Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League

The party was founded in the then-British colony of Hong Kong on 12 November 1947, by members of the Taiwanese Communist Party who survived the February 28 incident.^[1] The party's founding chair, Xie Xuehong, was the leader of a communist armed resistance movement against the Nationalists in central Taiwan after the February 28 incident.^[2] The February 28 incident and the subsequent crackdown caused large portions of the Taiwanese diaspora, such as those in Japan, to sympathize with the Chinese Communists.^[3] The party quickly established branches in Japan where they worked to oppose the Taiwan independence activist Thomas Liao's calls for a United Nations plebiscite on the status of Taiwan.^[4] Before 1958, the party advocated for communism in Taiwan but supported Taiwanese self-determination.^[1][5][6] The party is now opposed to Taiwan independence.^[7]

According to its constitution, the TDSL is officially committed to socialism with Chinese characteristics and upholding the leadership of the CCP.^[8] The TDSL supports Chinese unification and opposes Taiwanese independence.^[9][7] It is the eighth-ranking minor democratic party in China.^[10] As of 2023^[update], it has 14 seats in the National People's Congress (including 6 seats as part of the Taiwan delegation), and 30 seats in the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (including 20 of the seats reserved for political parties).^[11]

The highest body of the TDSL officially is the National Congress, which is held every five years. The 11th National Congress, held in December 2022, was the most recently held Party Congress. The National Congress elects the Central Committee of the TDSL.^[8] In June 2022, the party had organizations in 19 province-level administrative divisions throughout China.^[12] The TDSL publishes the newspaper Taimeng (The TDSL).^[13] It historically published the Xin Taiwan Congkan (New Taiwan Series) before 1949 while it was based in Hong Kong.^[14]

Chairpersons

More information No., Chairperson ...

No.	Chairperson		Took office	Left office	Ref.
1		Xie Xuehong 谢雪红	October 1949	January 1958	[15]
2		Cai Xiao 蔡啸	October 1979	December 1983	[16]
3		Su Ziheng 苏子蘅	December 1983	November 1987	[16]
4		Lin Shengzhong 林盛中	November 1987	December 1988	[16]
5		Cai Zimin 蔡子民	December 1988	November 1997	[16]
6		Zhang Kehui 张克辉	November 1997	December 2005	[16]
7		Lin Wenyi 林文漪	December 2005	December 2017	[17]
8		Su Hui 苏辉	December 2017	Incumbent	[18]

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