Taiwan’s President Steps Down as Leader of Ruling Party After Drubbing in Local Elections


在台湾执政党民进党在地方选举中输掉几场关键竞争后，台湾总统蔡英文上周六辞去了民进党党主席的职务，这预示着在与中国紧张关系加剧之际，台湾面临政治不确定性。


台湾总统蔡英文宣布辞去民进党党主席职务后离场。

台湾执政党民进党在地方选举中输掉几场关键竞争后，台湾总统蔡英文(Tsai Ing-wen)上周六辞去了民进党党主席职务，这预示着在与中国紧张关系加剧之际，台湾面临政治不确定性。 6park.com
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen relinquished her seat as head of the island’s ruling party after it lost several key contests in local elections Saturday, foreshadowing political uncertainty amid heightened tensions with China. 6park.com
  
蔡英文在选举结果公布后发表简短讲话，将选举失利归咎于民进党处理地方政治的方法存在缺陷。她说，民进党的基层工作和人们的期望之间还有差距。 6park.com
In a brief speech after the results came in, Ms. Tsai blamed the ballot-box losses on shortcomings in the Democratic Progressive Party’s approach to local politics. “There is still a gap between people’s expectations and our grassroot work,” she said. 6park.com
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在蔡英文辞任党主席之前，反对党候选人蒋万安(Chiang Wan-an)在台北市长职位的三人角逐中胜出，这个职位在过去一直是通往总统职位的跳板。蒋万安代表国民党，自称是蒋介石的后代。国民党在中国内战中败给毛泽东领导的共产党军队后，国民党领导人蒋介石在1949年带领部队逃到台湾。 6park.com
Ms. Tsai’s resignation as party leader came after opposition candidate Chiang Wan-an won a three-horse race for mayor of Taipei, a post that in the past has been a steppingstone to the presidency. Representing the Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party, Mr. Chiang claims to be a descendant of Chiang Kai-shek, the Kuomintang leader who fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing to Mao Zedong’s communist forces in China’s civil war. 6park.com
  
在芯片巨头台湾积体电路制造股份有限公司(Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., 2330.TW, 简称﹕台积电)总部所在地新竹市的另一场关键市长选举中，台湾民众党的高虹安(Kao Hung-an)击败了民进党的沈慧虹(Shen Hui-hung)，后者曾担任新竹市副市长。尽管面临包括抄袭指控在内的一系列丑闻，但高虹安还是赢得了选举。 6park.com
In another key mayoral race in Hsinchu, home to chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Kao Hung-an of the Taiwan People’s Party soundly defeated former Hsinchu Deputy Mayor Shen Hui-hung of the Democratic Progressive Party. Ms. Kao won despite facing a number of scandals, including allegations of plagiarism.


蒋万安在赢得台北市长选举后向支持者致辞。

民进党也未能赢得桃园市和基隆市的市长选举，在其传统大本营台湾南部，民进党控制的县市只剩下四个，以及险胜一场外岛县市澎湖县的选举。该党支持与华盛顿建立更紧密的关系，而不惜以牺牲与北京方面的关系为代价。 6park.com
The DPP, which supports closer ties with Washington at the expense of Beijing, also failed to retain mayoral seats in the cities of Taoyuan and Keelung, leaving only four counties and municipalities under its control in its traditional stronghold of southern Taiwan. The DPP also scored a tight mayoral win on Penghu, an outlying island in the Taiwan Strait. 6park.com
  
国民党主席朱立伦(Eric Chu)在党部庆祝上周六选举结果的胜选演讲中时说，国民党一定坚持走中道、理性、稳健的路。国民党历来被认为是台湾两个主要政党中对北京更友好的政党。 6park.com
“The Kuomintang insists on a middle path and rationality,” KMT Chairman Eric Chu said in a victory speech at party headquarters, reveling in Saturday’s results. The KMT has traditionally been seen as the more Beijing-friendly of the island’s two major parties. 6park.com
  
台海紧张局势笼罩着台湾的此次选举。中国政府称台湾是中国领土的一部分，并表示要收复台湾。此前美国众议院议长佩洛西(Nancy Pelosi) 8月高调访台，导致中国人民解放军在一次模拟封锁军演中短暂围岛。尽管本月早些时候中国领导人习近平和美国总统拜登(Joe Biden)举行了面对面会晤，似乎缓解了对近期爆发冲突的担忧，但外界对中国对台意图的担忧仍然很强烈。 6park.com
Tensions with Beijing, which sees Taiwan as part of China and has vowed to take control of the island democracy, loomed over the elections. A high-profile visit in August by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei led China’s People’s Liberation Army to temporarily encircle the island in a mock blockade. Concerns about China’s intentions toward Taiwan remain high despite a face-to-face meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and President Biden earlier this month that seemed to ease fears of near-term conflict. 6park.com
  
台湾外交部长吴钊燮(Joseph Wu)在选举前的新闻发布会上告诉记者，尽管这是一次本地选举，但中国因素仍未消失。 6park.com
“Even though this is a local election, the China element is still hanging in the air,” Taiwan’s foreign minister, Joseph Wu, told reporters at a press briefing ahead of the vote.


