Pan-Blue Coalition
The Pan-Blue Coalition, or Pan-Blue Force (泛藍軍 pinyin fàn lán jūn), is a political coalition in early 21st century Taiwan, consisting of the Kuomintang (KMT), the People First Party (PFP), and the tiny New Party (CNP). The name comes from the party colors of the Kuomintang. This coalition tends to favor a Chinese nationalist identity over a Taiwanese separatist one and favors a softer policy and greater economic linkage with the People's Republic of China. It is opposed to the Pan-Green Coalition.
Although the Pan-Blue Coalition is associated with Chinese reunification, much of the support and opposition to the coalition has nothing to do with relations with Mainland China. For example, support for the coalition among the poor and Taiwanese aboriginals is high because of the patronage networks that the coalition maintains.
Throughout the 1990s, the Kuomintang consisted of an uneasy relationship between those which supported a Chinese nationalist identity for Taiwan and those, led by President Lee Teng-hui, who supported a stronger Taiwanese separatist identity. This led to a split in the early 1990s, when the New Party was formed. During the 2000 Presidential election, Lee Teng-hui arranged for Lien Chan to be nominated as Kuomintang candidate for President rather than the more popular James Soong, who bolted from the party and formed his own People First Party. Many in Taiwan believed that Lee's action was a deliberate attempt to sabotage the Kuomintang to ensure victory for Chen Shui-bian of the DPP.
In the 2000 Presidential election itself, the split in Kuomintang votes between Soong and Lien led in part to the election of Chen Shui-bian. After the election, there was widespread anger within the Kuomintang against Lee Teng-hui, who was expelled and formed his own pro-Taiwan independence party, the Taiwan Solidarity Union. After Lee's expulsion, the Kuomintang moved its policies more in favor of Chinese reunification and began informal but close cooperation with the People First Party and the New Party. This coalition became informally known as the Pan-Blue Coalition. Although the members of the Pan-Blue Coalition maintain separate party structures, they closely cooperate in large part to ensure that electoral strategies are coordinated, so that votes are not split among them leading to a victory by the pan-green coalition.
The KMT and PFP ran a combined ticket in the 2004 Presidential elections with Lien Chan running for president and James Soong running for vice president. The campaign emblem for the Lien-Soong campaign was a two seat bicycle with a blue figure in the first seat and an orange figure in the second. This has led most to believe that Lien-Soong would be a sure win over Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu, given both had polled almost 60% of the votes combines in 2000. However, by 10 days before the election, both sides were tied and Chen won by less than 0.25% of the vote. The election may have been adversely affected by what appears to have been an assassination attempt against Chen. Some Taiwanese commentators think this was a false setup to garner sympathy for Chen. The winning margin was less than one-tenth the number of spoiled ballots, causing much controversy.
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