Colonel William A. Phillips

For other uses, see Taiwanese Communist Party (disambiguation).

The Taiwan Communist Party[I] was a social democratic political party in Taiwan. It was established in 1994 but was unable to register with the Ministry of the Interior until 2008, when anti-communist provisions in Taiwan's constitution were struck down by the Constitutional Court.

History

The Taiwan Communist Party was founded by Wang Lao-yang on 16 October 1994 in Sinhua, Tainan.[1] Before founding the party, Wang was an active member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Wang left the DPP after an internal party struggle, in which the faction he favoured lost.[2]

A wealthy landowning farmer, Wang spent the next thirteen years and NT$60 million (US$1.85 million in 2008) trying to register the Taiwan Communist Party with the Ministry of the Interior, but his annual applications were repeatedly rejected.[1][3][4] It was not until 20 June 2008 that Wang's goal was finally realised; on that day, the justices of the Constitutional Court ruled the prohibition of communism in Taiwan unconstitutional, thus allowing the registration of communist parties.[5] Wang subsequently registered the Taiwan Communist Party on the same day, making it the first party to legally include "communist" in its name after the ruling.[6]

Wang claimed that the party had grown to 2,000 members by the end of 2008.[2]

The Taiwan Communist Party was dissolved by the Ministry of Interior on 29 April 2020.[7]

Ideology

Although the party had "communist" in its name, Wang stated in an interview that he had never read the works of Karl Marx or Vladimir Lenin, and he only chose the name because he thought it would attract more interest.[2] Wang described the party as social democratic,[1] and advocated the establishment of a welfare state and mutual aid in Taiwan.[2] Wang also stated that the party's purpose was to "create a socialist paradise in Taiwan" by "upholding the socialist line and the legacy of Sun Yat-sen and his Three Principles of the People".[2][8]

However, one of the party's vice chairmen, Chien Ping-hung, stated in an interview that the party had an ideologically diverse membership, from moderate progressives disillusioned with the DPP to devout Marxists.[2] For example, another vice chairman of the party, Wu Miao-huo, claimed to have spent two decades studying Marxism in mainland China.[6] Nonetheless, the party was officially not communist; as such, it did not attempt to establish relations with the Chinese Communist Party.[4]

Notes

  1. ^

References

  1. ^ a b c "Taiwan Communist Party Party Declaration". www.jqknews.com. 14 July 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Hu, Youzhong (2008). “台湾共产党”主席不懂马列. The People's Daily (in Chinese). No. 16. Archived from the original on 25 October 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  3. ^ Zhongwei, Li (9 August 2008). "Interview with Wang Lao-yang, Chairman of the Taiwan Communist Party: 'Chen Shui-bian is definitely corrupt"". China Review HK (in Chinese).
  4. ^ a b 臺灣共產黨歷經14年申請終於成立 (in Chinese). 北京新浪網. Retrieved 23 July 2008.[dead link]
  5. ^ 釋字第 644 號 [Interpretation No. 644] (in Chinese). Justices of Constitutional Court, Judicial Yuan, ROC. Archived from the original on 30 December 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2008.
  6. ^ a b 台灣共產黨申請14年後獲准成立 (in Chinese). BBC Chinese.com. 21 July 2008. Archived from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2008.
  7. ^ "政黨廢止備案名單 民國109/05/05". Archived from the original on 21 November 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  8. ^ "中国历史上曾经还有十四个"共产党"". Sina History (in Chinese).
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan_Communist_Party