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. 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:

◆ 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.

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.

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.

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/

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 SearchEncrpt, 2021-6-1, 11-14-2020, 8-9-2020

　

　

　

　

　

pic.: No.1 "Taiwan democracy" on Ekoru (New Zealand), 2021-6-1,11-14-2020, 8-9-2020

　

　

　

　

pic.: No.1 "Taiwan democracy" on Givewater, 2021-6-1,11-14-2020, 8-10-2020

　

　

　

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

　

　

　

pic.: No.1 "Taiwan democracy" on US Yahoo search, 9-15-2020

　

　

　

pic.: No.1 "Taiwan democracy" on US Yahoo search, 9-9-2020

　

　

　

　

pic.: No.1 "Taiwan democracy" on MetaGER of Germany, 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 !

　

　
　
　

★

★

　
　

　

　

　

　

　

◆ 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 )
　
　

★

pic.: No.1 "Taiwan democracy" on Yahoo (Taiwan), 2021-6-1, 2-7-2021, 11-14-2020, 10-8-2020, 9-5-2020, 8-19-2020,
8-8-2020, 7-26-2020, 6-28-2020, 6-25-2020, 6-21-2020

pic.: The site "Taiwan democracy & freedom" was at top of US Yahoo search engine, 11-14-2020, 10-29-2020

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

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

pic.: No.1 "Taiwan democracy" on Excite, 2021-6-1, 11-14-2020, 8-8-2020, 7-24-2020, 6-25-2020, 6-21-2020 ( items above are ads )

pic.: No.1 "Taiwan democracy" on SwissCows of Swiss, 2021-6-1, 11-14-2020, 7-24-2020, 6-25-2020, 6-21-2020

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

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

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

pic.: No.2 "Taiwan democracy" on Dogpile, 6-15-2020
　

pic.: No.2 "Taiwan democracy" on US Yahoo search engine, 8-22-2020

pic.: 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

★

● 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.

★
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 after lifting Coronavirus Lockdown, Japan doesn't trust Taiwan's Epidemic Prevention, and has not put Taiwan on their welcome list, furthermore, "democratic" Taiwan was excluded from EU's list of 'safe' countries, but "authoritarian" China was included (July 1, '20). The China Times, editorial (6-6-2020, 6-25-2020) analyzed one main reason for this is Taiwan rejects mass testing, even small-scale testing, the number of test per million people is 3000+, ranked world No. 138, about same level as that of African countries, even African Luanda tested double number of Taiwan's. Apple Daily 7-8-2020: expert 何美鄉 warned many infected people without symptom were in Taiwan. A study published in the medical journal Lancet (Oct. 1, 2020) estimates 11,800 Taiwanese were infected with CoronaVirus by July 2020, the number is 25 times more cases than Taiwan's official number. United Daily, editorial (10-31-2020) already pointed out that Taiwan already "exported" dozens COVID-19 infected cases to a number of foreign countries, not sure yet who should be responsible for that. https://udn.com/news/story/7338/4977422?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2 ABC news, USA (12-15-2020) reports that Taiwan sets only 60% of population vaccination goal. Therefore, those free flow of information can be suspicious and may endanger world people. United Daily, opinion, 7-16-2020: Taiwan takes 'ostrich' strategy to keep good CovID-19 record. (The med group leader of Central Epidemic Command Center is NTUH physicians and vice president of NTU ) UDN 6-30-2020 editorial: Some experts suggesting general testing were attacked by internet army (dark force in Taiwan) for that reason. New York Times, 4-21-2020: A widely cited paper estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. According to Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, USA, "somewhere between 25% and 50%" of people infected with the new coronavirus may never show symptoms or fall ill — but can still transmit the illness to others (4-15-2020, Business Insider). Bill Gates in the New England Journal of Medicine: The prevalence of asymptomatic transmission doesn't bode well for global containment efforts. 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, although this doesn't mean "authoritarian" is more welcome than democracy ― dogs like to bark sometimes.

★

There're some other fulsome compliments from Western media, e.g., "The island has a strong record on human rights, and a well-functioning judicial system ... to place Taiwan in stark contrast with mainland China". But according to National Chung Cheng university's survey, 80.9% Taiwanese don't trust legal system (CTS TV news, 7-10-2019), USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices at 3-13-2019 and 4-20-2018 both criticized that Taiwan's justice ministry was insufficiently independent and conducted politically motivated investigations of politicians. Furthermore, Taiwanese suffered internet army's cyber bullying, suppression of free expression , and state machine's persecutions, etc. Global Times, 12-9-2020: Taiwan authority ‘persecutes mainlanders, pro-reunification activists' by 'Political persecution, framing charge' (globaltimes.cn/content/1209528.shtml ). Taiwan's <The China Times>, 2-26-2020, editorial: Behind Taiwan's democracy are more and more uncontrolled administration and withered law-making power, Taiwanese freedom of speech was suppressed and limited by the administration and judicial system at all levels, ... as for Taiwan's political culture ― only partisan, stand and ideology matter.
★

● Taiwanese voters lack of rationalization

Besides, Taiwanese voters' democratic voices and choices kept changing, even reversed, people might be very obedient (<Liberty Times, 1-4-2016>, FTV, 3-8-2018, etc), practical but lack of rationalization (<Apple Daily> editorial, 10-22-2019, <United Daily>, headline news, 9-3-2009) or lack of full knowledge of the subject matters.
For instance,

◆ Taiwan's perception in a general sense is that China won't attack (WSJ, 2021-4-22), in spite of world experts' warnings.

