Editing Taiwan Solidarity Union (section)

==History==
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In the summer of 2001, supporters of former [[President of the Republic of China|President]] [[Lee Teng-hui]] formed the Taiwan Solidarity Union. In the [[2000 Taiwan presidential election|2000 presidential elections]], the [[Kuomintang]] (KMT) suffered a devastating defeat, in which internal turmoil had caused the party to lose its grip on power. This was blamed on Lee, the KMT Chairman at the time, and he was forced to resign in March 2001. The hardliners in the KMT, as well as the supporters of [[James Soong]] recently expelled from the KMT, believed Lee secretly harbored support for Taiwan independence and had purposely sabotaged the KMT (by not allowing Soong to run under the KMT) in order to allow [[Chen Shui-bian]], the [[Democratic Progressive Party]] (DPP) candidate, to win. Meanwhile, after winning the presidential election, Chen Shui-bian moderated his pro-independence position, alienating some hardline independence supporters in the DPP. By July, just months before the December 2001 elections to the [[Legislative Yuan]], these factors accumulated to result in the formation of the TSU to continue Lee's policies, and fill the void in Taiwanese politics caused by the DPP's abandonment of its strongly pro-independence political stance. It was hoped that this would lead to a pan-green majority in the nation's primary legislative body, thus giving the executive branch, under Chen, the political backing necessary to pursue policies supportive of Taiwanese independence.

The party name and emblem were announced on 25 July 2001, and was officially founded on 12 August.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lin|first1=Chieh-yu|last2=Hsu|first2=Crystal|title=Party with ties to Lee picks name|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2001/07/25/0000095588|access-date=16 February 2016|work=Taipei Times|date=25 July 2001}}</ref>

The TSU's stated political aim is the advocacy of the creation of a [[Taiwan independence movement|Republic of Taiwan]] and a policy of [[desinicization]] which consists of eliminating the symbols and concepts which connect Taiwan to the idea of China. The TSU argues that any lingering connection with the concept of China renders Taiwan an "abnormal nation" and that clearly separating Taiwan from China is necessary to prevent Taiwan from being dominated by an enemy and foreign nation.  The TSU has also strongly advocated the creation of a new constitution for Taiwan and the abandonment of "Republic of China" as Taiwan's formal name.

Lee was, naturally, identified as the "spiritual leader" (though he personally never joined the party); the TSU hoped that Lee's popularity would help the TSU make the 5% support mark. Further, Lee's dominance in the party was revealed when the candidates TSU nominated had all been personally approved by Lee beforehand. Meanwhile, as Lee's actions increasingly departed from the KMT's [[Cross-Strait Unification|unification]]ist positions, he was eventually expelled from the Kuomintang. Although there was some initial speculation that Lee's expulsion would cause mass defections in the Kuomintang, none of the major Kuomintang leaders or Lee's close associates changed sides. Nonetheless, former members of the KMT were still to be the fundamental building blocks of the new party, with half of TSU candidates coming directly from the KMT.

After winning nine seats in the 225-member Legislative Yuan in December 2001, the TSU has largely displaced the [[Taiwan Independence Party]] (TAIP) as the strongly pro-Taiwan-independence political force and the TSU legislators began advocating relevant resolutions. For instance, they have opened the debates about changing the [[Flag of the Republic of China|national flag]] and [[National Anthem of the Republic of China|national anthem]]. In the [[2002 Taiwanese municipal elections]] in [[Taipei]] and [[Kaohsiung]], TSU fielded no mayoral candidate, and it suffered a defeat in winning no seats in the Taipei City council and won only two seats in the Kaohsiung City council.