Taiwan democracy ★ freedom

● "Black-Gold" politics vs. democracy
New York Times, 1-11-2020 : Taiwan's young and vibrant, if messy at times, democratic society. N.Y. Times, 12-1-2019: the soft underbelly of Taiwanese politics: patronage networks. They continue to allow community leaders, farmers’ associations and even organized-crime figures to buy votes ( NY Times, opinion : https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/01/opinion/china-taiwan-election.html ). USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices, 2021-3-30: There were allegations of vote buying by candidates and supporters of both major political parties (KMT and DPP) in Presidential election in 2020. 'Mr Democracy' Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) employed "Black-Gold" politics ( SCMP, 7-30-2020: the use of extensive factional networks, regardless of whether they were linked to local interest groups or underworld figures scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3095139/lee-teng-hui-controversial-figure-hailed-taiwans-father ; Heritage, 3-17-2000: local slang for the party's ties to gangsters, corruption and illegal financial transactions. ) , for a long run, the rottenness in the powerful political family and patronage networks have been a structural issue, and never changed regardless of transitions of power. United Daily ( editorial 8-6-2020, opinion 8-3-2020) : Corruption in parliament seems never end. Lawmakers in similar cases were judged not guilty or not decided yet after more than 10 years' investigations, therefore UDN questions "Does Taiwan's judiciary fail to find out the truth once facing lawmakers ??" At Aug. 2, 2020, top presidential aide resigns amid nephew's ( a DPP lawmaker ) bribery allegations, the image of parliament and Taiwan's democracy tarnishes again after some lawmakers detained for graft probe at 8-4-2020. The China Times (8-6-2020) points out the ruling party DPP is good at winning the vote, instead of governing the state, huge expense spent for election needs to be 'returned', therefore, results in abusing their power and corruption. In today's Taiwan, even county councilmen needs election expenses up to USD 3 millions, not to mention lawmakers or president. Apple Daily, editorial, 8-3-2020: Lawmakers of same party share illegal benefits or cover each other, and usually won't disclose political rivals' greasy palms, that's Taiwan's political culture and 'ecology'. ( brief of https://tw.appledaily.com/headline/20200803/BQXMSWTYOVERHBPGLUKPXAA5LQ/) Since 2018's basic-level election, totally 12 speakers/chairpersons of city council or county council handed in their position to relative or son. ( Apple Daily, editorial 8-4-2020 https://tw.appledaily.com/headline/20200804/FH6DI3F3CYJV2SOIIEGKRGDHKQ/ ; for more Pork Barrel examples, see TVBS news, 12-10-2019 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY6TP7JW398 ) In addition to greedy politicians, Brookings (1-22-2021) : Only 23% Taiwanese people thought that democracy was more important than economic development, 16% believed that protecting political freedom was more important than reducing economic inequality. (brookings.edu/articles/taiwans-democracy-and-the-china-challenge/)

● Democracy is harmed for national security, national security is harmed for democracy

Taiwan's democracy influences its national security. N.Y. Times, 2022-6-19:Taiwan is a democracy, and politicians have electoral considerations. Extending military conscription, for example, would probably not be very popular.
China keeps inching closer to Taiwan, hence western experts (e.g., Foreign Policy, 10-28-2020, Financial Times (UK), 7-12-2020 ) warned Taiwan to make urgent defense reforms such as increasing the existing four-month conscription and improving reservist systems , but, Taiwanese politicians are afraid to discuss these issues with the public for months because they believe Taiwanese people are not willing to sacrifice, and considering electoral realities, Taiwan’s leaders don't want to shift from volunteer military service to mandatory military service with same training period as Singapore's or Korea's, because such a policy could be deeply unpopular among the young voters courted by the ruling party (DPP), according to Foreign Policy (10-19-2020). New York Times (5-18-2017) criticized Taiwan's nearly two million reservists "exist in name only" - but nothing big has changed till present, in spite of western analyst's warning "With China’s rapid military buildup, that may be time that Taiwan does not have.". On the other hand, Taiwan's democracy is harmed in the name of national security. An academic paper of NanHua University published in June 2020 concludes: Taiwan’s democracy has shown a retrogressive trend in recent years, the freedom of speech, publication, assembly etc were persecuted by excuses such as national security. (Shih-Yueh Yang, Ph.D, Walish Temu) United Daily, editorial,10-10-2020 (https://udn.com/news/story/7338/4924067): The democracy and freedom of speech are falling back for being threatened by "certain power". Some western politicians giving Taiwan compliments or rhapsody are merely based on political purpose to needle China. Taiwan deserves becoming a safe haven, but at the moment is far from "a beacon for democracy and human rights" or "a model democracy". Global Times, 9-17-2020: The Taiwan authorities often brag about "freedom and democracy" in the island, which are self-comforting empty slogans.

The New York Times declared in a 1992 editorial : "Taiwan is now the most democratic society in the Chinese-speaking world”. The Sunday Guardian (UK) at 8-2-2020 notes that "it (Taiwan) could be a model of democracy for Chinese speakers.". Both should be unbiased comments !

