Taiwan has a very interesting political spectrum.
KMT has always stressed the Republic of China’s, and by extension theirs, legitimacy to represent China, thus justifying their occupation of Taiwan. Therefore they harp on upholding their version of “Chinese traditions”, which include oppressing any local languages and cultures other than Mandarin Chinese.
Also, Chiang baldie was a converted Christian, that’s the promise he made in order to marry his youngest wife. He became pretty hardcore about being a devoted Christian, especially after losing China to Mao. So in addition to traditional Chinese values, he also advocated for Christian values. Plenty of high ranking KMT people also converted to suck up to Chiang. Also, KMT has a long tradition of corruption and oppressing labor. Chiang’s inner circle, including his young wife’s family members have abused their ties with Chiang to extort money. When CJK wanted to investigate the corruption charges, Chiang Baldie slapped his hand and put an end to the investigation. It’s a major reason why China’s economy failed post war, and contributed to KMT losing China.
That created a pretty strong base for conservatism within the KMT. If we are talking about the US left and right, where the right is conservative, thus pro-corporation, anti-marriage-equality, anti-ethnic-equality and so on. Actually, for a long time KMT was also anti-democracy.
That’s where DPP came in. DPP was actually just a collection of people who are against KMT’s values. Before they dared to name themselves, they were ust referred as “Outside of KMT party” (黨外). So, it’s not all just people who are for Taiwanese independence. Plenty of people joined simply because they were against KMT’s authoritarianism. Plenty joined because they wanted to fight for labourers and farmers. A bunch of people with different ideologies were forced to band together to face their common foe. Therefore, DPP is more fractured than it appears.
However, generally DPP is at least for self-determination of Taiwan’s future. It is also for democracy. Every time DPP is in power, it tries to promote cultural and linguistic diversity and development, giving Holo, Hakka, and Aboriginals more resources and equality, which ironically doesn’t earn DPP more Hakka or Aboriginal votes.
What’s arguable is DPP’s real stance on supporting labour and LGBT rights. When DPP was first formed, they certainly organized many protests for labour and farmer rights. Back then labourers and farmers were their most significant supporters. As Taiwan’s economy shifted more to service and trade, subsequently DPP has been trying to make itself more appealing to business owners, as business owners don’t care too much about national identity or equality, they care about who will make it easier to make money.
A large portion of die-hard DPP supporters, especially in the South, are also Christian. The Presbyterian church has been championing local cultures and all native languages since the time of Macay and Maxwell. Although many in the church are ok with equal rights for all, some aren’t as liberal about LGBT issues.
What we are seeing in the past few years is DPP’s internal struggle between staying true to its original convictions and appealing to business owners. So even though there have been pushes for more labour and LGBT friendly reforms, there were immediate push backs even from within the DPP.
In a normal society where politics isn’t hijacked by national identity, we can have DPP fracture and have the more liberal part of DPP team up with NPP. Sadly, in Taiwan, if the DPP or the pan-green becomes fractured, it’s an open invitation for the KMT to retake power and placate to their Chinese overlords.