Although academics agreed yesterday that China's democratization is inevitable in the long run, they also warned that the process may pose a threat to regional stability and Taiwan particularly.
"During its democratization process, China may use extreme measures to take care of internal problems, including military force," said Benson Shieh (謝秉憲), a public administration professor at Tamkang University. "Therefore, Taiwan has to respond to the scenario with great caution and wisdom."
Shieh's view was echoed by Lee Yeau-tarn (
"There's a possibility of war breaking out across the Taiwan Strait during China's democratization process," Lee said. "By the same token, a war is inevitable if Taiwan backpedals on its democratic development. Therefore, both countries should exercise extreme caution on their way to democracy."
Shieh and Lee made the remarks during the afternoon session of the international roundtable forum held yesterday at the Waishuanghsi campus of Soochow University to discuss Eastern Asia's liberalization, democratization and regional peace.
The one-day event was co-organized by the Asia Democracy Foundation, the Cabinet's Mainland Affairs Council, Soochow University and OPEN magazine.
As China becomes a more democratic country, Shieh said, it is possible that Taiwan will eventually reunite with its political arch-rival.
"When it comes to democracy, we're talking about genuine democratic politics, not just a voting democracy," Shieh said. "If China's democracy is based on the over-simplified nationalism it's practicing now, it's bound to bring more harm than good."
While China has been trumpeting the "one China" policy, Lee proposed that Taiwan can vigorously embrace the idea, but under one condition.
"That is, this `one China' has to be a free and democratic country," Lee said.
Despite China's recent leadership change, Chao Chien-min (趙建民), political science professor at the Sun Yat-sen Graduate Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities at National Chengchi University (政治大學), said that China still has many problems to tackle on its way to democracy.
"Taking corruption as an example, statistics show that venality costs an average of 16.8 percent of its GDP, or US$200 billion," Chao said. "Its per capita spending on education is only one third that of India."
Chao also predicted that China will eventually become a democratic country.
"I don't believe any political party in the world will hold a country's helm forever. It's just a matter of time before China's Communist party will be swept away from power."
Da Wa Tsering (達瓦才仁), an editor at the diplomacy and information bureau of the Tibetan government in exile, said that China should treat Tibet and other minority ethnic groups with respect and humanity on its way to democracy.
"We're not asking too much," he said. "What we want is peace and an equal footing."
Mo Li (
"As Taiwan pursued democracy and human rights, the DPP-led government has turned Taiwan from a human rights importer into a human rights exporter," she said.
Mo also called on Taiwan's government to help China improve its poor human-rights record.
"I don't think it'll sabotage the stability across the Taiwan Strait if Taiwan helps China accelerate its human rights situation," Mo said. "On the contrary, it'll help strengthen the friendship between the two peoples."
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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