China bloggers debate Taiwan, openDemocracy Bob Chen

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:33:04 +0000

The presidential election in Taiwan on 22 March 2008 was a major event on the island, but it also had an unexpected impact on mainland China, stirring the minds of and provoking debate among many Chinese people - including bloggers.

This article is adapted from a feature on GlobalVoices, the non-profit global citizens' media project:

Bob Chen, "Taiwan election stirs mainland blogosphere" (5 April 2008)

For more GlobalVoices coverage of China, click here

Since 2000, Taiwan has been governed by Chen Shui-bian - a stern critic of China and advocate of the island's independence (see Kerry Brown, "Taiwan and China: straits of silence" [4 April 2008]). During this period, the island has been held up by many official Chinese voices as an example of how western-style democracy (that is: universal and free suffrage, a multi-party system and judicial independence) is a recipe for chaos, and thus does not suit the Chinese. As a result, much of the media coverage of Taiwan in mainland China has focused on members of parliament insulting and punching each other during debates; on the controversies between the two main Taiwan parties (Chen's Democratic People's Party [DPP] and Ma Ying-jeou's Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT]), thus creating an image of permanent tension on the island; and on the rumours of corruption and bribery surrounding the president, elements that are depicted as a product of democracy.

But after 22 March and the election of the opposition candidate Ma Ying-jeou - which promises a peaceful handover of power when Ma becomes president on 20 May - this kind of argument is greatly challenged. Ma himself emphasised the point in his victory speech: "In our Chinese society with thousands of years of history, nowhere but Taiwan has gone so far on the way of democracy."

Also on Taiwan's politics in openDemocracy:

Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao, "Taiwan's dual election: democracy and national identity" (19 March 2004)

Andrew Mueller, "Taiwan in a Chinese overture" (8 May 2005)

Lung Ying-tai, "A question of civility: an open letter to Hu Jintao" (15 February 2006)

Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao, "Taiwan identity and China: 1987-2007" (20 March 2008)

Kerry Brown, "Taiwan and China: straits of silence" (4 April 2008)

The Chinese blogosphere quickly entered the fray. Just one day after the election, a post by an author on Tianya.com said: "After 22.3, no mainlander dares to jeer that democracy in Taiwan is just a farce". Five pages of comments followed, some of which are summarised below.

There is more openness in the People's Republic of China, to the extent that people can watch the presidential election of Taiwan as it happens and make every kind of political comment online - thus enjoying freedoms that were unimaginable before the 1980 reform. At the same time this comes with a bitter taste, because Chinese citizens can only watch their compatriots across the strait enjoying democratic rights and freedom of choice, while the "People's Democratic Dictatorship" has suffrage only on the village level - and it is still a mess even there.

Democracy in Taiwan is like a toddler who tumbles at times. But at least, he is learning hard how to walk on his feet and becoming more mature and steady. Some people in mainland China, however, stick to a few negative aspects of the vote, saying that the island's "so-called" democracy is nothing but a farce. What they ignore is that on the mainland, people don't even have the right to stand straight. The attitude of China's Taiwan critics resembles that of a paraplegic laughing at a kid who is just learning how to walk.

The Tianya.com author further scorned the prevalent idea in China that Chinese people are not suited to democracy, by way of commenting on the notion that Taiwanese refuse to "accept" mainlanders:

"If we concede this (latter) point then we should be glad, and even proud of the democratic progress in Taiwan. There is a long-standing argument that the Chinese - who have lived through thousands of years of autarchy - are not fitted for and would find it impossible to create democracy. They cite places like Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau which don't enjoy real democracy. However, Taiwan's historic performance in these few days has contradicted such a theory, indicating that Chinese people are great - we have not only created a splendid civilisation in history and resurrected ourselves even after western exploitation, but also self-questioned and refreshed ourselves so as to step onto a main avenue of human civilisation. As Taiwanese have fulfilled all of this, then theoretically, mainlanders too will have no problem to be able to do so as well."

