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How Elections Promoted Democracy in Taiwan under Martial Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Extract

In October 1952, while addressing the Seventh Congress of the Kuomintang (KMT), the party chairman and president of the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan, Chiang Kai-shek, reminded his audience that “Sun Yat-sen's highest goal was to build a political system in which sovereignty resided with the people [zuchuan zaimin]” Chiang then said that “in order to oppose communism and recover our nation, the primary task of our party is to carry out local elections, build our nation's political system, and establish the solid foundations for our people to practise democracy.”

Type
Elections and Democracy in Greater China
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2000

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References

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3. Thomas A. Metzger has discussed these three marketplaces in his various publications in the past decade. For the economic marketplace see his “Confucian culture and economic modernization: an historical approach,” in Conference on Confucianism and Economic Development in East AsiaGoogle Scholar (Taipei: Chung-hua Institution for Economic Research), Conference Series, No. 13 (1989), pp. 141–195. Reprinted in Yu, Tzong-shian and Lee, Joseph S. (eds.), Confucianism and Economic Development (Taipei: Chung-hua Institution for Economic Research, 1995), pp. 97148.Google Scholar For a discussion of the evolving ideological marketplace in Taiwan see “Introduction: two diverging societies,” written by Metzger, Thomas A., in Myers, Ramon H. (ed.), Two Societies in Opposition (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1991), pp. xiiixlvGoogle Scholar; and the essay by Metzger, Thomas A. entitled “The Chinese reconciliation of moral-sacred values with modern pluralism: political discourse in the ROC, 1949–1989,”Google Scholar in ibid. pp. 3–56. For his commentary on a political marketplace in China see Metzger, Thomas A., “Will China democratize? Sources of resistance,” Journal of Democracy, Vol. 9, No. 1 (01 1998), pp. 1826CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and “Friendly U.S. relations with an undemocratic China? Weighing contemporary Chinese objections to capitalism and democracy,” in Hoover Essays (1999).Google Scholar

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5. Kewen, Chen, “Difang zizhi yu minzhu zhengzhi” (“Local elections and democratic politics”), Ziyou Zhongguo (Free China Fortnightly), Vol. 6, No. 16 (16 03 1952), p. 12.Google Scholar

Dai Duheng argued at the same time that local elections helped promote the parliamentary system and enabled different political parties to elect parliamentary representatives; see Duheng, Dai, “Cong jianjie minzhu dao zhijie minzhu” (“From indirect democracy to direct democracy”), Ziyou Zhongguo, Vol. 6, No. 12 (16 06 1952), pp. 58Google Scholar, and Vol. 7, No. 1 (1 July 1952), pp. 17–20.

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9. Based on interviews of former top KMT officials conducted by the authors in Taipei.

10. See Xiangfei, Dong, The General Conditions, pp. 157169.Google Scholar

11. Ibid.; Myers, , “The devolution of power, democracy, and economic development,” pp. 327–29.Google Scholar

12. This observation is advanced by Lin, Chia-lung, “Paths to democracy: Taiwan in comparative perspective,” Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Political Science, Yale University, 05 1998, pp. 165–67.Google Scholar

13. Ibid. pp. 168 and 171.

14. Ibid. pp. 172–73.

15. Ibid. pp. 173–76.

16. “Jingxuan huodong ying kan zuo zhengzhi jiaoyu” (“Regard competing election activity as political education”) (editorial), Ziyou Zhongguo, Vol. 8, No. 2 (16 01 1953), p. 3.Google Scholar

17. Vichen, Yuan, “Taiwan sheng shishi difang zizhi di jiantao” (“An examination and evaluation of Taiwan province's implementation of local government”), Ziyou Zhongguo, Vol. 8, No. 11 (1 06 1953), p. 10.Google Scholar

18. See n. 16, in which the editorial members of Ziyou Zhongguo complained that KMT district chiefs visited each district, city and town to confer with election committees as to how election rules should be tightened to limit the use of microphones and the length of time each candidate could speak (only 15 minutes).

