Editing Kuomintang (section)

== Ideology in Taiwan ==
=== Anti-communism ===
{{See also|Anti-communism in China#Taiwan (Republic of China, 1949–present)}}
On 28 February 1947, the Kuomintang cracked down on an anti-government uprising in Taiwan known as the [[February 28 incident]] and the government began the [[White Terror (Taiwan)|White Terror in Taiwan]] in order to purge communist spies and prevent Chinese communist subversion.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rubinstein|first=Murray A.|title=Taiwan: A New History|publisher=M. E. Sharpe|year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7656-1495-7|location=Armonk, N.Y.|page=302}}</ref> While in Taiwan, the Republic of China government under the Kuomintang remained anti-communist and attempted to [[Project National Glory|recover the mainland from the Communist forces]]. During the [[Cold War]], [[Republic of China in Taiwan|Taiwan]] was referred to as [[Free area of the Republic of China|Free China]]<ref>{{cite journal|last=Walker |first=Richard L.|title=Taiwan's Development as Free China |journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |volume=321 |date=1959 |pages=122–135 |publisher=Sage Publications, Inc |doi=10.1177/000271625932100114 |jstor=1030986|s2cid=154403559 }}</ref> while the China on the mainland was known as Red China<ref>{{cite magazine|title=RED CHINA: The Third Solution|magazine=Times Magazine|url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,866201,00.html|access-date=2021-05-09|archive-date=5 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210905181822/http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,866201,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref> or Communist China in the West, to mark the ideological difference between the capitalist '[[Free World]]' and the communist nations. The ROC government under the Kuomintang also actively supported anti-communist efforts in Southeast Asia and around the world.<ref>{{cite web |title=Taiwan's Cold War in Southeast Asia {{!}} Wilson Center |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/taiwans-cold-war-southeast-asia |access-date=2022-05-28 |website=www.wilsoncenter.org |archive-date=21 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190721163834/https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/taiwans-cold-war-southeast-asia |url-status=live }}</ref> This effort did not cease until the death of Chiang Kai-shek in 1975.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Cheung|first1=Han|date=17 November 2019|title=Taiwan in Time: Spies, guerillas and the final counterattack|work=Taipei Times|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2019/11/17/2003725988/2|access-date=19 November 2019|archive-date=21 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221234557/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2019/11/17/2003725988/2|url-status=live}}</ref> The Kuomintang continued to be anti-communist during the period of Chiang Chin-kuo. Contacts between Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party have started since 1990s to re-establish [[Cross-Strait relations]]. Although relations has improved with the PRC since the [[1992 Consensus]],<ref name=":0" /> with both sides having a common opposition to [[Taiwanese nationalism]],<ref name="Taiwan's new Kuomintang leader keeps party on China-friendly track">{{cite web |last1=Hale |first1=Erin |date=2021-09-28 |title=Taiwan's new Kuomintang leader keeps party on China-friendly track |url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Taiwan-s-new-Kuomintang-leader-keeps-party-on-China-friendly-track |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712212058/https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Taiwan-s-new-Kuomintang-leader-keeps-party-on-China-friendly-track |archive-date=12 July 2022 |access-date=3 August 2022 |website=Nikkei Asia}}</ref> it continues to be opposed to [[communism]], as anti-communism is written under Article 2 of Kuomintang's party charter.<ref name=":0" />

=== Three Principles of the People ===
{{main|Three Principles of the People}}
Sun Yat-sen was not just the founder of the Republic of China, but also the founder of the Kuomintang. Sun Yat-sen's political ideology was based on building a free and democratic China founded on [[Three Principles of the People]], namely Democracy (civil rights of people), people's economic livelihood and nationalism. Although the Kuomintang lost control over mainland China in 1949, the Republic of China under Kuomintang rule was able to achieve the political ideal of a democratic Republic of China on the island of Taiwan based on the Three Principles of the People after its retreat to Taiwan.<ref name="KMT-Britannica-Wright">{{cite web |script-title=zh:政策綱領 |url=http://www.kmt.org.tw/p/blog-page_3.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190513013915/http://www.kmt.org.tw/p/blog-page_3.html |archive-date=13 May 2019 |access-date=19 June 2016 |website=Kmt.org.tw}}

