Two Elections
The
Washington Post
Sunday, December 23, 2001
AT THE beginning of this month, Taiwan's voters
participated in another of the island's now-routine democratic
elections, handing a decisive victory in legislative races to
the Democratic Progressive Party of President Chen Shui-bian.
Just under two weeks later, a very different Chinese electoral
event took place in Hong Kong: Tung Chee-hwa, the charmless
business tycoon who became chief executive 4 1/2 years ago when
the region was taken over by China, announced that he would
seek reelection next March. A poll showed that just 16 percent
of Hong Kong's 7 million people support his decision, but that
doesn't matter; only 800 people hand-picked by the Chinese government
are allowed to vote, and Beijing has already announced that
Mr. Tung "deserves another term." So far, despite
his staggering unpopularity, no one is running against him.
The politics of Hong Kong go far to explain what happened in
Taiwan, where Mr. Chen's party for the first time won the largest
number of seats in the national legislature despite the fact
that the country is suffering through the worst recession in
decades. China, which has shunned Mr. Chen, is pressing Taiwan
to accept reunification under the slogan of "one country,
two systems" -- the same principle that it promised to
apply in Hong Kong. But Mr. Tung's administration, and now his
stage-managed reelection, have demonstrated all too clearly
that Beijing is not prepared to tolerate the genuine popular
democracy of Taiwan, at least in Hong Kong. Which, in turn,
explains why Taiwan's voters would ignore their economic troubles
and choose the party of Mr. Chen, which advocates Taiwanese
independence from China.
China's apologists point out that the city was not a democracy
under British rule, and that China has not tampered with its
court system and free-market economy. But China promised to
allow for a gradual political liberalization in Hong Kong; its
charter calls for it to make a decision in 2007 about whether
to have a freely elected executive and legislature. If Beijing
were to allow the territory to move toward a genuine democracy
it would have a far better chance of winning over Taiwan's voters.
Instead, it is moving in the opposite direction.
Mr. Tung has proved himself an eager
puppet of the Chinese leadership, mimicking its rhetoric about
the Falun Gong spiritual movement. Last summer he induced the
local legislature to pass a law giving China the explicit authority
to remove Hong Kong's executive for any cause -- meaning that
Mr. Tung's successors will have little choice but to be puppets,
too. And since he will now serve until 2007, Mr. Tung will be
able to ensure that the promised decision on the future political
system will follow Beijing's script. That China would insist
on his "reelection" against the wishes of the overwhelming
majority of Hong Kong's people demonstrates what that system
is likely to look like. No wonder that a growing number of Taiwan's
voters want no part of it.
