HONOLULU -- Prudence suggests that not too much be read into the surprisingly inconclusive results of Taiwan's legislative election because, fundamentally, little has changed and the confrontation with China will continue to jeopardize the security of East Asia.
After the Dec. 11 balloting, President Chen Shui-bian's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its allies ended up with only one more seat, 101, than they had before in the 225-seat legislature. The National Party, perhaps better known as the Kuomintang or KMT, and its partners ended up with 113 seats, one less than before. Independents held the rest.
The outcome was a surprise to Chen, the island's political pundits, and much of the foreign press, all of whom had predicted that the DPP coalition would gain enough seats to have a majority. When that didn't happen, Chen resigned as chairman of his party to take ritual responsibility for its failure.