* {{cite encyclopedia |title=Three Principles of the People |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Three-Principles-of-the-People |access-date=10 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161026163157/https://www.britannica.com/event/Three-Principles-of-the-People |archive-date=26 October 2016 |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Wright |first=Mary C. |title=From Revolution to Restoration: The Transformation of Kuomintang Ideology |publisher=[[Association for Asian Studies]] |year=1955 |pages=515–532 |author-link=Mary C. Wright}}
* {{cite web |last=Zarrow |first=Peter |date=2021-07-01 |title=The Chinese Communist Party Has Followed Sun Yat-sen's Road Map |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/01/chinese-communist-party-ccp-sun-yat-sen/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025160658/https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/01/chinese-communist-party-ccp-sun-yat-sen/ |archive-date=25 October 2021 |access-date=2021-10-25 |website=Foreign Policy}}
* Post, Louis Freeland (April 12, 1912). "Sun Yat Sen's Economic Program for China". The Public. 15: 349. Retrieved 8 November 2016.</ref> The Three Principles of the People is not just written in the [[Constitution of the Republic of China|ROC Constitution]], but also in Article 1, 5, 7, 9, 37, 42, 43 of Kuomintang's party charter.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |title=Party Charter |url=http://www1.kmt.org.tw/english/page.aspx?type=para&mnum=109 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130206204127/http://www.kmt.org.tw/english/page.aspx?type=para&mnum=109 |archive-date=6 February 2013 |access-date=6 September 2021 |publisher=Kuomintang}}</ref>

=== Chinese democracy ===
The Kuomintang advocates a free and democratic China under the Republic of China founded on Three Principles of the People. In fact, during the 1980s, [[Chiang Ching-kuo]] advocated [[Grand Alliance for China's Reunification under the Three Principles of the People]]. Since then, a democracy promotion banner for Grand Alliance for China's Reunification under the Three Principles of the People continues to exist in [[Kinmen]] today as a display to mainland China that the Republic of China's unification principle should be based on Chinese democracy. Today, the Kuomintang continues to view the Republic of China as the free, democratic and legitimate China.

=== Cross-Strait relations ===
A [[Chinese nationalism|Chinese nationalist]] party,{{Sfn|Fenby|2005|p=504}}{{Sfn|Lipman|2004|p=266}} the Kuomintang strongly adheres to the defense of the Republic of China and upholding the Constitution of the Republic of China. It is strongly opposed to formal [[Taiwan independence movement|Taiwanese independence]] and the party also holds that the ROC is the sole legitimate representative of all of China. It favors a closer relationship with the PRC and the CCP,<ref name="Taiwan's new Kuomintang leader keeps party on China-friendly track" /> though it also opposes [[Chinese unification]] under the "[[One country, two systems]]" framework of the PRC.<ref>{{cite web |author=Samson Ellis and Adrian Kennedy |date=4 July 2022 |title=Xi's suppression of Hong Kong democracy pushes Taiwan further from China |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/07/04/asia-pacific/xi-suppression-hong-kong-taiwan/ |access-date=18 October 2023 |work=[[The Japan Times]] |quote=For Taiwan though, the proposal has never been an option. Even the Kuomintang — a vestige of the losing side in China’s civil war and the main force backing eventual unification with the mainland, has rejected the model |archive-date=17 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231117070011/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/07/04/asia-pacific/xi-suppression-hong-kong-taiwan/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite journal |author=Ivan Kanapathy |author-link=Ivan Kanapathy |date=17 June 2022 |title=The Collapse of One China |url=https://www.csis.org/analysis/collapse-one-china |access-date=18 October 2023 |journal=[[Center for Strategic and International Studies|CSIS]] |quote=Hong Kong’s hastening loss of autonomy and civil liberties since then has only sharpened these sentiments in Taiwan... Thus, the KMT faces a dilemma. A significant and growing majority of Taiwanese people do not want political union with the mainland—certainly not if imposed on them. Following its 2020 electoral defeat, the KMT rejected the One Country Two Systems framework but continues to assert the 1992 Consensus |archive-date=6 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231106145547/https://www.csis.org/analysis/collapse-one-china |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Micah McCartney |date=15 August 2022 |title=Taiwan's KMT: Between a Rock and a Hard Place |url=https://thediplomat.com/2022/08/taiwans-kmt-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place/ |access-date=18 October 2023 |work=[[The Diplomat (magazine)|The Diplomat]] |quote=On August 10, a white paper published by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, the first such document released on Xi Jinping’s watch, confirmed that “One Country, Two Systems” is fundamental to Beijing’s vision of unification with Taiwan. This is makes a rapprochement with a KMT, or indeed any Taiwanese administration, more difficult to achieve given how “One Country, Two Systems” played out in Hong Kong. Even pro-China former President [[Ma Ying-jeou|Ma]] has declared the framework “dead”. |archive-date=17 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231117070010/https://thediplomat.com/2022/08/taiwans-kmt-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place/ |url-status=live }}</ref> It opposes any non-peaceful means to resolve the [[Cross-Strait relations|cross-strait disputes]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Brian Hioe |date=11 May 2023 |title=Hou You-yi Emphasizes Opposition to Both "One Country, two systems", Taiwaneses independence |url=https://newbloommag.net/2023/05/11/hou-you-yi-cross-strait-stance/ |access-date=18 October 2023 |archive-date=17 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231117070010/https://newbloommag.net/2023/05/11/hou-you-yi-cross-strait-stance/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The party also accepts the [[1992 Consensus]], which defines both sides of the [[Taiwan Strait]] as "[[one China]]" but maintains its ambiguity to different interpretations.<ref name=":1" /> Although the KMT's long-term goal is to unify China under the ROC, the party advocates maintaining the status quo of Taiwan.

