John F. Copper

Taiwan: Democracy's gone awry?

In March 2000 when Chen Shui-bian was elected president his supporters were elated and optimistic about Taiwan having truly attained democracy. Many scholars also saw the event as significant, marking the consolidation of Taiwans democratization effort. Soon, however, many became disappointed. Cynicism grew. Opinion polls showed declining support for the President, the legislature, political parties and politics in general. Even democracy was questioned. The causes for this were: (1) Taiwans mixed political system, which was not ready for the opposition to become the ruling party; (2) Taiwans style of democracy was copied from Americas, in some way wrongly. This made it a system that did not fit an Asian country and allowed for ethnic politics and some other undesirable aspects of democracy to evolve; (3) the Chen Administration ignored the importance of economic development. When the economy deteriorated he sought other ways to remain in power; this further led to a deterioration of politics and hurt the image of the government.

The Devolution of Taiwan's Democracy during the Chen Shui-bian Era

When Chen Shui-bian won the presidency in 2000 and the Democratic Progressive Party became the ‘ruling party’, many observers said Taiwan experienced democratic consolidation. Nevertheless Chen and his supporters continued to talk of democratization in the ensuing years. But political reform, advances in civil liberties, and ridding the system of corruption must be considered essential to that process. Reform failed due to the fact that Chens party did not have a majority in the legislature and the president showed poor leadership. Civil liberties deteriorated owing to Chen playing ethnic politics as well as his administrations lack of respect for democratic values. The view that money ruled in politics and the prevalence of personal greed caused corruption to worsen. These three factors suggest the devolution of Taiwans democracy during the Chen era rather than its consolidation and explain the new administrations loss of public support.

The origins of conflict across the Taiwan Strait: The problem of differences in perceptions

In 1995 and 1996, the Taiwan Strait became an area of considerable tension. Relations between Beijing and Taipei deteriorated as a result of perceptions by leaders in the Peoples Republic of China that Taiwan was moving toward independence, especially after President Lee Teng‐hui made a widely publicized trip to the US in the summer of 1995. An assessment of the differences in perceptions by scholars, officials and the populations on the two sides, the Peoples Republic of China and the Republic of China, are instructive. The author looks at five areas where disparate views are noticeable and divisive: the history of Taiwan (especially its ties with the mainland), Taiwans legal status, views of the ‘Taiwan issue’ espoused by Beijing and Taipei, current relations between Beijing and Taipei, and the stance of the international community and the nature and structure of international politics. Scenarios are presented regarding the future of the conflict.

Taiwan’s 1991 second national assembly election

The author assesses Taiwan’s fifth competitive national election and its first ever nonsupplementary election. The electorate picked a “new” National Assembly, absent those elected on the mainland before 1949 or later appointed to fill vacancies. The election was a major victory for the ruling Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT) affording it perhaps its first real mandate — a product of the KMT’s good reputation for engineering economic development and in recent years political development as well (since it was largely responsible for getting the “elder parliamentarians” to retire). In addition, the opposition Democratic Progressive Party made a mistake by putting Taiwan independence into the platform. Two other parties contested the election but failed to win a significant number of votes. The new National Assembly will amend the nation’s Constitution which will make some important changes in Taiwan’s polity.

Taiwan’s 1989 national election

Taiwan, or officially the Republic of China, has had four elections in recent years that have impacted the election process and contributed to the nation’s rapid evolution toward democracy. The December 1989 election was the fourth and perhaps the most important. It was the first since martial law was terminated. New political parties were legal. the nation had a new election law. The results of the election favored the opposition, Democratic Progressive Party. Other opposition parties did not perform well, suggesting a two-party system is evolving. More important in the view of the author, it signals many salient changes in Taiwan’s polity of both a positive and negative nature.