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Taiwan's democracy strong: US

A senior US State Department official expressed confidence in Taiwan's democracy despite the recent challenge to President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) leadership.

The official in charge of East Asian affairs, who declined to be named, said on Friday that Taiwan was a maturing democracy possessing all the elements necessary to create a strong civil society, including freedom of the press.

"It's not in the end about any one individual in Taiwan, any more than it is in the United States," he said.

"It's about the institution of government and the institutions on which the government rests, and we have great confidence in those," he added.

The official made the remarks during a background briefing with a group of Taiwanese journalists, in response to a question about whether the US hopes to deal with a strong or weakened Taiwanese leader and if there would be any impact on relations between the two countries if Chen's leadership were weakened.

He said that it often happens in a democracy that the systems come out stronger after being put through a series of intense episodes of pressure, and that this is what the US hopes for the Taiwanese people.

"It is entirely in America's interests for the system to work well in Taiwan, across the board," he said.

"The general principle is that we want strong leaders who will help explain to their people what the benefits of the relationship are and why we have to move forward," the official said.

"I think it is not in our interest for there to be weak leadership anywhere," he added.

For example, in the case of Taiwan's decision to reopen its market to US beef, the US expected the Taiwanese government to explain to its people the safety of the product based on scientific principles, he said.

In yet another example, during the SARS outbreak in Asia, Taiwan and other governments in the region looked to the US government to exercise leadership so that people would not overreact to the threat, he said.

He said that the US is looking to engage with visionary leaders who share its perspective and that it does not want to deal with a society that is weak at the center, starting to fall apart and seeing decay in its institutions.

"We want Taiwan's success. We want to be part of Taiwan's success," he said.
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