Financial Times, 2020-10-1	China claims Taiwan as its territory and says it reserves the option to seize it militarily. The Taiwanese public had grown numb to that 71-year-old threat, after living in peace and de facto independence for decades. ft.com/content/947f568f-a763-4d14-93bb-157e2f5df625
Brookings, 2021-3-30	Most Taiwan people aren’t worried about imminent attack, because 40 years since U.S. derecognition of the Republic of China (ROC) have passed without war... brookings.edu/on-the-record/understanding-beijings-motives-regarding-taiwan-and-americas-role/
Telegraph, 2021-4-24	Prominent local media coverage in Taiwan about the military drills has generated little sense of alarm among the public, which is largely inured to decades of Chinese intimidation tactic ...“Belief in US intervention is quite strong,” news.yahoo.com/taiwan-mobilises-virtual-army-thwart-014347358.html
Wall Street Journal, 2021-4-22, Reuters, 2020-10-2	an underlying factor affecting Taiwan's preparedness was that most Taiwanese don't believe China would attack ... insufficient to ensure Taiwan can leverage its ... workforce, and patriotic population to channel Taiwan's inherent advantages necessary for a resilient defense reuters.com/article/us-usa-taiwan-china/u-s-says-taiwan-military-budget-boost-insufficient-for-resilient-defense-idUSKBN26R3SH
The Liberty Times, Taiwan (自由時報), 2021-4-28, editorial	Indeed, many fellow nationals believe China won't attack Taiwan, ... this is because, on the hand, China's united front strategy (統戰) works, on the other hand, they blinded about or were ignorant of China's wolf warrior character (昧於老共狼性)。 talk.ltn.com.tw/article/paper/1445598

◆ hate it or like it

German Institute for Int'l and Security Affairs 2-7-2020, and ABC Radio National, Australia, reported at 2-27-2020 that "the (China's) heavy-handed way in which protesters were dealt with in Hong Kong made Taiwanese voters uneasy ..."(eventually led to president Tsai's landslide victory in 2020) , but Taiwanese already knew (China's) heavy-hand in Tiananmen Square, or knew nothing about 13 students in Kent University protest were shot by US "soldiers" ... New York Times, 6-6-2020 : today's voters in Taiwan Oust a Pro-China mayor (equals to US governor) reflects a hardening of Taiwan’s attitude toward China; However, Washington Post, 1-2-2017 pointed out 83 percent Taiwanese chose bread (economic tie with China ) over romance (independence); another poll in Jun. 2018 showed China has higher favorable than unfavorable rating in Taiwan...

★

Democratic voices & choices kept changing, even reversed
New York Times, 5-12-2020, Pew Research Center	52% support closer economic ties with China, only 36% favor closer political ties. (ps: China Times, editorial, 6-13-2020: 41.5% exports from Taiwan to China, 14.5% to the US.)
Brookings, 1-22-2021	Only 23% thought that democracy was more important than economic development. 16% believed that protecting political freedom was more important than reducing economic inequality
New York Times, 1-19-2019	Most of Taiwan's 23 million people are in favor of maintaining the island's de facto independence without taking any formal moves that might bring a military response from China
L.A. Times, 8-1-2019	opinion surveys conducted by the Taiwanese government that show more than 80% of islanders prefer autonomy.
Washington Post, 1-2-2017	Taiwanese are not willing to pursue independence at all costs. Many are concerned with the economy. When asked to choose between formal independence or maintaining economic ties with China, 83 percent chose bread over romance.
Liberty Times, Apple Daily, China Times, 6-18-2018, FocusTaiwan 6-17-2018	China has higher favorable than unfavorable rating in Taiwan: poll / A survey conducted by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation (台灣民意基金會) found China with a 48.8 percent favorability rating among respondents and a 43.9 percent unfavorability rating, the first time a majority of respondents in the annual poll saw China favorably.
Apple Daily (Taiwan), opinion, 10-11-2017	Only 5- % Taiwanese favour independence or unification, about 70% in total are for conditional independence and conditional unification.
National Interest, 6-16-2020	even when support for the independence movement is highest in history now, “maintaining the status quo forever” and “decide later” still has over 50 percent of the support among the public. Another survey results also showed that the public understands that the status quo is a choice of convenience, in which more than 60.3 percent of the respondents opposed Taiwan's independence if it is followed by China’s military invasion... https://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-taiwan-continues-fear-chinese-invasion-162879
Most Taiwanese really are on the side of formal independence? it depends. ◆ The LOWY Institute (Australia) , The Interpreter , 6-16-2020 : treating Taiwan as a conduit to frustrate Beijing imperils Taiwan’s security ... ◆ Tamkang University Int'l Relation & Diplomacy honorable professor Chen ( 陳一新) made comment in the China Times (6-11-2020) : party organs ( internet army ) were fanning the flame of China- hatred (「仇中」) 、anti-China (「反中」) sentiment ... https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20200611004964-262105?chdtv ◆ United Daily (6-12-2020) criticized that the government deliberately stir up enmity towards China, and make TW-Chn relationship to go the road of No Return udn.com/news/story/7339/4630282?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2