New York Times, 6-28-2020: Taiwan is a rambunctious democracy and fights and protests inside the parliament building are not an uncommon occurrence. The Express (UK) and SCMP at 6-29-2020 : Taiwan’s democracy is boisterous with fights and protests a common occurrence inside the parliament building... The ruling DPP's large parliamentary majority and obstinacy had left the KMT ( main opposition Kuomintang or Nationalist Party) with no alternative but to occupy the parliament ( Legislative Yuan ) to protest against government “tyranny” ( AFP: KMT refuses the list of corrupt nominees, the Diplomat: Chen Chu will not be impartial to head oversight board as she is top aide & advisor to President Tsai , Australian Associated Press: KMT has accused the DPP of cheating in part of the vote on nomination ). A lot of scuffles erupted as lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) broke through barricades erected by KMT... Such brawls are a fact of life in Taiwan and happened regularly for about 30 years in parliament, 40+ years in the streets ( Formosa TV, 7-2-2020, China Times, 7-4-2020 ). Two weeks later, more fighting as Taiwan opposition again occupies parliament, Reuters, New York Times, 7-14-2020: Violence and protests inside the chamber are not unusual in Taiwan. AFP UK, Australian Associated Press, CNA Singapore, 7-17-2020: Taiwan is a boisterous, sometimes unruly democracy. France24, AFP, 7-14-2020: Taiwan's parliament was once notorious for mass brawls among lawmakers and has been the location of frequent protests. Scuffles broke out over reform policies and pension cuts when President Tsai first took office four years ago... After four months, chaotic clashes are seen again, French AFP and France 24 (11-27-2020) described scuffles in this time as "particularly novel", Guardian UK (11-27-2020) called it "disgusting" ― unlike hair pulling, throwing punches, chairs, eggs and even water balloons in previous protests, lawmakers hurl pig intestines, hearts, liver, lungs and other organs at their DPP rivals and exchange ham-fist punches, leaving the chamber's crimson carpet streaked with ropy strands of intestine and milky viscera for government's allowing imports of U.S. pork containing ractopamine, an additive that enhances leanness but is banned by More than 150 countries including European Union and China. The KMT also accused DPP of hypocrisy because they were heavily against ractopamine while as opposition. Reuters (11-23-2020) reports opposition's slogan "Taiwanese pigs don't eat ractopamine and yet you are asking Taiwanese people to?". Washington Post (11-27-2020) : scholar says Taiwanese voters generally viewed brawls negatively but that they were important ways to send signals to each party's die-hard supporters.

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In 2014, hundreds of students occupied parliament for weeks in protests demanding KMT ruling party more transparent politics, some students became today's lawmakers. But now DPP has accused the KMT of subverting the democratic process. The Diplomat (7-16-2020) called the scuffles "the return of what was once an internationally known tradition in Taiwan: brawls in the legislature over controversial votes on bills or appointments", "opposition parties have used violence to stop votes on laws or confirmations, with the KMT resorting to the tactic several times since the DPP gained a legislative majority in 2016". N.Y. based Canadian media VICE analyzed at 6-30-2020 that lawmakers' apparently quick tempers ( vandalism, hurling chairs, pulling hairs, wrestling opponents to the ground... according to a history compiled by the BBC ; punch, water balloons thrown, "bites" & stuck to lawmaker's arm, pulled across the ground, reported by AFP, Next TV ) are rather a form of political theater to show their voters and supporters who do buy the moves. Brookings (1-22-2021) comments the performance of Taiwan's democracy ― the political system does not do so well on its "performance". This is partly because of a set of structural factors. Selecting the president and legislature on a majoritarian basis fosters a degree of polarization and complicates the crafting of policy compromises. (brookings.edu/articles/taiwans-democracy-and-the-china-challenge/)

Taiwan lacks good separation & balance of powers between the ruling party and the opposition, the executive and the legislative, the government and the media. Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun (《日本経済新聞》, editorial, 5-21-2020 ) and Taiwan's Apple Daily ( editorial, 6-10-2020 ) : Taiwan's democracy without a strong opposition to question the government and hold them accountable is in grave danger, the biggest opposition, KMT, needs to regain its strength. But New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/06/28/world/asia/28reuters-taiwan-politics.html) and US News & World Report comment at 6-28-2020: The KMT is undergoing a policy revamp to try and win back popular support, but faces an uphill struggle. such as:

◆ al jazeera, 2022-5-30: Taiwan legislature erupts in violence over "secret expenses" bill / KMT lawmakers try to block bill they say could be used to overturn ex-President Chen Shui-bian’s corruption conviction. Lawmakers armed with signs and loudspeakers, pushed and shoved each other and threw water and paper (fake money) to prevent a third reading of the bill. Chen was found guilty of misusing funds by fake receipts etc. brief from aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/30/brawl-breaks-out-in-taiwan-legislature United Daily, Taiwan, 2022-5-31: A formal member of Special Investigation Division says if losing the last line of defense, there would be no law to punish president's connecting public monies with a private or personal burse... udn.com/news/story/122808/6352386?from=udn_ch2cate6638sub122808_pulldownmenu_v2

◆ New York Times, 2-12-2021 (nytimes.com/2021/02/12/world/asia/taiwan-kuomintang-china.html) : The Beijing-friendly party, KMT has been criticized (1) out of touch with modern Taiwanese life (2) mind-set is more conservative (3) signal the identity crisis ... They have espoused democratic values and human rights, promised to recruit younger members and better engage the public, and sought to distance the party from Beijing.

◆ National Interest, 2-4-2021 ( nationalinterest.org/feature/taiwan’s-kmt-ideological-crossroads-177608?page=0%2C1 ): Taiwan’s KMT Is at an Ideological Crossroads. As China exerts immense pressure on Taiwan, the party will have to make a choice between more viable electorally or become a pro-Beijing wrecking ball?

◆ aljazeera 11-12-2020 (aljazeera.com/features/2020/11/12/why-are-taiwans-new-generation-a-test-for-the-kmt) points out the China-friendly party KMT is on the ropes in that the coffers are running dry, greying heavyweights're still trying to manipulate the agenda, and their patriarchal culture makes reforms difficult.

