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Taiwan’s elections
touch China democratic nerve
ROC AND A HARD PLACE: A Chinese academic said
Taiwan’s future would be determined not by elections but by countries such as
China, Japan and the US
By Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff Reporter
The presidential election on Jan. 14 generated much discussion about democracy
in China among Internet users and “touched a nerve of the Chinese,” the Chinese
Communist Party-run Global Times said.
Following the election, several countries and international observers praised
Taiwan as a role model for democracy, but China did not.
In an article on Jan. 17, the Global Times said China was relieved after
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was re-elected, but that Beijing still had to deal
with South China Sea disputes, “separatist” forces in Tibet and Xinjiang, and
increasing Sino-US competition in Northeast and South Asia.
“China’s troubles are seemingly everywhere,” the article said. “Problems on the
Chinese mainland are already abundant, but are enlarged by external influences.”
One of the examples discussed was the question that overwhelmed the Internet
after Taiwan’s election: “Why can’t the same style of elections be held here?”
the article said.
“On the mainland [China], similar questions concerning democracy, equality and
interests are countless and all sound reasonable, but the systems designed for
modern countries are not exactly suitable for gigantic countries like China,” it
said.
The Global Times said China “risks being broken up” because it is too big in
size and population and thus “maintaining national and social stability becomes
an overarching mission for Chinese society which will influence every person.”
“China is unique and cannot copy others,” the paper said, calling on every
Chinese and Chinese community to “safeguard the islands in the South China Sea,
fight off the separatists [sic] within Taiwan and bravely deal with possible
wars.”
It is China’s destiny to uphold national unity, it said.
In related news, Peking University professor Kong Qingdong (孔慶東), who recently
insulted residents of Hong Kong by -calling them -“bastards,” “dogs” and
“cheats” in a current affairs program, called democracy in Taiwan
“pseudo-democracy.”
In a broadcast on Jan. 16, Kong said the presidential election was nothing more
than a “democracy show” or a “TV series.”
“The future of the Taiwan area [sic] will not be decided by the leader of the
Taiwan area,” but will be decided by several powerful countries, including
China, Japan and the US, Kong said.
Kong said he did not share the happiness of many Chinese about Ma’s re-election
because he did not think it would have made any difference to cross-strait
relations if Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had
been elected.
“Even if Tsai Ing-wen had won the election, she would not have dared to say she
pursues independence publicly because independence means [pushing Taiwan toward]
war,” he said.
Kong also criticized Ma and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for being
ambiguous about independence and mixing the use of the names Republic of China
(ROC) and Taiwan.
“[Ma] was not courageous enough to say publicly that he supported independence
or to say the ROC included the territory of the mainland that covers a land area
of 9.6 million square kilometers. Is it not independence to restrict the ROC to
only Taiwan?” he asked.
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