New DPP head termed pragmatic conservative

The newly elected chairman of Taiwan's largest opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party, Su Tseng-chang, will be "pragmatic" but less likely to alter the party's stance on cross-Straits relations, experts said after Su's victory on Sunday.

Although he was a frontrunner in pre-election polls, Su, 64, the former head of Taiwan's "executive yuan" and a co-founder of the party, had a tough battle with the other four candidates.

He received 55,894 votes, or 50.47 percent, according to chinataiwan.org.

The other four candidates for the party chair's position were: Wu Rong-i, former deputy chief of Taiwan's "executive yuan" and now a political adviser; Chai Trong-rong, a former legislator and veteran politician; Su Huan-chih, former Tainan county commissioner, and Hsu Hsin-liang, former DPP chairman.

During the campaign, the other candidates attacked Su's unclear stance on leading the party to run for the 2016 Taiwan leadership election.

They also criticized Su's unclear position on a pardon for former Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian, who was once a DPP member. Chen is serving a 17-and-a-half-year prison sentence for corruption.

Having defeated his competitors, Su will take over the party from Chen Chu, who became acting chairwoman after former chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen resigned in the wake of the DPP's loss of the Taiwan leadership election to Ma Ying-jeou in January.

The DPP faces major mayoral and commissioner elections in 2014, then a leadership election in 2016 against Ma's Kuomintang.

Experts said Su will be "pragmatic" in making decisions regarding cross-Straits exchanges.

"Many rational members of the DPP realized the party's past policies on the mainland were one of the key factors leading to its loss to Ma in the election," said Li Fei, deputy director of the Taiwan Research Institute of Xiamen University.

"Su is conservative but also pragmatic. He understands the more Taiwan opens to the mainland, the more benefits it will receive."

Su recently said in a radio interview that he "does not exclude the possibility of visiting the mainland".

However, Li and other experts said that Su is less likely to make real adjustments as the leader of an opposition party.

"Su will confront Ma on the one hand and comply with 'Taiwan independence' sentiment within the DPP on the other hand, to consolidate his chairmanship," said Ni Yongjie, a research fellow at the Shanghai Institute of Taiwan Studies. "This is his best choice."

Contact the writer at wanghuazhong@chinadaily.com.cn