◆ Diplomat, 4-21-2021: the “pro-mainland” Kuomintang and Ko Wen-je’s Taiwan People’s Party pose no credible opposition against the prevailing ruling party (thediplomat.com/2021/04/beijings-military-heavy-approach-to-taiwan-locks-the-us-and-china-in-a-security-dilemma/ )
◆ United Daily, 11-14-2020 editorial, (udn.com/news/story/7338/5014020?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2): the ruling party threatened the opposition to silence important issues like national security, food safety, economic industry chain, by "questioning the government is equal to anti-USA".
◆ Japan's Nikkei Asia (11-19-2020) notes that as China ramps up its threats against Taiwan, the KMT is "burdened" by its pro-China image. the KMT believes maintaining the consensus brings stable cross-strait relations, although youngsters may say the KMT is old and conservative (e.g., on same-sex marriage issue).
◆ South China Morning Post, 2-6-2021:"Taiwan needs a strong leader"! Jaw Shaw-kong's return to politics could spark infighting within KMT and would be a serious threat to the DPP if allowed to run for president.
◆ China Times, 2021-6-18, editorial: opposition law makers now are even hard to to request for data files, not to mention to boycott the ruling party. chinatimes.com/opinion/20210617005424-262101?chdtv

◆ United Daily, 2021-8-1, editorial: KMT lacks aggressions, political landscape on political issues and agenda, its member put personal future above party's future. udn.com/news/story/7338/5641637?from=udn_ch2_menu_v2_main_cate (民進黨失德失能失政)
◆ United Daily, 2021-7-12, editorial: Legislative Yuan (parliament) suppose is the highest public opinion institution, however, the leader of law-makers of ruling party is willing to follow president's intention and cover up administration's mistakes, opposition failed to stop they pass every their legal cases, Taiwan's democracy therefore is more and more opaque. udn.com/news/story/7338/5594717?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2

The China Times (chinatimes.com/opinion/20200806005356-262105?chdtv), opinion (8-7-2020): Originally the parliament provides effective checks and balances on the power of president, but 6-times amendments of the Constitution by former president Lee T.H. eliminated the key mechanism of democracy, balance of powers, therefore leads to endless corruptions - the "Sunshine Law" trickly Justifies taking bribes , and a weird phenomenon - the premier takes the responsibility but lacks of power, the president hold the power but no responsibility. United Daily, 7-28-2020, editorial: CPP lawmakers in parliament are worse than a "rubber stamp", just followed every order the administration gave, therefore the parliament already lost its own voices. Moreover, the president seriously intervened Judicial Yuan, and the Control Yuan now becoming a oversight board with political inclination and partization. Once all five powers are under president's control, how can we maintain a system of democracy & freedom ? Therefore, even DPP friendly media, the Liberty Times, (editorial, 1-12-2020) criticized the ruling party ( dominance in power ) was rotten and smells. One example is the opposition DPP in 2012 staged a brute-force, five-day-four-night-long occupation of the Legislative Yuan podium to resist "toxic beef" ( US beef with Ractopamine ), but now in 2020 the ruling party DPP announced the decision on easing restrictions on US pork and beef imports without consulting parliament, legislative caucus, and farmers.

Denmark's Democracy Perception Index 2021 ( DPI ) shows that democracy in Taiwan was threatened by US: 58%, Russia: 20%,China : 65%, Foreign election interference - agree 55%, unfair elections and/or election fraud - Agree 46%. allianceofdemocracies.org/initiatives/the-copenhagen-democracy-summit/dpi-2021/ After the ruling party DPP picked up legislative majorities. Lawmakers changed the law so as to easily recall current mayors or law-makers, which successfully ousted a China-friendly Kaohsiung mayor in June 2020, correspondingly, the opposition KMT recently worked on recalls of pro-independence law-makers antagonistic toward China. In Wall Street Journal at 2022-1-7 (wsj.com/articles/revenge-recalls-spark-debate-in-taiwan-how-much-democracy-is-too-much-11641558601), Lev Nachman at the Harvard thinks Taiwanese politicians should hopefully spend their time on Chinese infiltration and Taiwan preparedness for a potential Chinese invasion; National Chengchi University's Mr. Lin Jia-he (林家和) said:“In Taiwan, opposing recalls means you're against democracy".
France 24, Reuters, 2021-12-18: Taiwan's opposition suffered a major setback on Saturday after voters rejected four referendums (france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20211218-taiwan-votes-against-referendums-on-us-trade-in-major-setback-for-opposition) al jazeera , 2021-12-18: Referendums that, if approved, might have affected Taiwan's ties with key backer the United States and its energy security failed to pass on Saturday, in a major setback to the opposition which had cast the votes as a show of no-confidence in the government. (aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/18/taiwan-referendums-fail-in-major-setback-for-opposition) United Daily , editorial, 2021-12-19: Pan-Blue (opposition) internally attacked each other, some among them intentionally kept a distance with four referendums 。(udn.com/news/story/7338/5972353?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2)

United Daily(聯合報) , 2022-5-30, 2022-5-29, editorial: Taiwan premier Su (蘇貞昌) reprimands that a TV celebrity Antony Kuo (郭彥均) sharing a message "Seeing so many children just past away like that" (「看到這麼多孩子，就這樣走」) on his Facebook, Su says the message is a rumor or incorrect information, and will call him to account, investigate and deal with the issue accordingly (斥責「不實謠言」，將究責查辦) . However, during the CovID Omicron outbreak since about April 2022, Taiwan's child case-fatality rate (確診死亡率) is 10 times that of Japan and 8 times that of South Korea, and in Singapore, there's even no any child was dead for CovID-Omicron - therefore, " so many children just past away" is not a rumor or incorrect information. The public feel disgusted, angry and intolerable at the government's reckless suppression of free speech. How can Taiwan's adm. calls itself a "government of democracy".

