Editor's note: Han Bing, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Taiwan Studies. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

On August 23, the second round of a recall vote against seven legislators of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party in China's Taiwan region concluded. The tally showed that all seven recall proposals targeting Kuomintang (KMT) legislators failed. With that, the island's largest and truly unprecedented recall campaign came to an end, and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)'s bid to entrench one-party dominance was decisively rebuffed. In short, the DPP's setback was no accident; it was the inevitable outcome of its "political unfitness" and a failure to govern with basic public-mindedness.  

First, the recall campaign was essentially a DPP power play, an attempt to "flip the table after losing an election." In the 2024 contests, Lai Ching-te eked out a win as the leader of the Taiwan region by a narrow margin, but the DPP lost its majority in the legislature to the KMT and the Taiwan People's Party, creating a situation of "a weak ruling party facing a strong opposition." To break the opposition's checks and press ahead with its line of "resisting China and seeking independence," the DPP and its allied "side-wing" groups launched a campaign early this year to recall KMT legislators. 

The aim was to unseat more than six KMT lawmakers and then capture the seats in follow-up by-elections, thereby swelling the presence of the DPP while shrinking that of the KMT in the legislature and achieving one-party dominance and total control in governance. Voters on the island did not buy into this maneuvering or the DPP's impulse to "overturn the outcome after defeat." In the first round of recall votes on July 26, they used their ballots to deliver a clear "no" to DPP's proposals. 

Before the second round, even the pro-DPP Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation reported that only 31.7 percent residents in Taiwan supported the recall proposals, while 61.4 percent opposed them. On August 23, the public once again rejected the recall proposals across the board, delivering a harsh rebuke to the DPP's reckless power grab.

Second, the recall campaign acted as a mirror exposing the DPP's authoritarianism. Under the DPP's full orchestration, the recall campaign veered off the normal track of party competition and ultimately descended into a no-holds-barred struggle. In the process, the mindset and behavior of a "DPP dictatorship" were on full display. 

On one front, the DPP exhausted the use of administrative and judicial resources: at a critical moment in the second-stage petition process, it carried out surprise searches of local Kuomintang offices and detained leading organizers of a campaign to recall DPP lawmakers, causing KMT-initiated recall cases to be knocked out. 

On another, it resorted to its stock-in-trade of monetary inducements and political co-optation, while urging pro-DPP media and aligned "side-wing" groups to paint the KMT as "pro-mainland" and a "Taiwan sellout" – all in an attempt to ramp up "resist China, defend Taiwan" mobilization and foster a social climate of "if you're not with us, you're the enemy." On the eve of the first-round recall vote, Lai Ching-te personally stepped forward to deliver a series of lectures, openly peddling the separatist rhetoric of "Taiwan independence" while declaring that the recall would be used to "purge impurities." This laid bare the DPP's hypocrisy as it trumpeted "fake democracy, real dictatorship" and revealed the malicious intent behind its dictatorship, which in the eyes of many on the island has become nothing less than a disgrace to democracy.

Finally, the recall campaign served as a magnifying glass of the DPP's incompetence in governance. Since taking office, Lai Ching-te has charged headlong down the wrong path of "inflaming political struggle while failing in governance." From the start of 2025, the DPP has thrown itself wholly into the recall campaign, while ignoring Taiwan's stagnant economy and worsening livelihoods. 

When Typhoon Danas struck central and southern parts of the island and caused serious damage, the DPP authorities were slow to act in disaster relief. In facing the U.S. "tariff war," they willfully sacrificed the interests and well-being of the people on the island, bowing to Washington without restraint and "selling out Taiwan," only to hit in the end by Trump's heavy tariff stick. These repeated missteps and perverse practices have caused public satisfaction with the DPP's governance to collapse, ringing a clear alarm bell through the recall votes.

The DPP's conduct has stirred broad anger and unease across the island, which in turn created favorable conditions for the Kuomintang and the Taiwan People's Party to join forces against the recall campaign. Confronted with the DPP's aggressive push, the blue-white camp accurately read the public mood of "doubting Lai and tiring of the DPP." Through rallies, street-side briefings and vote-mobilization videos, they advanced separately while striking in concert, built strong anti-recall momentum, and won over the great majority of swing voters. In the end, they had the last laugh and weathered the recall storm.

The political farce of the recall votes, scripted and staged by the DPP itself, has now drawn to a close, and Lai Ching-te has not achieved the outcome he envisioned. For the DPP and for Lai – both unable to accept defeat – it is unlikely that they will simply stop here. 

After a short respite, the DPP is highly likely to revert to its old path of "purging dissent at home while ingratiating itself with the United States abroad." Looking ahead, it may continue to push its "resist China, seek independence" line by stoking social confrontation, deepening divisions among communities, and inciting cross-Straits antagonism, all in an attempt to seize partisan interests. Yet the will of the people cannot be defied. In the face of mainstream public opinion on the island, which calls for peace, development, exchange and cooperation, the DPP's political maneuvers are destined to be futile.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com. Follow @thouse_opinions on X, formerly Twitter, to discover the latest commentaries in the CGTN Opinion Section.)