openDemocracy's recent articles on China include:

Kerry Brown, "China's party congress: getting serious" (5 October 2007)

Li Datong, "China's modernisation: a unique path?" (28 November 2007)

Li Datong, "Xiamen: the triumph of public will?" (16 January 2008)

Jeffrey N Wasserstrom, "One, two or many Chinas?" (19 February 2008)

Kerry Brown, "Beijing's political tightrope-walk" (16 March 2008)

Jeffrey N Wasserstrom, "The perils of forced modernity: China-Tibet, America-Iraq" (27 March 2008)

Donald S Lopez, "How to think about Tibet" (28 March 2008)

George Fitzherbert, "Tibet's history, China's power" (28 March 2008)

Dibyesh Anand, "Tibet, China, and the west: empires of the mind" (1 April 2008)

Robert Barnett, "Tibet: questions of revolt" (4 April 2008)

Wenran Jiang, "Tibetan unrest, Chinese lens" (7 April 2008) He went on to remark that the "expected" conflict in Taiwan didn't occur:

"The loser [Frank Hsieh] faced his failure in a decent manner....This is the nature of democracy, that the losers concede to the fact of failure. Though their political stances might be in conflict, though they spar across and even under the table, they agree on one point: whether they win or lose, social stability and people's benefit is the most important thing.

The whole election went smoothly. After the result was declared, each side quickly submitted to the new reality - thus avoiding any possibility of the chaos and confusion anticipated by some critics. Though it may owe something to the overwhelming margin of Ma Ying-jeou's victory (58.4% to Frank Hsieh's 41.6%), it must be admitted that the political system in Taiwan today has shifted from the messy one of Chen Shui-bian's period in office to a more mature politics. As president-elect Ma said: "It's common to have party alternation in democratic nations."

Taiwan has changed. The KMT is no longer the party of bribery and authoritarian rule, and the DPP will also no longer be an aggressive group that understands only how to provoke group hatred and play tricks. This is of course the blessing of Taiwan. But the 1.3 billion Chinese who watch what is happening, the feelings are of envy, bitterness, and loss."

One respondent commented on this post:

"I hate most those liars/mean guys who say Chinese aren't suitable for democracy. You don't have to claim to stand for all of Chinese if you are so willing to be low-priced [i.e. servile]. We need time to go for democracy. However, I believe Chinese absolutely deserve it."

Another said:

"Excellent! I have to confess I was so itching for [democracy] when watching [the election] yesterday..."

A third poster said that he felt like bursting into tears when hearing that the Chinese ideal of democracy had finally blossomed on an oversea island, after decades of pursuit.

The most frequent quote inside the thread is from the KMT chairman Wu Bo-xiong: "The priority belongs to people! The most powerful [force] are people's votes, and not a single party is superior to people!"

"wertyu84" commented on this: "I think the saying is great! Could common people on the mainland have votes in the presidential election? The National People's Congress is just deceptive."

Another poster delivered an ironic "complaint" on the quote by Wu:

"So damn counterrevolutionary!"

These comments are a contribution from the mainland on the question of the future relationship across the strait. In this thread at least, mainlanders feel their country overshadowed:

"I hope Taiwan will be better, so that it could be a testing-field for Chinese."

A very "seditious" comment by "178676465" said:

"It seems good for Taiwan to unify the mainland. Why does it have to be the mainland to unify Taiwan?"

"xgw000001" said:

"We, in comparison, can have suffrage only at the village level - and it's a super-messy suffrage".

This entire discussion appeared on Tianya.com, a crowded net-café that is famous for users' insight and care for society. But after all, it's supervised by the authorities. It is unsurprising then, that the posters all worried about the fate of this thread, in which many comments have crossed the line. A user aptly said:

"If this discussion stays alive I agree that the democracy in China is still promising!"

It was not to be - the thread, along with its five pages of comments, disappeared after a few days.

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China bloggers debate Taiwan, openDemocracy Bob Chen