Furthermore, The Liberty Times, editorial (7-21-2020) reports only 2.3% Taiwanese politicians are trustworthy and have professional ethics, according to a survey half year ago, 56% Taiwanese note elected representatives (lawmakers, councilman, etc) care their own interest, only 9.3% think they care "national interest". Washington Post (7-22-2020) reports: In a major speech in January 2019, Xi (Chinese president) offered an ultimatum to Taiwan to come to the table for unification talks or face annexation by force. Then, in Mar., the PLA warplane crossed the Taiwan Strait "median line" that has served as a "de facto border" (Newsweek, 8-11-2020) or "the de facto cease-fire line" ( Japan's asia nikkei review, 8-13-2020) for the first time since the end of Chinese civil war in 1949 (Newsweek, 8-12-2020). However, Taiwan's government was tight-lipped about this ultimatum, a everyone's life-and-death issue, otherwise pro-Independence Tsai I. W. may not easily continue in presidential office in Jan. 2020, because, according to National Interest (6-16-2020): more than 60.3 percent of the respondents opposed Taiwan's independence if it is followed by China’s military invasion... The government likes to hold referendum but ignores the democratic results such as issues of fossil-fuel power station, using nuclear to nourish renewables, same-sex marriage. Pork barrel appointments to offer rich patronage benefits to its own men and creating false public opinions by internet army also drew a lot of critiques.

Brookings, April 2021 (brookings.edu/events/difficult-choices-taiwans-quest-for-security-and-the-good-life/ ), notes Taiwan's elections are free, civil and political rights are protected; However, sustaining economic growth, caring for an aging population, and reducing inequality are continuous challenges. As for China’s ambition, Taiwan’s political system has, at times, made implementing solutions more difficult.

Reuters Institute, 2021 (reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2021/taiwan) : Taiwanese citizens have historically low trust in the news but the media's role in emphasising public health messages may have contributed to a significant rise this year.
　

Taipei Times, 2021-12-30: A Poll conducted by the ruling party showed that 53.2 percent of respondents are satisfied with Taiwan’s democratic practices, while 40.6 percent are dissatisfied, with respondents in their 20s being the most satisfied, and those aged 60 or older the most dissatisfied. taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2021/12/30/2003770419

According to Economist EIU (UK) Democracy Index '19 released in 2020, Taiwan is a "Flawed democracy" country, its overall score is not better than those in previous 5 years, "political culture" score (5.63) is same as that of Liberia 、Kenya 、 Cambodia 、Myanmar, etc; "political participation" score (6.11) is even less than that of Kenya or Lebanon; but the score of "Electoral process and pluralism" and "Civil libertie" reached 9. Economist "In Sickness and In Health ?" ( economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/02/02/global-democracy-has-a-very-bad-year) Democracy Index 2020 (published in 2021) gives Taiwan full democracy status (Electoral process & pluralism 10, Functioning of gov. 9.64, Political participation 7.22, Political culture 8.13 ). According to Nikkei Asia (Japan, 2-4-2021 asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Taiwan-leapfrogs-Japan-and-South-Korea-to-top-Asia-democracy-table ), NTU professor says the rise of Taiwan's ranking was mainly driven by higher scores in the functioning of government ( a better job in containing the pandemic ) and the political culture (President Tsai Ing-wen does not accept a "one country, two systems" arrangement with Beijing in early 2019 ). However, some emperor could do a good job in both - containing the pandemic and dealing with China, not to mention Taiwanese government hid Beijing's ultimatum issued in January 2019 (according to Washington Post , 7-22-2020) to Taiwan from Taiwanese. TIME, 2021-5-20: a False Sense of Security, and a Little Secret Tea, Broke Down Taiwan's COVID-19 Defenses. time.com/6050316/taiwan-covid-19-outbreak-tea/

Denmark's Democracy Perception Index 2021 ( DPI ) shows:

State of democracy
country	N	my country is democratic	Perceived Democratic Deficit	There is "not enough democracy"	"The right amount of democracy"
US	1049	50%	28%	45%	39%
Taiwan	1031	71%	12%	12%	66%
S. Korea	1051	68%	19%	12%	75%
Japan	1050	48%	13%	24%	67%
China	1082	71%	14%	13%	71%

According to Denmark's Democracy Perception Index 2020 ( DPI ) , the largest annual study on democracy, conducted & released by Dalia etc at 6-15-2020:

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Democracy Perception Index, released in 6-15-2020	Taiwan	China	Korea	Hong Kong	Japan	Singapore	USA
My country is democratic	78%	73	75	37	46	65	49
Democracy is important	85%	84	85	64	60	80	73
% believe there is not enough democracy in their country	9%	10	7	45	23	21	36
interference from a foreign power will likely influence the results of their country 's next election	57	omitted	60	omitted	45	omitted	omitted
https://daliaresearch.com/blog/democracy-perception-index-2020/

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Why do 78% Taiwanese believe Taiwan is a democratic country, 73% Chinese think their country is democratic, but only 49% American, 46% Japanese believe so? there're many reasons, such as some people set higher or better standards, some are ignorant, etc ...
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● Freedom and democracy are at surface level
EIU: Although the terms “freedom” and “democracy” are often used interchangeably, Democracy can be seen as a set of practices and principles that institutionalise, and thereby, ultimately, protect freedom. Taiwan is a country of freedom and democracy at surface level. In outward way, Taiwan volunteers to be a "tool" under US deep control in that Taiwan can't compete with China in both hard power and soft power. Inwardly, ―― Physicians, nurses complaining about shortage of masks, medical experts suggesting Corona-virus general testing, all hence were attacked by internet army ( United Daily, 6-30-2020, editorial, Next TV news (壹電視) 3-10-2020 ). Taiwanese government even hides basic information about epidemic from the public to intentionally endanger all ! ( UDN 聯合報, editorial, 3-27-2020 https://udn.com/news/story/7338/4446968 ) Is Taiwan a free-speech or democratic country ? China Times (11-23-2020, https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20201123004041-262103?chdtv ) reports that Taiwan president Tsai I.W. volunteered to be American's "pawn", ... the US directly designated Tsai to Presidential Office (美國直接點名要蔡連任).

