pan-Blue Coalition
Int'l affiliation	none

Website	www.pfp.org.tw

The People First Party (親民黨, pinyin: Qīnmíndǎng) is a conservative political party in the Republic of China on Taiwan. It was founded by James Soong and his supporters after his failed independent bid for the presidency in 2000. Soong is currently the chairman and dominates much of its politics. The name of the party, qinmin, has Confucian connotations.^[1]

The official goals of PFP, as regards to cross-strait relationships and diplomacy, is for the ROC to: participate in more international organizations, promote Chinese culture overseas and seek economic and cultural interaction between Taiwan and the mainland. Its views are seen as generally favorable towards Chinese reunification and staunchly against Taiwan independence.

The party maintains a close but tense relationship with the Kuomintang (KMT) as part of the pan-blue coalition. However, since PFP had, like the New Party, grown out of the KMT, the two parties had to compete for the same set of voters. This dynamic in which both the KMT and PFP must simultaneously compete and cooperate with each other has led to complex and interesting politics.

In several notable cases, this has led to situations in which both parties have run candidates, but close to the election the party with the less popular candidate unofficially drops out of the race. This in turn has led to some notable situations when either the PFP or the KMT is campaigning against its own candidate, which has led to intra-party resentment.

To avoid a repeat of this effect, which led to the election of Democratic Progressive Party candidate Chen Shui-bian to the presidency in 2000 by a low share of votes, Chairman Soong ran as vice-president on KMT Chairman Lien Chan's presidential ticket in the 2004 presidential election.

After his defeat in Taipei Mayoral Election on the 9th of December, 2006, James Soong announced that he will quit definitely the political life, including the chairmanship of the Party. Start this point, with no clear goal, the PFP faced uncertain future, and could speed the merge with the Kuomintang.

[edit] Notes and references

^ Qinmin (親民) literally means "close to the people." The Great Learning states, "What the Great Learning teaches, is—to illustrate illustrious virtue; to renovate the people; and to rest in the highest excellence" (Tr. Legge, 大學之道明明德，在親民，在止於至善。)