It seems that 2004 so far has been Asia's year of political revolutions, with successive shake-ups in Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong and even China.
These events are arguably of global significance equal to the 1997 financial crisis and the economic bubble's collapse a decade ago.
After the presidential election drama in Taiwan, South Korea held National Assembly elections on April 15, with 299 seats up for grabs. President Roh Moo-hyun, elected in 2002 on promises to fight corruption, faced obstructive opposition from the media as well as from the two main opposition parties, the Grand National Party (GNP) and the Millenium Democratic Party (MDP).
Last month, Roh was im-peached by these two parties, who jointly held two-thirds of the assembly seats. This resulted in an unexpected backlash of public opinion, with the impeachment opposed by 70 percent of re-spondents to a news media opinion poll. The subsequent elections brought Roh back from the brink of political death and gave a great victory to the Uri Party affiliated with Roh, formerly a small party with 49 assembly seats.
There are many similarities between the political scenes in South Korea and Taiwan. GNP leader Park Kuen-hye is the daughter of former president Park Chung-hee, and represents decades of entrenched political power. The Uri Party attracts younger voters with its new-generation candidates and focus on corruption.
All three major South Korean parties have geographic strongholds, a situation similar to Taiwan's general north-south division of political allegiances. Both nations' elections were fought on issues of "new" politics versus "old," stability versus reform, corruption versus probity, south versus north and unification versus independence.
Though this month's election will not end these conflicts, the political landscape in South Korea was transformed, and this shift will prove to be a milestone that nation's transition toward democracy.
Last October, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi dissolved the House of Representatives for what was to be the first election since he had taken office three years ago.
This provided a strategic opportunity for the opposition and a test of voter confidence in Koizumi's leadership, but the ruling coalition held on to 275 of 480 seats. In January, Koizumi told the chamber he saw signs of an economic recovery, confirming his leadership and showing the first successes in his admin-istration's reforms targeting vested interests and bureaucracy.
Just as Beijing is attempting to prevent universal democratic elections in Hong Kong, there are rumblings of democracy within China itself.
On April 9 the party secretary for Jiangsu Province's Caiji Township was elected through a direct vote, albeit only by 500 party members. The three candidates in this race fervently expressed their political opinions in the attempt to win votes.
Similarly, in December more than 600 party members in an urban Chengdu township voted directly for a party secretary whom they chose from among 11 candidates. In January, more than 200 party representatives were directly elected in Hunan's Yunmeng Township. Direct votes have selected the leadership of labor and women's groups, including the Chinese Federation of Labor (
This year has seen Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and China all moving in the same direction. This shift may be uncoordinated, but it amounts to a riveting political performance.
On the surface it looks like the various politicians are playing for high stakes, using the people as their pawns. Yet a deeper analysis shows that the political conflicts all revolve around anti-corruption efforts, financial reforms and policies to stimulate these Asian nations' economies.
Asian countries are transform-ing their former manufacturing economies into modern nations, and are dismantling their old political systems in favor of social justice. Calls for bloodless democratic revolution are being heard across Asia as, in one nation after another, the people are standing up.
Ku Lai is a political commentator.
TRANSLATED BY PAUL COOPER
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