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● perfume of democracy still works ?

Dr. Joseph Nye ( former Dean of the Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, an American political scientist ) stated at Dec. 8, 2010 : "The answer is as long as Taiwan stands for democracy and human rights, that will be impossible ( the Americans make a deal and sell out Taiwan for something that they want from China) in American political culture.” . Bloomberg, 8-20-2020: there is a three-fold rationale for helping Taiwan defend itself... One of them is to demonstrates that the Chinese Communist Party has long argued that democracy and Chinese culture are incompatible, is nothing but a nonsense. White House 10-24-2019: America will always believe that Taiwan’s embrace of democracy shows a better path for all the Chinese people. Glaser of the German Marshall Fund said. “We would lose all credibility as a leader and an ally,” especially if Washington didn’t act to support a fellow democracy. (VOX 2021-5-5, vox.com/22405553/taiwan-china-war-joe-biden-strategic-ambiguity) Weekend Australian , 2021-5-8: a paper of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute argued the Americans would be determined to keep Taiwan out of Beijing’s control - one among 4 reasons is the principle of democracy. (theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/thinking-the-unthinkable-about-china-and-taiwan-is-part-of-deterrence/news-story/0eee328f13d7864fe702a27faacbe2e5)
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Therefore, Taiwan prefers being called "democracy" rather than "Taiwan" in order to survive China's aggression. In Washington Examiner (12-7-2020 ), Taiwan told the UK-based Guardian that “We have the responsibility of safeguarding our own democracy to show to the international community that democracy can survive and democracy is a better path for mankind.” Washington Times (12-17-2020 ): Taiwan's de facto U.S. ambassador says "We are determined to defend that democracy" , instead of "defend Taiwan"。 But, actually, Taiwan has not intended to promote a truly democracy, instead, repeatedly suppress democratic voices. Taiwan needs "democracy" on purpose.

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However, National Interest (12-22-2020, https://nationalinterest.org/feature/strategic-dilemma-taiwan%E2%80%99s-democracy-174953) advises "Taiwan cannot assume that its democracy guarantees either its security or its sovereignty". "Taipei cannot escape the reality and the proximity of China’s power; the diplomatic and material constraints on U.S. power; and the economic interdependence both Taiwan and the United States have with China". Economist, 2021-5-1 (economist.com/briefing/2021/05/01/chinas-growing-military-confidence-puts-taiwan-at-risk) also mentions Taiwan’s government is painfully aware that preserving their democracy is not in itself a vital national interest for anyone else. Instead, Taiwan stresses the importance of its semiconductor industry. ( but those chips are hard to exchange Pfizer vaccines which most Taiwanese want.)

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● Taiwan democracy & gangsters

◆ DPP - United Daily, editorial, 2021-5-7: The underworld gang links with the legal syndicate, or the gangsters parasitize the political party, which certainly leads to deviation and collapse of the adm. order. (udn.com/news/story/7338/5439377?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2) Apple Daily, 2021-5-7: Many citizens are still blind to DPP ruling the country by "black-gold" gangsters and bureaucratic factions. The "big guys" of gangs such as 黃承國 can decide or influence which democratical representatives will reach the stage of electoral campaigns for law-makers, city-councilors, even president. President Tsai won't be able to crack down gangsters. (tw.appledaily.com/forum/20210507/AWDMO7WLEBCAZCIYHGO7UBA4DA/ 趙少康)
◆ KMT - Wikipedia : 'The Kuomintang (KMT; Chinese Nationalist Party) has frequently been criticized in Taiwan for its connections to gangsters and black gold. The party has had a long association with underground societies, and its founder Sun Yat-sen had joined the Triads to gain support for the Republican Revolution'. One big case is Taiwan sent some gangsters to politically murder an American writer Henry Liu (Chiang Nan, "江南", or Liú Yíliáng, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Liu ) in the U.S. to stop his new book to be published , under strong pressure from the US , eventually Taiwan's highest ranking intel. official was heavy punished. The Liberty Times, editorial, 2021-5-5: KMT got more underworld gang issues. (talk.ltn.com.tw/article/paper/1446916)

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● Press Freedom

<Reporters Sans Frontieres> (RSF, France, 2021-4-20) comments Taiwan’s journalists are suffering from a very polarised media environment dominated by sensationalism and the pursuit of profit. Although President Tsai Ing-wen has said she wants to continue developing press freedom in Taiwan, few concrete measures have been taken to improve journalists’ editorial independence and encourage media to raise the quality of the public debate. <Reporters Sans Frontieres> (RSF, France, 5-16-2020) comments Taiwan's unhealthy “blue-green” political polarization hinders journalism in its role as a balancing power. Digital News Report (June, 2020) by University of Oxford (UK), Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism: Only 24% Taiwanese trust in news which remains one of the lowest in Oxford survey. Taiwan's Apple Daily, editorial, 6-16-2020: Taiwan's politics still intervene or meddle media. Apple Daily, editorial, 7-19-2020: distortional and deteriorated media-politics connections are everywhere which hurt Taiwan's democracy.
　

