Visiting Chinese urged to learn about democracy

The government has been stepping up its efforts to export Taiwan's democratic experience to China by inviting Chinese academics and professionals to observe mayoral and council elections next month.

"Recently, we have been urging Chinese academics and professionals who visit Taiwan for civil exchanges to watch the election campaigns and experience Taiwan's democracy," Jan Jyh-horng (詹志宏), director of the Mainland Affairs Council's (MAC) Research and Planning Department, said last week.

Jan told the Taipei Times that the government had been courting Chinese visitors as a result of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) pledge at a national strategy meeting in September to transfer Taiwan's democratic experience to China.

"As long as they are willing to further understand Taiwan's democracy, we will arrange for them to attend campaign activities," Jan said.

Many Chinese academics and professionals attended campaign events held by Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral candidates last week, he said, although he declined to name those who had attended the activities.

A MAC source said that the academics and professionals wanted to keep their activities secret for fear they might get into trouble with the Chinese authorities when they returned home.

MAC Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has also been promoting ways to encourage democracy in China.

"We would like to invite Chinese nationals to observe Taiwan's elections to help them understand the work of election personnel in a bid to create a basis for China's democratization," Tsai said in a speech to overseas Taiwanese in the US last week.`

Tsai said a main factor in improving cross-strait relations was how quickly China moved toward democratization.

She reiterated that the government would observe and evaluate China's human-rights situation to compile periodic reports, which could help the government and the private sector draw up plans for providing assistance.

Tsai said the government would push ahead with its plan to establish a Taiwan Democracy Foundation, first proposed by Chen in September

Lawmakers are now discussing the budget for the foundation, around NT$150 million.

The draft budget failed in its first reading in the legislature at the end of last month, with some opposition legislators urging greater supervision of the foundation's operations.

A major sticking point is the third of the foundation's budget earmarked for political parties in Taiwan. Legislators from the KMT and DPP have expressed concerns that allocating these funds could create inter-party disputes.