Check and Balance

His name wasn't on the ballot, but Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian was the big loser in the island's legislative election last Saturday. Candidates from Chen's independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party and its ally, the Taiwan Solidarity Union—known collectively as the "green" camp—won only 101 out of 225 seats in the fiercely fought contest. The winner: the "blue" Kuomintang- or KMT-led opposition, which favors eventual reunification with China, managed to retain a slim majority by securing 114 seats, just one more than it previously held. KMT chairman Lien Chan emerged from his office at 8:30 p.m. wearing his biggest smile since losing a close presidential race to Chen in March. As supporters applauded and firecrackers popped, Lien proclaimed: "This is not only a victory for the KMT but also for the Republic of China."

Because Chen was elected President by just 22,000 votes out of 13 million, he needed to win control of the legislature to advance his goal of establishing a national Taiwan identity. If given a majority, he pledged to change everything from the constitution to history textbooks to the names of state-owned companies, with the aim of cutting references to China and boosting Taiwan's sense of itself. That enraged Beijing, worried the U.S.—Taipei's main backer, but which also enjoys good relations with China—and seems to have backfired with the electorate. "Chen actually stimulated the pan-blue supporters to come out and vote because they worried about his getting a double mandate," says Philip Yang, a professor of political science at National Taiwan University in Taipei.

The result means a continuation of legislative gridlock. The priority items on Chen's agenda—besides constitutional reform, an $18 billion package to purchase arms from the U.S.—look likely to remain stalled. For Beijing, that's welcome news.