Thinking about Chinese Democracy: Taiwan's Municipal Elections

   Over the weekend Taiwan held municipal elections.  The opposition party, the KMT, which holds a slight edge in the national parliament, beat out the DPP, the party that controls the Presidency and the executive branch.  Some commentary is suggesting that this will move the island closer to China, since the KMT has historically accepted a "one China" idea (and that Taiwan is a "part" of China in some way or another), while the DPP has been encouraging the rise of a distinct Taiwanese identity, which undermines the rationale for reunification. 

    I would not hold my breath for a significant change in cross-Straits relations.  Even if the DPP made more conciliatory steps toward the mainland, there is a limit to how far a Taiwan government can go in giving the PRC what it wants: Taiwanese identity has grown over the past decade and Taiwanese, or, at least, a politically significant share of them, will be just as wary of the KMT giving away too much as it has been skeptical of the DPP pushing too far.

    But that is not the issue that interests me most here.  Rather, the most important thing to notice here is how vibrant Taiwanese democracy is.  In the past decade there have been a series of national and local elections, all run smoothly and fairly (vote-buying may still exist but it has declined over the period).  Executive power has been peaceably transferred on one occasion (2000).  There have been unexpected outcomes (the Parliamentary elections last December).  And this most recent poll suggest that power holders (the DPP) must not take the people's support for granted.  The popular will, divided as it is on certain issues, can regularly express itself and shape policy and shift the locus of political power.  As blogger Sun Bin says, this is another reminder of the triumph of the Taiwanese people.

    And even if we believe that Taiwanese culture has evolved into something distinct from Chinese culture, it has obviously grown out of Chinese culture - with all of the Confucian connotations that that conjures up.  So, tell me again why "Confucian societies" can't have dynamic and just and efficient and competitive democratic elections?  And if Taiwan can manage this why can't the equally "Confucian" societies of Hong Kong and Singapore and, even, the PRC follow suit?

    As a reminder of the Humanity of democracy, here is a beautiful picture, thanks to Sun Bin, showing a disabled person being carried to the voting booth: