Democracy in East Asia and Taiwan in Global Perspective

An International Conference on Democracy in East Asia and Taiwan in Global Perspective Session VI: Democracy in China Taiwan and Mainland China’s Democratic Future Yun-han Chu Distinguished Research Fellow, Institute of Political Science, Academia Sinica; Professor of Political Science, National Taiwan University� [email protected] � � � � � � � � � � � �� This is only a draft. Please do not cite or quote without the author’s permission. Paper prepared for delivery at an international conference on Democracy in East Asia and Taiwan in Global Perspective, organized by the Department of Political Science at National Taiwan University, Taipei, ROC, August 24-25, 2011. 316 � Taiwan and Mainland China’s Democratic Future � � � Yun-han Chu � � Abstract Taiwan is important for its objective (analytical) relevance, i.e., for its heuristic value in projecting China’s political future. Taiwan’s unique mode of democratic transition illustrates a viable exit strategy for a hegemonic party to engineer a peaceful and gradual transition from one-party authoritarianism on the basis of its successful record of economic modernization. Taiwan is also important for its subjective relevance, i.e., its demonstration effect in the eyes of both the citizens on the mainland and the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In addition, Taiwan is important because many Taiwan-based political and social actors also serve as agents of change. Many of the island’s social actors have helped China’s political liberalization, in particular through the transmission and dissemination of information, ideas and practical knowledge. The political predicament the CCP leadership faces today is quite similar to what had confronted the KMT elite during the 1970s and early 1980s. The strategic options available to the CCP, however, might be different from what had been possible for the KMT elite due to China’s particular political legacy and structural conditions. No matter how the CCP elite sizes up its strategic options, in the eyes of the mainland Chinese citizens Taiwan’s democratic experience still constitute a very crucial and illuminating social experiment. The improvement in the cross-Strait relations after March 2008 has accelerated the flow of exchange and deepened social ties between the two sides. As increasing numbers of mainland Chinese visitors and exchange students set their foot on the island for the first time, Taiwan is now sitting on a window of opportunity to magnify its soft power of democracy. This can happen if Taiwan is able to improve the overall quality of its young democracy and make its citizens proud of their own political system. 317 � Taiwan and Mainland China’s Democratic Future � � � Yun-han Chu � � Abstract Taiwan is important for its objective (analytical) relevance, i.e., for its heuristic value in projecting China’s political future. Taiwan’s unique mode of democratic transition illustrates a viable exit strategy for a hegemonic party to engineer a peaceful and gradual transition from one-party authoritarianism on the basis of its successful record of economic modernization. Taiwan is also important for its subjective relevance, i.e., its demonstration effect in the eyes of both the citizens on the mainland and the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In addition, Taiwan is important because many Taiwan-based political and social actors also serve as agents of change. Many of the island’s social actors have helped China’s political liberalization, in particular through the transmission and dissemination of information, ideas and practical knowledge. The political predicament the CCP leadership faces today is quite similar to what had confronted the KMT elite during the 1970s and early 1980s. The strategic options available to the CCP, however, might be different from what had been possible for the KMT elite due to China’s particular political legacy and structural conditions. No matter how the CCP elite sizes up its strategic options, in the eyes of the mainland Chinese citizens Taiwan’s democratic experience still constitute a very crucial and illuminating social experiment. The improvement in the cross-Strait relations after March 2008 has accelerated the flow of exchange and deepened social ties between the two sides. As increasing numbers of mainland Chinese visitors and exchange students set their foot on the island for the first time, Taiwan is now sitting on a window of opportunity to magnify its soft power of democracy. This can happen if Taiwan is able to improve the overall quality of its young democracy and make its citizens proud of their own political system. 317 Taiwan and Mainland China’s Democratic Future Second, it compares the political predicament the CCP leadership faces today with that which confronted the KMT elite during the 1970s and early 1980s. It I. Introduction identifies some striking resemblance between their respective trajectories of regime evolution. Much like the CCP of today, the KMT had wrestled with the daunting task The relevance of Taiwan’s democratic experience for mainland China’s political of retaining the party’s hegemonic presence in society despite dwindling capacity for future is oftentimes discussed but rarely rigorously analyzed. This paper argues that in ideological persuasion and social control, co-opting the newly emerged social forces many ways Taiwan is an important factor in shaping mainland China’s democratic that came with a rapidly expanding private economy, accommodating the growing future. First, Taiwan is important for its objective (analytical) relevance, i.e., for its popular demand for political representation and participation, and coping with the heuristic value in projecting China’s political future. Taiwan’s democratic experience political consequences of economic opening. Also, the way the KMT had coped with constitutes a crucial social experiment, as it is the first and the only democracy ever these mounting challenges bears direct relevance to the understanding of China’s installed and practiced in a culturally Chinese society. Furthermore, Taiwan’s unique changing state-society relationship, although the strategic options available to the mode of democratic transition illustrates a viable exit strategy for a hegemonic party CCP might be different from what had been possible for the KMT elite due to China’s to engineer a peaceful and gradual transition from one-party authoritarianism on the particular political legacy and structural conditions. basis of its successful record of economic modernization. Second, Taiwan is important for its subjective relevance, i.e., its demonstration effect in the eyes of both the Third, this paper identifies the factors that might limit both the objective and citizens on the mainland and the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). For subjective relevance of Taiwan’s democratic experiment for China’s political future. better or worse, the way democracy works in Taiwan is closely watched and The communist regime might not follow the transition path of Taiwan due to China’s extensively discussed by ordinary citizens and carefully examined by the mainland prevailing anti-Western ideological legacy and the resurgence of an indigenous intellectual and party elite. Third, Taiwan is important because many Taiwan-based cultural identity that both serve as a counterweight to the influence of Western ideas political and social actors also serve as agents of change. Many of the island’s social and values, its state-centered development strategy that continues to constrain the actors have helped China’s political liberalization, in particular through the political autonomy of country’s emerging entrepreneurial and urban middle class, its transmission and dissemination of information, ideas and practical knowledge. extraordinary capability in both warding off international pressures as well as shaping its surrounding geo-political environment due to its sheer size and growing regional This paper tries to accomplish three tasks. First, this paper explicates the role that and global influence, and the party’s capacity for selective learning and adaptation to Taiwan has played as an agent of change. It identifies the most relevant social actors new challenges. from Taiwan, including academics, writers, the mass media, producers of popular culture, entrepreneurs, and NGOs, that have been conducive to China’s political Finally, in conclusion, this paper argues that as the cross-Strait relation is liberalization, in particular the development of a Rechtstaat, a modern law-bound entering a new era of rapprochement under the Ma Ying-jeou administration, Taiwan state embedded in an open market economy, through the transmission and is in a stronger position to maximize its magnetic power over mainland. This can dissemination of information, ideas and practical knowledge. The way that Taiwan’s happen only if Taiwan is able to improve the overall quality of its young democracy experiment in social and political pluralism has been interpreted and presented has to and make its citizens proud of their own political system. Over the long term, Taiwan some extent shaped the parameters of intellectual debate over political reform on the can maximize its magnetic power if the island’s future political elite are willing to mainland. Taiwan possesses the potential to either spur the intellectual’s democratic engage mainland China over the long-term prospect of a reunified political

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