Black gold (politics)

Black Gold (Chinese黑金, Pinyin Hei Jin ) is a term for corruption and criminal influence in the politics of the Republic of China. Black Gold is the typical regional designation within the media for a mutually influencing triangle of organized crime, free market economy and politics. This is gold as a synonym for money and black for the hidden awareness and the obscurity of these machinations.

The Kuomintang (KMT ) is regularly criticized because of their contacts with organized crime and the Black Gold. The party will be links to the underworld rumored since Sun Yat-sen was a member of a triad, in order to obtain support for his Xinhai Revolution. After most of the members of the KMT fled during the Chinese Civil War to Taiwan, the 1993-1996 Acting Minister of Justice and former mayor of Taipei and president of the Republic of China Ma Ying- jeou aimed at combating the black gold.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP ) achieved considerable popularity in the 1990s through their reform efforts. President Chen Shui -bian, the former mayor of Taipei, was perceived during his career benevolent for his attempts against the black gold. However, Chen was also used by former colleagues and supporters, criticized his power for their own interests to abuse.

The former chairman of the DPP, Hsu Hsin- liang Chen complained in a public speech for the fraud of the ideals of the DPP after he took power. After a series of corruption scandals, the popularity of the DPP shrank in the municipal elections of 2005. With the campaign "Save Taiwan against corruption " won led by the KMT pan- blue coalition 16 of 23 county and city elections and became the majority on the municipal level.