The civic consciousness formed by Taiwan's progress in freedom and democracy during the last 10 years is the real fruit of development that can serve as a basis for competing with China to win people's hearts.
How will Taiwan ensure that its citizens identify with their society in these respects? The best way is by continuing to develop social conditions for freedom and democracy and forming public-policy making processes with greater popular participation -- for example, establishing a wider framework for development so that the problems faced by more social classes can be taken into consideration as a whole. These are the areas where Taiwan still has advantages relative to Chinese society, which operates on the logic of development being an "irrefutable argument."
Tseng Yen-fen is an associate professor in the department of sociology at National Taiwan University.
Translated by Ethan Harkness
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