Taiwan's next year will be characterized by an intensifying contestation for political leadership between the faltering right-wing Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government of President Ma Ying-jeou and the Taiwan - centric opposition led by the Democratic Progressive Party.
Beset by the pressures of the global financial tsunami and afflicted by its own incompetence and hubris, the Ma government has suffered a stunning erosion of public confidence while Taiwan's economy suffered its worst postwar performance with an estimated contraction of 2.5 percent that shattered the credibility of Ma's rash and misguided campaign promise to attain an average six percent growth pace during his term.