Democratization in Taiwan: Implications for China (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Democratization in Taiwan: Implications for China Cal Clark (bio) Steve Tsang and Hung-mao Tien, editors. Democratization in Taiwan: Implications for China. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. xviii, 191 pp. Hardcover $65.00, ISBN 0-312-21652-1. The victory of Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party in the March 2000 presidential elections in Taiwan strongly indicated that Taiwan had reached the stage of democratic consolidation in its domestic polity. Chen's victory ended the monopoly of power over the central government that had been held by the Kuomintang (KMT) or Nationalist Party during the entire postwar period, although the KMT still holds a tenuous majority in the Legislative Yuan or national parliament. The change of administration proceeded smoothly in May, and despite the fact that Chen won with only 39 percent of the vote in a bitter, three-way race, his victory was greeted with approval by an overwhelming majority of the citizenry. Yet, Taiwan's ambiguous international status (most of the world recognizes China's claim of sovereignty over Taiwan) meant that the assumption of power by a DPP administration was viewed with strong suspicion by the People's Republic of China (PRC), who perceived Chen and the DPP to be advocates of "Taiwan Independence" from China. Chen defused the potential for a crisis in the Taiwan Strait by taking a conciliatory stance toward the PRC. Still, the 2000 [End Page 237] election also indicated that full "consolidation" of democracy in Taiwan depends on events beyond the shores of the island. Democratization in Taiwan, therefore, presents two very different possible "implications for China." First, democracy in Taiwan creates the policy problem for the PRC of how to respond to it. Second, Taiwan's democratic transition during the late 1980s and early 1990s might well serve as a model for political reform in China (for those who see this as desirable). This edited volume by Steve Tsang and Hung-mao Tien appears very timely, especially since Dr. Tien has just become Taiwan's Minister of Foreign Affairs. Overall, the essays here provide an excellent overview of Taiwan's recent political transformation. The book covers the relevant topics well, the major events are cogently summarized and presented, and, furthermore, several of the chapters contain insightful and innovative conceptualizations of Taiwan's democratization. The only drawback is that very little of the book is really concerned with its subtitle, "Implications for China." Only one chapter analyzes the first implication (Beijing's policy responses), and it is now somewhat dated. Virtually all the other essays are almost completely focused on domestic politics in Taiwan, and the only implication that a couple of them try to draw for the PRC is that the Taiwan experience proves that democracy is possible in a Chinese society, although conditions in China do not appear to be very propitious for democracy at present. Hung-mao Tien and Tun-jen Cheng provide an excellent overview of Taiwan's democratization in their essay on "Crafting Democratic Institutions," which delineates six central components of the successful political transformation of Taiwan from one-party authoritarian rule in the mid-1980s to competitive democratic politics less than a decade later: (1) the revision of the constitution, (2) the evolution of a competitive party system (in part because of factionalism within the KMT), (3) the creation of a functioning legislature, (4) the channeling of political competition through the electoral system, (5) the establishment of civilian control over the military, and (6) the integration of a democratic state with a dynamic civil society. Taken together, change in these areas has resulted in effective democratic institutions that are accepted across the political spectrum. Tien and Cheng do a good job, moreover, of discussing both formal institutions and the more informal "game of politics" on Taiwan. Taiwan's success in promoting a smooth democratic transition is underlined, furthermore, in a brief comparative analysis by Laurence Whitehead that juxtaposes Taiwan's experience with those of Mexico and Peru. The heart of a democracy, of course, is free and fair political competition involving elections and political parties. It is no coincidence, then, that four of the book's ten chapters analyze these...