Taipei Times: Since the NED is partially funded by the US Congress, how does your organization remain independent?
John Sullivan: Although part of the organization's funds comes from Congress, the organization is not under the control of the government, whose approval of our projects is not required. They do come and audit us and we report on what we did with the money and show them the results.
But when we want to do a project, that project is approved by the NED's board of directors and does not get submitted to the government for approval.
TT: Do you think Taiwan, as a young democracy itself, can follow the NED's model in helping to develop democracy overseas.
Sullivan: I think you need to study the issues first, but yes it can work. There are plenty of different countries that do this and it can work. In some way it is an advantage that Taiwan is a young democracy because you are still going through the consolidation of your democracy. When I go to a country, I often take with me someone from countries like yours, such as Poland, Thailand or Taiwan itself, because people look at the US and say, "But the US has had democracy for 200 years ... it does not apply to us." And I say "No. That's not true, because my friends here will tell you that they just went through that."
And Taiwan has got a great story to tell right now with your transition to democracy, and your economic growth. So many countries are saying it can't be done. But here you are, a country that 20, 30 years ago, was very poor. Now you are a very wealthy country. So you can be a model and you can show people that, in one or two generations, with the right kind of policies and hard work, a transition to democracy is possible.
TT: So what is this great experience that Taiwan can share with others?
Sullivan: Taiwan's transition to democracy was mainly achieved single-handedly. It wasn't a result of someone coming and forcing you to change; it came out of your own desire, your own way. You want to live this way. That's very impressive.
I think one of the things you can share is the fact that you have good economic policies and good government. That's very important. Because a lot of young democracies, such as Peru, for instance, experience a democratic transition [but] can't get their economies to work. As a result, democracy becomes a source of pressure and people say, "We became a democracy but we can't see the benefit." Well, Taiwan can say "Yeah. But you didn't do this and you didn't have that economic policy" and so forth.
Taiwan's small business policy is tremendous. Winston Churchill, the famous British prime minister, once said small business is the backbone of democracy. A country that doesn't have a thriving small business community, is going to have a hard time maintaining a democratic system.
TT: Based on your experience with your organization, what are things that Taiwan can do to start to engage in the building of democracy globally?
Sullivan: One of the things we did when we started this national endowment, which was very important, was to spend a lot of time listening. At my center, when we go into a country to do a project, we don't go with a recipe or a cookbook. What we do is we hold a strategy meeting with relevant people. You could do the same thing. You go to a country and meet with NGO people there and talk with them about what they need, what their experience is, what kind of system they need and what kind of ideas they want. Once they have the opportunity to say what they are trying to do, you figure out how you can help.
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