Editing Democratic Progressive Party (section)

=== Stance on Taiwanese independence ===

The primary political axis in Taiwan involves the issue of [[Taiwan independence]] versus [[Chinese unification]]. Although the differences tend to be portrayed in polarized terms, both major coalitions have developed modified, nuanced and often complex positions. Though opposed in the philosophical origins, the practical differences between such positions can sometimes be subtle.

The current official position of the party is that Taiwan is an independent and sovereign country whose territory consists of Taiwan and its surrounding smaller islands and whose sovereignty derives only from the ROC citizens living in Taiwan (similar philosophy of [[self-determination]]), based on the 1999 "[[Resolution on Taiwan's Future]]". It considers Taiwan an independent nation under the name of Republic of China, making a formal declaration of independence unnecessary.<ref name="resolution" />  Though calls for drafting a new constitution and a declaration of a Republic of Taiwan was written into the party charter in 1991,<ref name="1991article" /> the 1999 resolution has practically superseded the earlier charter.  The DPP rejects the so-called "[[One China principle]]" [[1992 Consensus|defined in 1992]] as the basis for official diplomatic relations with the PRC and advocates a Taiwanese national identity which is separate from mainland China.<ref name="92c">{{cite web |title=DPP denies existence of '1992 consensus' |url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/12/25/2003491835 |website=[[Taipei Times]] |date=25 December 2010 |access-date=18 December 2020 |archive-date=2 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802211135/https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/12/25/2003491835 |url-status=live }}</ref>

By contrast, the KMT or pan-blue coalition agrees that the Republic of China is an independent and sovereign country that is not part of the PRC, but argues that a one China principle (with different definitions across the strait) can be used as the basis for talks with China. The KMT also opposes Taiwan independence and argues that efforts to establish a Taiwanese national identity separated from the Chinese national identity are unnecessary and needlessly provocative. Some KMT conservative officials have called efforts from DPP "[[anti-China]]" (opposing migrants from mainland China, who DPP officials did not recognize as Taiwanese, but Chinese). At the other end of the political spectrum, the acceptance by the DPP of the symbols of the Republic of China is opposed by the [[Taiwan Solidarity Union]].

The first years of the DPP as the ruling party drew accusations from the opposition as a self-styled Taiwanese nationalist party, the DPP was itself inadequately sensitive to the ethnographic diversity of Taiwan's population. Where the KMT had been guilty of Chinese [[chauvinism]], the critics charged, the DPP might offer nothing more as a remedy than [[Hoklo people|Hoklo]] chauvinism.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Island the Left Neglected |url=https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/island-left-neglected-taiwan-dppp-tsai |access-date=2022-09-11 |website=Dissent Magazine |archive-date=11 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220911040435/https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/island-left-neglected-taiwan-dppp-tsai |url-status=live }}</ref>  The DPP argues that its efforts to promote a Taiwanese national identity are merely an effort to normalize a Taiwanese identity repressed during years of authoritarian Kuomintang rule.