Whilst I think he highlights an important data-point, I don't entirely agree with Michael Turton's analysis of the out-come of a recent poll showing that only 52.3% of KMT supporters believe that both Taiwan and the Chinese mainland belong to "One China" here. Unifying Taiwan with the Chinese mainland is not really the KMT's "core mission". It has always been more of a unifying credo, an identity similar to the UK Labour Party's Clause 4, something which a core can rally around without necessarily believing it will be implemented any time soon or even ever.
Why do I think this? Well, asides from all the other reasons (like, for example, the fact it hasn't happened yet), if it was the "core mission", then it would be pretty strange for so many KMT supporters not to actually support it. The KMT vote is more the product of ancestry, belief in certain (fairly statist in places) economic policies, and networks of patronage that may stretch into some dark corners, than wholesale commitment to Chinese nationalist (small 'n') ideology and goals.
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No matter if you are rather "blue" or "green", your choices appear to be limited in Taiwan. It's the KMT for conservatives, and the DPP for liberals - and there's nothing left of there if you want your candidate to make it into the legislative yuan. So obviously you can be conservative without supporting what is, or was, the "core mission" of the KMT, and vote for the KMT.
The People-First Party will only be an option if you actually do support the mission, I guess.
Maybe this is part of Taiwan's political anomaly - if you want to vote liberal, you will most probably vote for a formally independent Taiwan, as well - although the DPP, too, may be somewhat "off course", if you'd apply similarly strict standards to them, as Michael does to the KMT constituencies.
Tsai Ing-wen appeared to move somewhat more to a political center, on Double-Ten Day 2011.
P.S., and off-topic: the "prove you're not a robot" feature is a nuisance.
And hilarity ensues!
Michael - your statement was that it was their "core mission". Over at your place you've said that you've pointed out elsewhere that people support the KMT for other reasons - fair enough, but that doesn't make asking the question of whether "motherland reunification" (to use the CCP's favoured jargon) really is a "core mission" of the KMT illegitimate.
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