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Twins who can't talk to one another

The recent presidential election was an historic event, as for the first time in the country's history there was a peaceful political turnover of power to an opposition party.

The winner proclaimed that "we have proven that our democracy is a mature democracy." It had been a close race, with the results not known until after the polls closed. As soon as the results were in, the president accepted defeat and made clear he would do everything possible to make the transition peaceful and productive.

The former president, in fact, had been dogged in pursuing goals of political reform, knowing that they would ultimately lead his party to defeat. Among his many reforms, he had assured that an independent election commission would mean a transparent, open election. He had become president as a result of the untimely death of his party's leader. He was not a party "insider" or even liked by the party elite. Therefore, he was not trusted by the elite, who are now condemning him for having lost the election.

Voter turnout had been heavy. It was clear that the people simply wanted a change. But once it became clear that they had gotten their wish, they began to wonder what it would mean. The ruling party had been in power for so long that few could visualize this new phenomenon. In fact, the party had long since become indistinguishable from the government. And in at least one of the two Houses of the Congress, the old ruling party retained a majority.

The new president had won by a plurality, but his party was fairly new, and did not have the personnel capable of forming a national government. He early on made known his intention to form a government of national unity that would include individuals from other parties. He immediately began reaching out to his predecessor, to some of the ruling party people, to members of Congress. He also immediately talked of restarting a dialogue with the country's main adversary. He made very clear, however, that his first priority was eradicating the pervasive corruption that existed in the system.

I am not writing about Taiwan. I am writing about Mexico. It held its election just over two weeks ago. In reading the accounts of what transpired there, I was stunned by the similarities with Taiwan. I even got to wondering if Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) hadn't been on the phone with Vincente Fox (the winner). Surely Fox, or one of his people, must have been following events in Taiwan. At the very least, the two should compare notes.

But there's the rub -- Chen probably would find that a pretty troublesome task. He's also probably too busy to have noticed, but there was just recently another place where he, or his foreign minister should have been but were not invited. That was the "Community of Democracies" conference held in Warsaw on June 27. Its an organization of countries, and even though the PRC was not invited, for obvious reasons, neither was Taiwan, for a less justifiable reason.

Taiwan did have representation at the World Forum on Democracy, which took place at the same time in Warsaw, because that is an NGO. Chen has indicated his government will give higher priority to international activities through NGOs as one way of getting around the PRC's policy of containment.

Working with NGOs is a trend among the growing number of democracies and is certainly a good channel for Taiwan to gain more international support by sharing its own democratic experience. Are the NGOs in Taiwan ready for this? Not too long ago I remember reading in the Taiwan press that a number of NGOs in Taiwan were complaining that they were not getting sufficient support from government. That struck me as odd, as NGOs in theory at least aren't supposed to get support from government. That is why they are called "non-government." That's being a little facetious, of course, as "support" does not necessarily mean funds. If an NGO's objective is to help strengthen democracies, for example, that is getting close to political, and for Taiwan, that may need some government help.

There are other examples. In the US, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a legal non-government institution that helps promote democracy around the world, is funded by the US Congress. To make it politically palatable, there are four sub-units with their own programs for promoting democracy worldwide which are funded by NED: the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, the AFL-CIO (labor), and the US Chamber of Commerce each has one. The NED itself operates a wide variety of programs and provides funding for foreign (non-government) organizations that are working for the same objective. Its budget is reviewed every year by the Congress, but decisions on the programs and the funding allotted to them is made by the board of directors.

A similarly sanitized institution could be an option for Taiwan. It could be useful not only for the purpose of supporting democracies around the world, but in encouraging the notion within Taiwan that such an effort is in its own long term interest.

But fundamentally, the purpose behind strengthening the involvement with NGOs around the world goes back to why Chen doesn't phone Fox, or compare notes with him, on their victories. Two elected leaders find it necessary to refrain from communicating with each other for reasons that possibly in the next generation will seem absurd.

Nat Bellocchi is the former chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan and is now a special adviser to the Liberty Times Group.
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