Democracy, warts and all

For most people in Taiwan, the United States long has been a model for Taiwan's political and electoral systems, its media freedoms and, indeed, every institution focused on the concept of democracy.

While certain aspects of American democracy continue to be debated in an effort to refine and further improve U.S. democratic institutions, for Taiwan this perpetual soul-searching represents yet another positive example worth emulating.

In many ways, Taiwan and the United States are joined in this noble experiment called democracy. For Taiwan, the stakes — whether over how the press conducts itself or how to achieve constitutional reform — could not be higher, or more emblematic of the core values of a democracy.

Taiwan's democracy is young and vibrant, though by no means perfect or fully matured.

In Taiwan, for example, the public has become increasingly dissatisfied with its media's turn toward sensationalism.

Media companies in Taiwan seem more interested in expanding their individual market shares than in the pursuit of excellence in journalism. It is an affliction common to journalism elsewhere, as well.

Yet, media reform in Taiwan must come from within the profession itself, upon the demands of the consuming public. Government attempts would be viewed as a violation of media freedom.

As the United States has the Federal Communications Commission, Taiwan has the regulatory National Communication Commission, modeled after the FCC.

But, as in some sectors of the U.S., the public is wary of the role of the NCC, as its leadership is based on "party-proportional representation." This principle guarantees the politicization of a commission intended to be a neutral rule-maker and enforcer for Taiwan's media market.

Taiwan's Council of Grand Justices — the constitutional court — has ruled that NCC's system of proportional political representation is unconstitutional. Yet, reorganization of the NCC does not appear to be forthcoming at the present time.

Despite these shortcomings, the media environment in Taiwan remains open and free enough to be dubbed by Freedom House, the nonprofit advocate of democratic values, as the "freest media environment in East Asia."

The people of Taiwan are fortunate to have these robust media freedoms. Nevertheless, the unrestricted intrusiveness of the media in the political process of Taiwan — namely coverage of general debates in the Legislative Yuan (Taiwan's parliament) and individual committee proceedings — has caused the political game in Taiwan to take an ugly turn for the worse.

Elected officials take advantage of ubiquitous media coverage to employ extreme conduct (as well as language not befitting their public stature) to win the public's attention. This not only makes governmental action excessively difficult, it also dangerously increases the public's distrust of the democratic process.

Worse still, such behavior can be held up as a negative example by authoritarian regimes in the region that already are hostile toward democratic reform.

The most serious challenge facing Taiwan's democracy today is the need to establish a constitutional system that better supports a mature democracy — a system that allows for effective policy implementation on the one hand, and effective opposition and institutional oversight on the other.

However, no one is betting that change will come quickly to Taiwan's archaic constitutional framework, formulated during the rule of its old authoritarian regime.

One of the central explanations for why Taiwan has such difficulty implementing constitutional reform is its peculiar relationship with the People's Republic of China (PRC) — a situation faced by no other democracy today.

Whenever Taiwan's leaders proclaim that Taiwan needs a new constitutional system — or that some of the lingering characteristics of its past authoritarian system (Taiwan's national flag or anthem, for example) need to be reconsidered — China's leaders jump up and down, threatening military action against Taiwan. (Ironically, Taiwan's current national anthem is the anthem of the ousted Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] and its flag bears the emblem of the KMT — the historic archenemy of the Chinese Communist Party.)

It will be recalled that in 1996, China fired "test" missiles into the ocean near Taiwan when Taiwan held its first-ever popular presidential election, and it is this same belligerent, even more powerful PRC regime that Taiwan's democracy has to reckon with today.

The extremely hostile PRC government continues to view Taiwan as part of China, and this dangerous irredentist claim, paired with constant military threats against Taiwan, has prolonged and intensified a polarizing domestic debate on the island over whether Taiwan is — or ought to be — an independent country.

It is, indeed, a wonder that, with the currently hostile political environment created by the PRC government, any political party on Taiwan would continue to claim that Taiwan is a part of China.

Despite the fact that Taiwan's democracy is neither perfect nor mature, the reality of competitive elections at regular intervals under the watch of an open media and the active scrutiny of the political opposition, means that Taiwan nevertheless is a vibrant and enviable democracy.

Furthermore, Taiwan's democratic success stands as an excellent counterargument against the fallacious proposal, vis-à-vis China, that traditional Chinese culture cannot sustain a Western-style democracy.

Earlier in 2005, a new electoral system for Taiwan's parliament was adopted, with elections held in January for the first time. Perhaps this is fresh evidence that Taiwan will ultimately evolve into a mature democracy and that people in Taiwan will be able to move on, past the paralyzing questions of today, to other, more productive public debates.

Or, perhaps not — perhaps these reforms to the electoral system will prove to be worse than the former state of affairs.

In all likelihood, Taiwan's public will find itself wrestling with complex issues related to the constitutional and electoral system, the media, and Taiwan's national identity for a long time to come.

Taiwan's recent history illustrates what political scientists argue is the essence of democracy: uncertainty.

In fact, one might well argue that a high level of political contention on Taiwan is what democracy is all about: Citizens continue to criticize the government's imperfections; citizens deliberate publicly over what should be done about these imperfections; eventually, a way forward is arrived at.

Democracy, in its most basic form, arises from the guarantee that all people have the right to discuss the issues they consider important without the fear of being penalized by their government.

This truth stands in stark contrast to statements made recently by China's leader Hu Jintao who — while addressing his party's 17th National Congress — mentioned "democracy" 61 times, while conveniently failing to mention his government's continued efforts to throw ever-larger numbers of religious leaders, journalists, human-rights defenders and environmental activists in jail.

People in Taiwan hope that in the future, when they pursue democratic reform in the shape of elections, referendums, public debate and progressive revisions to their democratic institutions, their actions will not be met with cynicism or disparaging criticism.

In particular, they hope that the United States, viewed by many in the world as the big brother of all democracies, will give Taiwan a hearty, diplomatic pat on the back, as if to say, "Great job, my little brother."