To vote.

Shea, 51, is one of an estimated 800 Bay Area residents who have plunked down the cash and taken the time to fly back to their native Taiwan and vote in today’s presidential election.

At issue, Shea and others say, is a question that strikes at the identity of the Taiwanese people: Should they continue to court mainland China and its booming economy or maintain ties with the West and its democratic values?

The two main presidential candidates offer competing answers. President Ma Ying-jeou says a close relationship with China offers the allure of a booming economy that can carry Taiwan into the next century. His main rival, Tsai Ing-wen, wants Taiwan to continue to pursue formal independence, a position that has long angered the Chinese government. Polls show the raise is too close to call.

Shea, who is one of estimated 200,000 Taiwanese expatriates who have returned to vote, said she has a duty to help define the future of their county.

“We always want to give the next generation a better future, so we feel like we should be here, we should give them this,” Shea by phone from a relative’s apartment in Taipei. “We want to have democracy, and we want to keep it.”

Unlike in the United States, Taiwanese expatriates can’t simply vote at a consulate’s office or mail a ballot. They have to return to Taiwan to vote at the polls.

Shea, a real estate agent, left her husband and younger son in the Bay Area last week while she, her daughter and 80-year-old mother headed for Taiwan.

Of the estimated 400,000 Taiwanese expatriates in the Bay Area, roughly 800 were expected to fly back for the election, said Manfred Peng, press director with San Francisco’s Taipei Economic and Cultural Office.

“These two political parties have a different perspective on the future of the country, and the members of the parties see a different future for the country,” Peng said. “They probably think the results of the election will affect them so much they want to go back and vote.”

Michael McCarron, a spokesman for San Francisco International Airport, said the flights to Taiwan have been slightly more crowded than normal, in part because of the upcoming Lunar New Year celebration.

Shea, who was up before dawn on Saturday, said the younger generations who support Ma looked only at the money to be made, not the story of Taiwan.

“We feel that we want to tell young people, ‘When you saw the fight two generations ago, you forgot what it was about, maybe your parents didn’t tell you,’ ” Shea said. “They can’t see the big picture, they can’t tell you why.”

E-mail Will Kane at wkane@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A – 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/13/MNMN1MP9QA.DTL&type=politics