Socialism in Heart, Capitalism in Mind: Class Cleavage in Taiwan's Party Politics

Whereas class (or the left-right issue) has often been seen as a major cleavage underpinning the party configuration in various societies, the case of Taiwan deviates from this pattern. Although between the two major political parties, the Kuomintang (KMT) is often seen as more pro-business than its archrival, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the KMT's ideology, the Three Principles of the People, does contain some elements of socialism. In a sense, the two parties are not drastically different regarding the basic socioeconomic model they espouse, rendering class less salient in Taiwanese politics. The low salience of the class cleavage can be attributed to the dominance of the independence-unification issue, egalitarianism inherent in the Confucian culture, a socioeconomic model that has worked well, and the international environment in which Taiwan has been in over the years.