2021 World Press Freedom Index, RSF (Reporters without Borders)
Country / Ranks in recent yrs.	2021	2020	2019	2018
Norway	No. 1	No. 1	No. 1	No. 1
Korea	No. 42	No. 42	No. 41	No. 43
Taiwan	No. 43	No. 43	No. 42	No. 42

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Taiwan Shuts Pro-China TV Channel in Battle over Press Freedom
media	Cti TV side	NCC side
Reuters 11-18-2020	...citing evidence of interference from a Beijing-friendly tycoon amid fears over China's campaign to win support on the island. there was no evidence that CTi had received Chinese government funding. and key shareholder Tsai has previously rejected accusations of newroom interference. Taiwan's main opposition party, said it opposed the decision, as it could have a "chilling effect, strongly impacting press freedom"	CTi had been fined for several violations such as failure to check facts and endangering the public interest
Bloomberg 11-18-2020	Taiwan Shuts Pro-China TV Channel in Battle over Press Freedom TV station says its closure is politically motivated the latest example of the often fraught relationship between press freedom and concerns over Chinese influence in Taiwan’s fiercely competitive media landscape. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-18/f-16-disappears-off-taiwan-s-eastern-coast-fate-still-unclear	NCC says Chung T’ien News violated broadcast regulations The key issue is its largest shareholder Tsai Eng-meng is directly and indirectly involved in the production of news programs
Guardian, 11-18-2020	“Today is the darkest day for freedom of the press and freedom of speech in the 30 years since Taiwan’s liberation,” CTi has been accused of acting as a mouthpiece for Beijing and lobbying against the Democratic Progressive party (DPP) government, led by Tsai Ing-wen, and in favour of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/18/pro-china-tv-station-in-taiwan-ordered-off-air-over-disinformation	Pro-China TV station in Taiwan ordered off air after Taiwan’s media regulator found it had failed to address serious and frequent findings of bias and disinformation. CTi had devoted 70% of its airtime to the KMT mayor of Kaohsiung, Han Kuo-yu, who unsuccessfully challenged Tsai in the presidential election. In January, CTi was fined for airing false statements by a KMT politician without factchecking or interrogating the claims before broadcast
AFP, Yahoo News Australia, 11-18-2020	Many of the large media outlets are openly partisan, backing Beijing-friendly politicians or their opponents "It is completely and utterly hypocritical for governments to invoke press freedom only when it fits their agenda," tweeted KMT chairman Johnny Chiang. 　 It called for NCC to make public all the evidence it examined and apply the same standards to all future license reviews regardless of their political orientation.https://au.news.yahoo.com/taiwan-pulls-plug-china-friendly-100647362.html	He has sparked criticism in the past for being overtly pro-Beijing and imposing his political preferences on the media outlets he owns. The NCC accused Tsai of making direct and indirect interventions in news coverage by CTi. One example was a false report that local farmers had to dump massive quantities of pomelo fruit last year because they were unable to sell their produce to mainland China as relations soured.

Focus on Taiwan, 11-18-2020	at the time of the hearing that the Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) government was looking to close the station, effectively threatening Taiwan's media freedom CTiTV called the day "the darkest" for the freedom of press and speech since martial law was lifted over 30 years ago. In denying the license renewal based on two reasons -- the number of complaints that led to fines imposed on the station and the interference of a major shareholder -- the NCC "ignored the issue of political manipulation and disregarded communication theory and practice," CTiTV said. "Under the NCC's current standards, every news stations in Taiwan should be shut down,"	Though CTi News submitted eight measures during the review process to improve the situation, Chen contended that none of them would have eliminated the interference of major shareholders in its news.
China Times, editorial 11-19-2020	Freedom of the press is dead! ! ! The ruling authorities ignored the Constitution's guarantees for freedom of speech. The National Communications Commission (NCC) betrayed the establishment purpose of the Constitutional Freedom of Speech stipulated in Article 1 of its Organic Law and decided to shut down the CTI News Channel. This was a naked, a blatant political ruling. NCC finished the assignment Taiwan president Tsai gave. In the 2018 elections, CTI TV stood on the opposite side of the ruling party. As a result, the DPP suffered a fiasco, the authorities grew enmity and decided to revenge CTI. The reasons NCC claimed for shutting down the CTI are completely ignorant of media practice and even violate the basic principles of communication. If the same standards are used, should all news stations in Taiwan be shut down? The gov, wants to kill one to scare many, and forces all media to follow the authorities, otherwise the same would be the case.	United Daily, China Times, Apple Daily, Liberty Times are four major news in Taiwan. Cti and China Times are belong to same media group
UDN, editorial, 11-19-2020	NCC passed the elimination of CTi News with "no objection" . Another symbolic meaning is: this is a "beheading" of Taiwan's freedom of speech, because the DPP government no longer allows "objection." From today on, NCC is no longer an independent institution !
Apple Daily, editorial, 11-19-2020	We express our regret for NCC's Shutting Cti TV Channel The National Communications Commission (NCC) rejected the Zhongtian News Channel’s renewal case results in a harm to the image of Taiwan’s press freedom, We express our regret for this.
LTN 11-19-2020	no comment by this pro-DPP media

● Freedom of expression

Taiwan's Apple Daily, editorial, 3-29-2019 : Democracy and freedom are the bottom line, the ruling party should not create chilling effect. Global Times, 2021-3-29 : Taiwan DPP's dark "online army" underbelly in misinformation campaign / At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the infamous "online army" masterminded an attack against the World Health Organization (WHO), the DPP's "online army" which manipulated and meddled in an online public opinion field of more than 20 million people on the island. GT found out that the departments affiliated to the DPP administration and relevant foundations are the financial supporters and "base camp" for these online "army" forces. "The DPP can collude with social media such as PTT, Facebook, print media, electronic media, and TV programs". globaltimes.cn/page/202103/1219763.shtml

　

　
　

　

　

pic.: No.1 "Taiwan democracy" on Webcrawler, 2022-2-10, 2021-6-1, 11-14-2020, 8-8-2020, 7-24-2020, 6-25-2020, 6-21-2020

　

　

　

　

pic.: No.1 "Taiwan democracy & freedom" on US Yahoo search, 2022-2-10, 2021-5-9, 2-28-2021, 1-11-2021, 12-15-2020, 11-28-2020, 11-14-2020, 10-29-2020, 10-8-2020, 9-5-2020, 8-22-2020, 7-22-2020

　

　

　

　

pic.: No.1 "Taiwan democracy" on US Yahoo search engine, 2022-2-10, 10-14-2020,

2022-2-9, 9-15-2020, 9-9-2020

No.1 "Taiwan democracy" on MetaGER of Germany, 2022-2-10, 8-8-2020, 7-24-2020, 7-6-2020

　

　

　

　

　

pic.: The FBI (on seat) followed a Chicago mob into a restaurant, which resulted in FBI's loss in law-suit and a headline news.
　