19. Fengzeng, Wang, “Lun Taiwan sheng de xuanju” (“A discussion of Taiwan provincial elections”), Ziyou Zhongguo, Vol. 16, No. 7 (1 04 1957), pp. 910.Google Scholar

20. Zheng, Fu, “Dui benjie difang xuanju de jiantao” (“An examination and review of this term's local elections”), Ziyou Zhongguo, Vol. 16, No. 9 (1 05 1957), p. 14.Google Scholar

21. Ibid. p. 15.

22. Jizhen, Yang, “Wo cong jingxuan shibai zhong dedao de zhishi” (“The knowledge that I gained from the failure of my election campaign”), Ziyou Zhongguo, Vol. 17, No. 22 (16 12 1957), p. 9.Google Scholar

23. Ibid. pp. 10–11.

24. Wanbo, Zhu, “Zhizhengdang kongzhi Taiwan difang xuanju de xinli fenxi” (“A psychological analysis of the ruling party's control of Taiwan's local elections”), Ziyou Zhongguo, Vol. 18, No. 1 (5 01 1958), p. 20.Google Scholar

25. Ibid. p. 21.

26. Yuxin, Guo, “Min xuan shengzhang ci qishiyi” (“This is the time to have the provincial governor elected by the people”), Ziyou Zhongguo, Vol. 22, No. 1 (5 01 1960), p. 11.Google Scholar

27. Dawo, Cao, “Guomindang xing-shuai zhi guanjian zai xuanju” (“The key to the success or failure of the KMT depends on elections”), Ziyou Zhongguo, Vol. 22, No. 4 (20 02 1960), pp. 1012.Google Scholar Cao and other critics of the KMT believed that “the KMT should rapidly cultivate an equally powerful opposition party, which would demonstrate that the KMT was creating a true democracy” (p. 11).Google Scholar

28. “Duiyu difang xuanju Hang dian qima yaoqiu” (“There are two minimum requirements for having local elections”) (editorial), Ziyou Zhongguo, Vol. 22, No. 6 (20 03 1960), p. 1.Google Scholar For a similar argument see Fengzeng, Wang, “You difang xuanju kan minzhu zhengzhi de qiantu” (“The future of a democratic polity as seen from local elections”), Ziyou Zhongguo, Vol. 22, No. 7 (5 04 1960), pp. 1113.Google Scholar

29. “Qing tou zai yedang he wudang wupai houxuanren yi piao” (“Please cast one vote for the nonruling party and nonfaction candidates”) (editorial), Ziyou Zhongguo, Vol. 22, No. 8 (20 04 1960), pp. 34.Google Scholar

30. Zhen, Lei, “Women weishenme poqie xuyao yi ge qiangyouli de fanduidang” (“Why do we urgently need a strong, powerful opposition party?”), Ziyou Zhongguo, Vol. 22, No. 10 (20 05 1960), p. 10.Google Scholar

31. This meeting was discussed in Ziyou Zhongguo, Vol. 22, No. 11 (5 06 1960), pp. 2024.Google Scholar

32. Ibid. p. 24.

33. The economic information presented hereafter is derived from Council of Economic Planning and Development, Taiwan Statistical Data Book, 1995 (Taipei: CEPD, 1995).Google Scholar

34. See Metzger, , “The Chinese reconciliation of moral-sacred values with modern pluralism.”Google Scholar See also the discussion of Taiwan intellectual elites in Chao, Linda and Myers, Ramon H., The First Chinese Democracy: Political Life in the Republic of China on Taiwan (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998), pp. 90100.Google Scholar

35. See introduction by Larry Diamond and Ramon H. Myers to this volume.

36. An interview with Kang Ningxiang, as recalled in He, Lian and Shi, Tai (eds.), Xuanju xuanju (Elections and Elections) (Taipei: Changqiao chubanshe, 1978), p. 83.Google Scholar

37. Xiaofeng, Li, Taiwan minzhu yundong sishi nian (Forty Years of the Taiwan Democratic Movement) (Taipei: Zili wanbao wenhua chubanshe, 1987), p. 112.Google Scholar

38. Ibid. pp. 238–241.

39. “Guoshi zhengyan” (“Some suggestions regarding national affairs”), Daxue zazhi, No. 46 (10 1971), p. 6.Google Scholar

40. “Zhongyang ji difang xuanju wenti” (“The problem of central government and local elections”), Daxue zazhi, Vol. 10, No. 56 (15 08 1972), pp. 3537.Google Scholar

41. Ibid. p. 38.

42. We are indebted to Rang Ningxiang's assistance and our two-hour interview with him on 10 December 1998 for clarifying many issues regarding the critical decade (1977–86) when Taiwan's embryonic marketplace matured and “limited democracy” took a great leap forward.

