TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on Monday (July 31) denied that its new slogan “Vote White, Vote Right” is promoting white supremacy, but it has decided to shelve the phrase due to complaints from foreign figures.
Over the weekend, foreign students and journalists noticed that the TPP had uploaded the slogan to its official English webpage. Many wrote on social media that this new slogan could be seen in the West as supporting white supremacy, while others noted that in Taiwan, it could also conjure the White Terror period of political repression from 1947 to 1987.
On Monday (July 31), TPP spokesperson Lin Tzu-yu (林子宇) at a press conference that morning said that the website editor's original intention of the slogan was to express that "supporting the 'white force' is the right choice," per CNA. The TPP uses the color white, along with cyan, to represent the party to symbolize the "white force" (白色力量) of TPP presidential nominee Ko Wen-je's (柯文哲) supporters who call for an open and transparent government.
Screenshot of TPP English homepage taken on July 30 shows slogan "Vote White, Vote Right." (TPP website screenshot)
Lin said that it may have been misinterpreted by foreigners who are not familiar with Taiwan's political culture to mean "white supremacy" or other problematic ideas. "There is no concept of so-called 'white supremacy' in Taiwan," according to the TPP spokesperson.
Lin said the TPP is coincidentally planning a major overhaul of its English website, focusing on both content and visuals and therefore, the specific image and text in question have been removed. Regarding the editor's "imprecise wording," Lin said that the TPP will entrust oversight of future English-related content to TPP Secretary-General Chou Tai-chu (周台竹), who has a diplomatic background, and its international affairs team.