　

　

　

◆ United Daily editorial, (3-31-2019) : Taiwan Legislative Yuan (parliament) dropped "Staking Prevention Act."... which is about at least 60 years behind the US.
Taiwan's secret police don't have guts to admit their 'crimes'.

◆ People's Daily, commentary, 10-15-2020 : Taiwan Intelligence strictly monitors Taiwanese people by so-called "Green Terror"
◆ Taiwan has been a 'police state' for many years, see TV and news reports & opinions :
Taiwan Yahoo News 7-8-2020: KMT and former president Ma noted Taiwan's security laws (National Security 5 laws, Anti-infiltration Act) is about same as Hong Kong national security law
United Daily, 2-11-2-2018, headline news: "The Big Brother is Watching You" almost certainly leads to "chilling effect" (「寒蟬效應」)
United Daily, opinion, 12-21-2017, 12-27-2017: State violence and white terror (product of state violence) return in Taiwan.
SET(三立電視), 9-24-2013 "Secret agents govern the nation (特務治國)" www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBdZCdYrwF4; Era TV, 年代電視, 9-22-2013; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1b4R2m6K3g; "Secret agent systems resurgence to control the nation (特務復辟治國)"; United Daily (9-19-2018): "secret police" (「東廠們」) were already active around us.
　
　

　
★《 Formosa TV news 》, 12-2-2020

　
《民視新聞》, 12-2-2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sRXHqIrPLU
　

pic. left: KMT Nationalist party legislative caucus accused of being monitored by police officials, KMT slammed the government's abusing its power。

slogan: 『Big scandal ! The gov. monitors the parliament - The Executive Yuan stubborn to admit mistakes. The Legislative Yuan keeps science, It is a sadness for Taiwan's democracy 』

　

FTV news : is it a persecution ? or a painstaking operation ? The answer is in Pan-Blue's heart !

　

　
　
　

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◆ Lots of banners are hanged on fence with lots of black X-shaped barbed iron wire,
Taiwan parliament near Control Yuan to protest slow judicial reform ( photo at 7-14-2020 )
ps: sometimes you just can not do anything other than fights by "fist" or words to those unfair judgment by the court or prosecutor office
The Diplomat 7-16-2020: Taiwan president Tsai plans to make Chen Chu the first chief of a newly established human rights commission.
The Liberty Times 2-28-2020: Taiwan's transitional justice is far behind the schedule.
( govt. should work on today's political persecution first of all, instead of those happened may up to 70 years ago )
　
　

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pic.: No.1 "Taiwan democracy" on SwissCows of Switzerland, 2021-6-1, 2021-5-31, 2021-5-9, 2-28-2021, 11-14-2020, 8-8-2020, , 7-24-2020, 6-25-2020, 6-21-2020 ( item above is an advertisement )

pic. : No.1 "Taiwanese democracy", on Yandex of Russia, 2021-11-15; No.2 "Taiwan democracy"on Yandex of Russia, 2022-1-3, 2021-12-29; among top ranks at 2022-3-22 ;pic.: No.2 "Taiwan democracy" on Yandex of Russia, 2021-11-15, 2021-6-2

No.2 "Taiwan democracy" on US Yahoo search engine, 8-23-2020

pic.: No.2 "Taiwan democracy" on QWANT (most well-known French search engine), 7-24-2020

No.2 "Taiwan democracy" on Yippy (IBM), 7-24-2020

No.2 "Taiwan democracy" on Dogpile, 6-15-2020
No.2 "Taiwan democracy" on US Yahoo search engine, 8-22-2020

No.2 "Taiwan democracy" on US Yahoo search engine, 9-5-2020

pic.: No.2 "Taiwan democracy" on US Yahoo search engine, 9-6-2020

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● views from international media

According to Brooking.edu (brookings.edu/research/taiwans-democracy-and-the-china-challenge/), Taiwan faces a special and perhaps unique challenge in balancing democracy and security ( threats from PRC ). Civil society activism reflects a growing disenchantment in some quarters with the performance of representative institutions. Taiwan's political system remains fairly gridlocked and largely consumed by long-standing differences over domestic issues, such as how to maintain economic competitiveness and ensure equity, and so on. political leaders have been unable (or unwilling) to formulate the tough choices surrounding Taiwan’s China challenge, much less to make those choices or articulate them to the public.

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Taiwan News 6-20-2020: Taiwan President Tsai said "Taiwan beat corona virus without sacrificing democracy". Japan Times (https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2020/03/02/commentary/world-commentary/democratic-taiwan-outperformed-authoritarian-china/#.Xtw1MFUzaUk) at 3-2-2020 comments that democratic Taiwan outperformed authoritarian China because only when we ensure the free flow of information in a democracy can we construct a healthy society, Taiwan proves that the democratic strategy is successful in curbing the spread of COVID-19. However, New York Post 4-25-2020 : Taiwan deals with CovID-19 with "a lot more authoritarian.", "almost everyone is tracked.". Taiwanese govt. responded at 4-28-2020 that Taiwanese would like to cooperate with our policy. But the truth is Taiwan's "Big Brother" already sneaked into numerous families in the name of Epidemic Prevention, by an injunction violating Tort Law and domineering over Constitution (凌駕憲法的侵權禁令) , without having noticed all nationals, in accordance with United Daily, editorial at 5-7-2020. The ironic thing is all studies (CNBC 5-7-2020, Singapore's Blackbox Research and Toluna, Forbes 6-5-2020, 4-16-2020: The Deep Knowledge Group) concluded China is better than Taiwan on CovID-19 safety countries rankings.

