The Formosa Alliance (Chinese: 喜樂島聯盟; pinyin: Xǐlè Dǎo Liánméng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hí-lo̍k-tó Liân-bêng) is a political coalition founded in Taiwan on 7 April 2018. The organization reformed as a political party on 20 July 2019.
In April 2019, the Formosa Alliance announced a split between it and the Democratic Progressive Party, as well as a new color scheme emphasizing turquoise, a representation of the land of Taiwan and the ocean.[8] The alliance rebranded as a political party, and expanded its platform. Alongside support for the independence referendum and admittance to the United Nations, the Formosa Alliance sought to draft a new constitution, introduce a new national anthem, adopt a new flag, and normalize diplomatic relations with other nations.[9] Compared with the Democratic Progressive Party, from which it split, the Formosa Alliance is more socially conservative.[10] On 20 July 2019, the Formosa Alliance was reconstituted as a political party, with Presbyterian Church in Taiwan minister Lo Jen-kuei [zh] as its first chairman.[11] Lo named Shih Cheng-feng [zh] as the party's deputy chairman.[12] Party officials stated that it would not nominate a candidate to contest the 2020 Taiwan presidential election, but that it would field ten candidates in the concurrent 2020 Taiwan legislative election.[12]
On 10 September 2019, Formosa Alliance executive committee member Ou Chong-jing stated that he would obtain registration forms for the 2020 presidential election from the Central Election Commission.[13] Ou told Taiwan News that the Formosa Alliance had planned to back his legislative campaign in New Taipei, but subsequently announced that a presidential candidate would be named without a primary.[14] Ou then acquired the petition required of independent presidential candidacies, without the party's support,[15] though he stated that he would wait until the deadline to register presidential bids, 17 September 2019, for the Formosa Alliance's decision.[14] On 17 September 2019, Annette Lu announced that she and Peng Pai-hsien, via petition, would form the Formosa Alliance ticket for the presidential election, though Lu remained a member of the Democratic Progressive Party.[16][17] Lu and Peng ended their campaign on 2 November 2019.[18][19]
