The Power Structure in Taiwan's Political Economy

Abstract

The year 1995 was a critical one in Taiwan's political history. It commemorated the centennial of the Manchu Dynasty's cessation of the island to Japan under the Shimonoseki Treaty of 1895 and marked the 50th anniversary of the Kuomintang's (KMT) one-party rule. The year also set the stage for the first direct popular election of Taiwan's president in the spring of 1996. There is no doubt that Taiwan today is fundamentally different from its colonial and authoritarian past. It is a new Taiwan, a dynamic powerhouse and a competitive political democracy. The economic miracle has been widely recognized around the world, but in the last several years under Lee Teng-hui, Taiwan has also emerged dramatically as a dynamic working democracy. Gone are the days of political repression and secret police control. More than 70 political parties have officially registered since martial law was lifted in 1987. Press controls were relaxed in the same year, and the mass media has become one of the most energetic and dynamic in the world. The path to political liberalization and democratization in Taiwan, however, has by no means been smooth. In the political arena, reform had to wait decades for the power grip and conservative heritage of the KMT to erode and change; the strengths of social protest and political opposition also took a long time to nurture and grow; the socioeconomic foundation as a prerequisite to democratization took an even longer time to build. While the essential elements of democratic institution are now very much in place, the very forces that the KMT had skillfully used to support its authoritarian rule and that later corroded its Leninist one-party control, thus