	experts, scholars, media
1	The Guardian, 2021-6-14 theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/14/how-taiwan-struggle-for-covid-vaccines-is-inflaming-tensions-with-china	“Pfizer and BioNTech have a huge incentive to ensure that the Fosun product is equivalent, so I would think there is no concern,” ... refusing it is “entirely political”. it still seemed “in the DPP’s electoral interest not to get any China vaccines”. “It would be foolish to say no
2	The Diplomat, 2021-9-10; thediplomat.com/2021/09/the-politics-of-taiwans-covid-19-response/	Vaccines are Probably used to make inroads on the youth vote ... High-ranking politicians were found to have violated the vaccination priority order to be vaccinated...Taiwan’s first real COVID-19 outbreak engendered fierce political debates between the DPP and the KMT
3	China Times, editorial, 2021-9-8 chinatimes.com/opinion/20210907005525-262101?chdtv	BNT-Pfizer doses are used to draw votes and please ruling party's base. is "cold-blood", "losing their souls"
4	United Daily, editorial, 2021-9-12; udn.com/news/story/7338/5739883?from=udn-catelistnews_ch2	What the DPP’s ruling party really cares about is how to grab votes; Ignoring older populations and giving priority to teenagers and young students for inoculation obviously is an example of anti-science.
5	National Taiwan University professor, King ChwanChuen (金傳春), 2021-9-1	CDC should not turn into a election campaign center, priority for youngsters is a wrong strategy totally. (根本是錯誤的政策, 指揮中心不應變成選票中心)
6	United Daily, May 2022	Some widely-known Law makers cut in queue to take PCR test, left behind lots of people (some are high risky) waiting and even died in long lines, sunny or rainy udn.com/news/story/7338/6313780?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2 udn.com/news/story/11091/6325951?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2
7	戰鬥藍趙少康 www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKhGXGiEdYA	DPP law makers give directions to CDC and abuse the power of allocating vaccines to please and draw young people's votes (以BNT配票? 吃相難看! 綠立委下指導棋, 派系治國, 不但搶功, 還搶分配權, 希討好年輕人)
8	CTV News, 中視, 2021-9-2,"庶民大頭家", youtube.com/watch?v=C3KcfEW9Z4M	No any country worldwide prioritized vaccine doses for those between the ages of 12 and 22, Western democratic countries prioritized the elders and the vulnerable. Obviously Taiwan's government does it on political purpose.
9	China Times, editorial, 2021-6-26 brief https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20210625005286-262101?chdtv	Taipei mayor Ko and New Taipei mayor Ho, as well as Academic Sinica 陳培哲, etc were under horror-attacks by government's internet army/ on-line army (都難逃網軍岀征的恐怖性攻擊)

Trust in news ? Reuters Institute, 2021
Trust in news overall 31%	Trust in news I used 38%
Trust in news in search 29%	Trust in social media 21%
Public service television remains the most trusted in our survey, followed by the economic news media (CommonWealth and Business Weekly). The rest of the news brands in the polarised media landscape are trusted by one group, but distrusted by another.

Democracy Index 2021: the China challenge eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2021/
	score	rank	Electoral process and pluralism	Functioning of government	Political participation	Political culture	Civil liberties
Norway	9.75	1	10	9.64	10	10	9.12
NZ	9.37	2	10	8.93	9.44	8.75	9.71
TW	8.99	8	10	9.64	7.78	8.13	9.41
Australia	8.9	9	10	8.57	7.78	8.75	9.41
Korea	8.16	16	9.58	8.57	7.22	7.5	7.94
Japan	8.15	17	9.17	8.57	6.67	8.13	8.24
Flawed democracy
USA	7.85	26	9.17	6.43	8.89	6.25	8.53
Singapore	6.23	66	4.83	8.21	4.44	7.5	6.18
ps: The China Times, editorial, 2022-2-14 ( chinatimes.com/opinion/20220213002834-262101?chdtv) comment that Taiwan's moving upward has benefited from some other democratic countries' (such as Nederland, Canada, Australia) lockdown which affects their scores on "civil liberty". Drawing Taiwan in anti-China campaign is possibly a motivation. Actually Taiwan is electoral authoritarianism instead of democracy. They take innovative and meticulous method to cover democracy's falling back.

EIU Democracy Index Overall Score on recent yrs	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015
Korea	8	8	8	7.92	7.97
Taiwan	7.73	7.73	7.73	7.79	7.83

		US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 2022-4-12 : In 2020 presidential and legislative elections, President Tsai Ing-wen won re-election,...there were allegations of vote buying by candidates and supporters of both major political parties. USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices, 2021-3-30: There were allegations of vote buying by candidates and supporters of both major political parties (KMT and DPP) in Presidential election in 2020.	N.Y. Times, 12-1-2019: the soft underbelly of Taiwanese politics: patronage networks. They continue to allow community leaders, farmers’ associations and even organized-crime figures to buy votes ( NY Times, opinion : https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/01/opinion/china-taiwan-election.html ).

Economist EIU Democracy Index, released in 2020	Korea	Taiwan	Norway
Overall Score	8	7.73	9.87
Electoral process and pluralism	9.17	9.58	10
Political participation	7.22	6.11	10
Political culture	7.5	5.63	10
Civil libertie	8.24	9.12	9.71
Functioning of government	7.86	8.21	9.64
rank	23	31	1
EIU: at a minimum, the fundamental features of a democracy include government based on majority rule and the consent of the governed; the existence of free and fair elections; the protection of minority rights; and respect for basic human rights.

Democracy Index 2021: the China challenge eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2021/

Democracy Index 2021: the China challenge
eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2021/