43. For a detailed discussion of these changes in Taiwan's political life, see Chao and Myers, The First Chinese Democracy. See also Tien, Hung-mao, “Elections in Taiwan's democratic development,” in Tien, Hung-mao (ed.), Taiwan's Electoral Politics and Democratic Transition: Riding the Third Wave (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1996), pp. 1617.Google Scholar The data used by Hung-mao Tien come from the excellent study by Defu, Huang, Minzhu jinbu dang yu Taiwan diqu zhengzhi minzhuhua (The Democratic Progressive Party and the Democratization of Taiwan's Local Politics) (Taipei: Shiying chubanshe, 1993), ch. 5.Google Scholar

44. An interview with Xu Xinliang as recorded in He, Lian and Shi, Tai, Elections and Elections, p. 83.Google Scholar

45. Quoted from Chao, and Myers, , The First Chinese Democracy, p. 97.Google Scholar

46. See the articles by the special features columnist for Lianhebao, Nian, Huang, Taiwan zhengzhi fashao (Taiwan's Political Fever) (Taipei: Siji chuban shiye yuxian gongsi, 1980), p. 410.Google Scholar

47. For these examples see He, Lian and Shi, Tai, Elections and Elections, pp. 103111.Google Scholar

48. For this example of Zeng Wenpo, see Yongcheng, Zhang, Xuanzhan zaoshi: zaoshi shi xuanzhan chenggong de bu'er-famen (The Strategic Campaign to Win the Election War: The Only Way for Winning the Election War Is to Wage a Strategic Campaign) (Taiwan: Yuanliu chugan gongshe, 1992).Google Scholar

49. Ibid. pp. 153–56. Xu Xinliang had also written a book that made him very popular in Taoyuan district, called Fengyu zhisheng (The Wind and the Rain). His book, based on his tenure as a Taiwan Provincial Assemblyman, evaluated the conduct and performance of various assemblypersons in the Taiwan Provincial Assembly.

50. Ibid. p. 185.

51. Ibid. p. 188.

52. Ibid. p. 180. Consider, too, the strategy used by Kang Ningxiang, who relied on slogans like “Cut the defence budget” and “From today on, let us not ask what government can do for us but what we really need” (see p. 178).

53. See Nian, Huang, Taiwan's Political Fever, p. 413.Google Scholar

54. Ibid. p. 414.

55. Yongcheng, Zhang, The Strategic Campaign, p. 80.Google Scholar

56. Ibid. p. 83.

57. Ibid. pp. 92–93.

58. Xiangfei, Dong, The General Conditions, p. 393.Google Scholar

59. Ibid. p. 395.

60. For a good discussion of how the Legislative Yuan reviewed and amended the law, see chubanshe, Bashi niandai (The Eighties Publishing Company), Xuanju Ufa shi-moji (A Record of the Passage of the Election Law from the Beginning to the End) (Taipei: Bashi niandai chubanshe, 1 11 1980).Google Scholar This book describes the role played by dangwai politicians like Yao Jiawen and Kang Ningxiang to pass the new election law. Both Yao and Kang believed this law would promote open, fair and democratic elections.

61. See the commentary on the election law by Ruizhi, Xie, Minzhu zhengzhi yu xuanju bamian fa (Political Democracy and the Election and Recall Law) (Taipei: Liming wenhua shiye gongsi, 1989), pp. 142–43.Google Scholar For a comparison of these laws see weiyuanhui, Zhongyang xuanju (Central Election Commission), Gongzhi renyuan xuanju fagui yibian (A Compilation of the Election Law for Officials) (Taipei: printed by the Central Election Commission, 08 1980), p. 70, and pp. 2223Google Scholar for old law.

62. Ibid. p. 153.

63. See chubanshe, Bashi niandai, The Passage of the Election Law, pp. 3839 and 337–38.Google Scholar

64. See Chao, and Myers, , The First Chinese Democracy, pp. 9697.Google Scholar

65. Inkeles, Alex, “Continuity and change in popular values on the Pacific Rim,” Hoover Essays (Standford: Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace, 1997), pp. 128.Google Scholar

66. Lipset, Seymour Martin, “The social requisites of democracy revisited,” American Sociological Review, Vol. 59, No. 1 (02 1997), pp. 122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

67. A sociological, ideological-political process first described in Bendix, Reinhard, Kings or People: Power and the Mandate to Rule (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978), p. 10.Google Scholar

68. Cited in Chao, and Myers, , The First Chinese Democracy, p. 123.Google Scholar

69. Ibid. p. 132.

70. For the story of how Chiang Ching-kuo initiated Taiwan's democratic breakthrough, see Chao, and Myers, , The First Chinese Democracy, ch. 5.Google Scholar