选民们不得不在亲中国的反对党国民党和亲民主的执政党民进党之间做出抉择。

台湾的地方选举传统上注重民生问题，两岸关系议题的影响不太大。有观察人士表示，尽管如此，民进党上周六的惨败还是引发了对该执政党2024年前途的质疑，届时蔡英文将因任期限制必须下台。 6park.com
Local elections in Taiwan traditionally focus on livelihood issues and rarely have much bearing on Taipei’s relationship with Beijing. Observers said the DPP’s drubbing on Saturday nevertheless raises questions about the ruling party’s prospects in 2024, when Ms. Tsai will have to step down due to term limits. 6park.com
  
虽然台湾官员此前曾指责中国政府对台湾往届选举进行了干预，但吴钊燮表示，台湾政府今年发现中国的干预减少。他说自己不知道原因，但猜测可能是因为中国正忙于处理内部问题，包括放松严格防疫政策的问题。 6park.com
While Taiwanese officials have accused Beijing of interfering in previous elections, Mr. Wu said the government detected less meddling by China this year. He said he didn’t know why, but speculated it might be because “China is very busy dealing with its own domestic problems,” including a fraught effort to ease its stringent Covid control policies. 6park.com
  
对于周六的台湾选举，国台辨发言人形容结果反映了台湾选民“求和平、求稳定、要过好日子”的渴望。位于华盛顿的中国驻美国大使馆没有回应对于台湾指责中方干预选举的置评请求。 6park.com
In a response, a spokeswoman for Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office described the election results as a desire of Taiwanese voters who wanted “peace, stability, and a better life.” The Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., didn’t comment on the meddling allegations. 6park.com
  
围绕涉嫌学术剽窃的争议对今年选举的影响，与对中国的担忧不相上下。其中一起事件主角是新当选的新竹市市长高虹安。在她出现在一个谴责执政党支持者的恶搞MV中后，一位在台湾出生的美国大学学者在高虹安的辛辛那提大学(University of Cincinnati)博士论文中发现了他所说的大段抄袭内容。 6park.com
This year’s elections were defined as much by controversies over alleged academic plagiarism as by concerns about China. One target was Ms. Kao, the newly elected mayor of Hsinchu. After she appeared in a parody music video denouncing supporters of the ruling party, a Taiwan-born university scholar based in the U.S. identified what he described as “big chunks” of pilfered passages in her University of Cincinnati doctoral dissertation. 6park.com
  
高虹安称这些指控是赤裸裸的谎言。她是富士康科技集团(Foxconn Technology Group)亿万富翁创始人郭台铭(Terry Gou)的前助手。 6park.com
Ms. Kao, a former aide to billionaire Foxconn Technology Group founder Terry Gou, called the allegations “blatant lies.” 6park.com
  
高虹安上周六在新竹的胜选演讲中说，即使无法争取到所有市民朋友喜欢她，但她承诺绝对会努力照顾好新竹每位市民。 6park.com
“Although I can’t make all the residents like me, I promise I will try my best to take good care of every one of them,” Ms. Kao said in her victory speech in Hsinchu on Saturday. 6park.com
  
一项修改台湾宪法的提案未能获得通过所需的约900万票支持票，尽管今年早些时候在立法机构以全票通过。该提案将把台湾人合法投票年龄从20岁降至18岁。 6park.com
A proposal to amend Taiwan’s constitution to lower the voting age from 20 to 18 failed to garner some nine million votes needed to pass despite clearing the legislature in a unanimous vote earlier this year. 6park.com
  
目前，在全球的民主政体中，像台湾这样居民年满18岁必须纳税、符合服兵役条件但没有资格投票的情形并不多见。 6park.com
For now, Taiwan remains one of few democracies in the world where a person turning 18 is required to pay taxes and becomes eligible for mandatory military services but is ineligible to vote. 6park.com
  
台湾数位发展部部长唐凤(Audrey Tang)在上周五的新闻发布会上说，这对年轻一代是不公平的。 6park.com
“This is unfair to the younger generation,” said Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s digital minister, at a news conference Friday. 6park.com