=== Chinese conservatism ===
{{POV section|date=October 2024}}
{{Conservatism in Taiwan}}
In modern Taiwanese politics, the Kuomintang is seen as a [[Centre-right politics|centre-right]]<ref name="Qi-Shim" /> to [[Right-wing politics|right-wing]]<ref name="Fell-Rigger-Ogasawara" /> political party. The Kuomintang believes in the values associated with [[History of the Kuomintang|conservatism]].<ref>{{cite web |date=17 August 2019 |title=It's Not Techno-Angst That's Driving East Asia to Abandon Nuclear Power |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/06/17/nuclear-power-japan-south-korea-japan-fukushima-disaster/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200717003302/https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/06/17/nuclear-power-japan-south-korea-japan-fukushima-disaster/ |archive-date=17 July 2020 |access-date=7 July 2020 |publisher=[[Foreign Policy]] |quote=In Taiwan, the conservative Kuomintang’s aging demographic base and support for closer ties with mainland China now appears out of touch with a younger electorate increasingly distrustful of China and hostile to reunification.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y8zdiN_Z1x0C&pg=PA65 |title=Climate Affairs: A Primer |publisher=[[Island Press]] |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-59726-941-4 |editor-last=Glantz |editor-first=Mickey |page=65 |id=y8zdiN_Z1x0C&pg=PA65 |access-date=7 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804023612/https://books.google.com/books |archive-date=4 August 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> The Kuomintang has a strong tradition of defending the established institutions of the Republic of China, such as defending Constitution of the Republic of China, defending the five branches of government (modeled on Sun Yat-sen's political philosophy of Three Principles of the People), espousing the [[One-China policy]] as a vital component for the Republic of China (ROC)'s international security and economic development, as opposed to [[Taiwanization]]. The Kuomintang claims to have a strong tradition of fighting to defend, preserve and revive traditional Chinese culture and religious freedom as well as advocating for Confucian values, [[economic liberalism]] and [[anti-communism]]. The KMT still sees the [[Republic of China]] in Taiwan as presenting the true cultural China which has preserved Chinese culture, as compared to the People's Republic of China which had experienced Chinese cultural destruction during the [[Cultural Revolution]].

Some Kuomintang conservatives see traditional social or [[family values]] as being threatened by [[Liberalism|liberal values]] and oppose same-sex marriage.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Marriage Equality in Taiwan Hinges on Politics - In past electoral politics, marriage equality was seldom a dominant issue, but the landscape is shifting and some barriers to equality remain in place |url=https://thediplomat.com/2021/06/marriage-equality-in-taiwan-hinges-on-politics/ |magazine=[[The Diplomat (magazine)|The Diplomat]] |first=Zoe |last=Leung |date=23 June 2021 |access-date=11 October 2024 |language=en |location=[[Washington, D.C.]], United States}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Gay marriage proposal set for review |url=https://thediplomat.com/2021/06/marriage-equality-in-taiwan-hinges-on-politics/ |newspaper=[[Taipei Times]] |first=Lii |last=Wen |date=21 December 2014 |access-date=11 October 2024 |language=en |location=[[Taipei]], Taiwan}}</ref> KMT conservatives are also typically against the abolishment of capital punishment, arguing the need to maintain deterrence against harsh crimes.<ref>{{Cite news |title=KMT slams new limitations on Taiwan death penalty |url=https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/5942075  |newspaper=[[Taiwan News]] |first=Jono |last=Thomson |date=25 September 2024 |access-date=11 October 2024 |language=en |location=Taipei City}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=KMT lawmakers criticize death penalty court ruling |url=https://focustaiwan.tw/politics/202409260026 |last1=Fan |first1=Chen-hsiang |last2=Wang |first2=Yang-yu |last3=Kay |first3=Liu |agency=Central News Agency (Taiwan) |via=[[Focus Taiwan]] |date=26 September 2024 |access-date=11 October 2024 |language=en |location=Taipei City}}</ref> Conservative KMT policies may also be characterized by a focus on maintaining the traditions and doctrine of Confucian thought, namely reinforcing the morals of paternalism and patriarchy in Taiwan's society. In terms of education policy, KMT policies advocate increasing more Classical Chinese content in Chinese education and Chinese history content in order to reinforce Chinese cultural identity, as opposed to de-sinicization attempts by advocates of Taiwan independence who typically decrease Classical Chinese and Chinese history content in schools in order to achieve [[Taiwanization]].