A few weeks ago, I wrote about the “Jasmine Revolution” in North Africa and said how important it was for Taiwan to stand on the right side of history (“A chance to stand on right side of history,” Feb. 24, page 8).
Inspired by the “Jasmine Revolutions” in Tunisia and Egypt, anonymous netizens in China broke through official Internet censorship to call for a “Jasmine Revolution” in 13 different cities. They urged people to simply “stroll” through public places in the named cities on Sunday afternoons and smile.
However, even such playful expressions of dissent are not tolerated by Beijing, and the secret police worked overtime to suppress any discussion of the events in North Africa, even banning ban the word “jasmine” from Internet searches, cutting off telephone conversations that mentioned the word and — according to a recent report by Amnesty International — arresting more than 100 activists, many of them using Twitter and blogs.
Many Western academics working in China complained that control of the Internet became tighter than it had ever been, while reporters were told in no uncertain terms to stay away from the “strolls” on Sunday afternoons.
The reaction of the authorities to these events demonstrates that there is no leeway for the democratic expression of opinion in China. Any opposing views are immediately hammered into the ground. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has an unparalleled security system in place that is able to track dissent at a moment’s notice and its government cares little about world opinion. It believes it can act with impunity in repressing any free expression.
This has important implications for Taiwan. Taiwanese made the transition to democracy about 20 years ago and warmly treasure their newfound freedoms. The country has a democratic political system with important legislative and presidential elections due within a year. Taiwan needs to ensure that it can safeguard its democratic advances.
It can do so in a number of ways. First, by ensuring that the democratic system in Taiwan itself is fully functional and that checks and balances work as intended. The legislature needs to perform its duties as a check on the executive, while the judiciary needs to be fair and ensure due process of law.
Second, in its dealings with the PRC, Taiwan cannot fall into the “business-as-usual” trap. Authoritarian regimes generally like to “compartmentalize” — repress dissent internally and carry on as usual in dealings with the outside world. If Taiwan wants to help China become more democratic, it needs to speak out on the suppression of opposing views. It needs to condemn the harsh security measures put in place by the Beijing authorities and to express support for those put in jail for the peaceful expression of dissent.
If Taiwan is true to the principles of freedom and democracy, it will side with those in China who advocate freedom, such as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波). If Taiwan sees itself as a beacon for democracy and human rights, it should warmly welcome Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and World Uyghur Congress president Rebiya Kadeer.
China will only change if it realizes that repression merely begets more opposition
Taiwan can help the jasmine flowers to bloom. Indeed, Taiwan’s existence as a free and democratic nation depends on the commitment of the government and the public to democracy. Allowing China to get away with its repression is not an option.
Nat Bellocchi is former chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan and a special adviser to the Liberty Times Group. The views expressed in this article are his own.
In the event of a war with China, Taiwan has some surprisingly tough defenses that could make it as difficult to tackle as a porcupine: A shoreline dotted with swamps, rocks and concrete barriers; conscription for all adult men; highways and airports that are built to double as hardened combat facilities. This porcupine has a soft underbelly, though, and the war in Iran is exposing it: energy. About 39,000 ships dock at Taiwan’s ports each year, more than the 30,000 that transit the Strait of Hormuz. About one-fifth of their inbound tonnage is coal, oil, refined fuels and liquefied natural gas (LNG),
On Monday, the day before Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) departed on her visit to China, the party released a promotional video titled “Only with peace can we ‘lie flat’” to highlight its desire to have peace across the Taiwan Strait. However, its use of the expression “lie flat” (tang ping, 躺平) drew sarcastic comments, with critics saying it sounded as if the party was “bowing down” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Amid the controversy over the opposition parties blocking proposed defense budgets, Cheng departed for China after receiving an invitation from the CCP, with a meeting with
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) is leading a delegation to China through Sunday. She is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing tomorrow. That date coincides with the anniversary of the signing of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), which marked a cornerstone of Taiwan-US relations. Staging their meeting on this date makes it clear that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intends to challenge the US and demonstrate its “authority” over Taiwan. Since the US severed official diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979, it has relied on the TRA as a legal basis for all
To counter the CCP’s escalating threats, Taiwan must build a national consensus and demonstrate the capability and the will to fight. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) often leans on a seductive mantra to soften its threats, such as “Chinese do not kill Chinese.” The slogan is designed to frame territorial conquest (annexation) as a domestic family matter. A look at the historical ledger reveals a different truth. For the CCP, being labeled “family” has never been a guarantee of safety; it has been the primary prerequisite for state-sanctioned slaughter. From the forced starvation of 150,000 civilians at the Siege of Changchun
RSS