The reported intent of the KMT administration under President Ma Ying-jeou to reshuffle the personnel of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD) tomorrow will symbolize the regression of democracy in Taiwan under restored one-party domination and signal the Ma government's appeasement of the authoritarian People's Republic of China. The cards are certainly stacked against the TDF and Taiwan's democratic diplomacy given the weakness of the former governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which has been struggling to check and balance the Ma administration.

In order to rebuild its own clout and revive the political strength of the Taiwan-centric electorate, the DPP obviously needs to score significant electoral victories in the year-end city and county mayoral polls, but this priority does not mean that the party should solely focus on rebuilding its domestic political base and the year-end polls.

On the contrary, it is absolutely essential now for the DPP to actively engage in party diplomacy, including dialogue with governments, parties, INGOs and global civil society and especially with the United States, for its own future and even for the survival of a democratic Taiwan. Party and public diplomacy remains absolutely essential for Taiwan's future.

The urgency of the DPP's re-entry into diplomacy is demonstrated by the very fact that the new Democratic administration under President Barack Obama favors the "cross-strait reconciliation" approach adopted by the Ma government toward the Chinese Communist Party-ruled PRC, evidently unaware of the negative impact of the KMT-CCP rapprochement on Taiwan's internal democracy and human rights, Taiwan's substantive independence and on the hopes for democratic transitions in China and elsewhere in the world.

Thus far, DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen has only made two trips to Washington since assuming party leadership last May and regular contacts are maintained by the relatively junior international department as past DPP heavyweights in national security and external affairs have retreated from active politics.

Such a low level of interaction will only exacerbate the widespread impression that the "Taiwan issue" and even Taiwan democracy have vanished in the wake of the KMT-CCP reconciliation. This must be reversed as soon as possible.

The DPP should therefore immediately engage in both a serious U.S. policy review that should incorporate the lessons of the zig-zag experiences of the former president Chen Shui-bian.

First, the DPP must put serious effort into identifying authoritative channels for communications and messages and should also engage in honest discussion with its American counterparts across the political spectrum regarding both the U.S. views on core or controversial issues and honestly and effectively express its own views and reflect the long-term concerns of the Taiwan people.

Moreover, the DPP needs to realize that prior and full consultation about mutual interests and priorities is essential to sustaining mutual trust and to appreciate that allowing Washington to understand major steps or statements that Taiwan leaders are about to make does not constitute a disgrace to the dignity of our leaders.

To garner more U.S. support, the DPP also needs to devote significant attention and resources to long-term strategic thinking about Taiwan's external policy, including toward the PRC, and formulate clear and more persuasive discourse on its global views and thereby help Washington both more clearly understand the DPP's long-term directions and more effectively rebut objections or overreactions by Beijing. Moreover, the DPP should regularly hold conferences with a wide variety of policy makers and analysts from the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America and other key countries that can help the opposition party's own analysts and leaders develop such strategic thinking.

In addition, the DPP should avoid one of the greatest errors made by Chen, namely sending mixed and sometimes contradictory messages, and should instead clearly separate professionals in national security affairs from staff involved in domestic electoral affairs to avoid being influenced by short-term election considerations.

In terms of its own decision-making process, the DPP should develop an inter-agency process that incorporates input from a wide variety of leaders, analysts and agencies to ensure comprehensive consideration of pluses and minuses in terms of external affairs of any proposed decision or policy.

More concretely, the DPP's first priority should be the restoration of frequent and high-profile contact between Tsai and other DPP leaders and the U.S. Democratic administration, Congress and opinion leaders.

No less urgent is re-establishment of a high-profile office in Washington, D.C. to serve as a hub and a listening post to build connections among present and future U.S. policy makers and serious policy thinkers and as a channel to train DPP staffers and talented activists and thereby build up the ranks of DPP staffers who can thoroughly and comfortably elaborate the party's policies and perspectives in foreign languages.