★

Taiwanese volonté générale can be misled, be divided and conquered, or be collapsed by plots.
Take pork and beef with controversial drug Paylean or Ractopamine as an example. The European Union, China, Taiwan and many others, in total 160 countries, have banned the drug, ractopamine hydrochloride's use to keep pigs lean and boost their growth, citing concerns about its effect on human health. However, Wall Street Journal and Financial Times (UK), 8-28-2020 reported Taiwan eventually eases limits on American pork and beef imports; certainly under pressures. To quell popular grievances and mislead public opinions, the DPP government conducts ostensible or phony "push polls" ( Apple Daily, 9-4-2020, https://tw.appledaily.com/forum/20200904/74IKBMZM2ZA75PDOAPKVBYLLSI/ 趙少康傳真 ) to propaganda the whole island by tool-media , and fixes a core member of democratic movement against US beef & pork by giving him an agriculture secretary position and tackling the groups. ( United Daily, editorial, 9-9-2020; https://udn.com/news/story/7338/4845537?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2) , then the democratic voice was mostly silenced.

To solve cross-strait issue, I believe a democratic discussion or persuasions open to all Taiwanese would be in accordance with China's interest - poverty-reduction and poverty-eradication campaigns, as well as US policy as the Telegraph and Yahoo News (11-23-2020) reported, and certainly, much better than reunification by force or a black-box deal among politicians.

★★

★

Democracy

★

★ New York Times, 1-10-2020: Taiwan has been the target of a Russian-style social media disinformation campaign by China, designed to exploit social divisions and undermine democracy. Taiwan was the territory most exposed to foreign disinformation.

★

	Former Taiwanese president Lee Teng-hui dies 97
★	● New York Times, 7-30-2020: Lee Teng-hui worked to end the animosity between those born on the mainland and the native Taiwanese. He pushed the concept of “New Taiwanese,” a term suggesting that the islanders — no matter their backgrounds — were forging a new, common identity based on a democratic political system and growing prosperity.。...Taiwan is now the most democratic society in the Chinese-speaking world,” The Times declared in a 1992 editorial.
	● TIME, 7-30-2020 : Former Taiwanese president dies 97, ... The son of a Japanese police aide. In late 1996, Lee declared that relations between Taiwan and China had the character of relations between two separate states. The retiring Lee was still blamed for the split, and the KMT party moved to expel him. Lee himself backed away from wanting a formal declaration of independence for Taiwan, insisting it already was, given the island was not Chinese Communist-controlled. (brief) https://time.com/5873614/former-taiwanese-president-lee-teng-hui-dies-97/
	pic.: CTS (華視新聞雜誌) ● Chinese Television Service (CTS 華視新聞雜誌), 7-31-2020, 8-1-2020 11:46 am: Lee Teng-hui put to use a secret fund section out of supervisory mechanism, strictly speaking, that's corruption of his own.
★	● South China Morning Post: Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) won the first democratic presidential poll in 1996. But with Lee's ' Mr Democracy' image tainted by allegations of corruption, the DPP ended five decades of KMT rule in the election of 2000. This was a turning point for Taiwan's democratisation. 'It was the first transition of power in Taiwan, and notably conducted in a peaceful way...But the DPP's rule lasted for only eight years, with president Chen Shui-bian bowing out at the end of his second term after he was implicated in a series of corruption scandals which subsequently landed him in prison.. Next president Ma Ying-jeou took policy 'No unification, no independence and no use of force,' ... read TW's democracy history: https://www.scmp.com/article/981433/why-taiwan-ended-one-party-rule-and-embraced-democracy

★ Brooking.edu (brookings.edu/research/taiwans-democracy-and-the-china-challenge/)

★ Since 1996 , there have been three transfers of power between the KMT and the DPP. (brief)

★ German Institute for Intl and Security Affairs, 2 -7-2020 www.swp-berlin.org/10.18449/2020C07/

Taiwan’s Threatened Democracy Stays on Course / Fear of China’s Dictatorship Pushes Taiwan’s President to a Landslide Victory

the People’s Republic will continue to try to infiltrate Taiwan’s democracy ...

★

★ Wall Street Journal, Jan 24, 2020 www.wsj.com/articles/taiwans-democracy-is-thriving-and-needs-support-11579902281

Taiwan’s voters have spoken. They cannot give up on their freedom and democracy, and the international community’s support is all the more important ...

★

★ Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/theworldpost/wp/2018/10/05/taiwan/

Taiwan is revolutionizing democracy 10-5-2018
TAIPEI — Compared to the established democracies of the West, Taiwan's is still in its infancy ...

★

★ White House 10-24-2019: we've stood by Taiwan in defense of her hard-won freedoms... recognized Taiwan’s place as one of the world’s great trading economies and beacons of Chinese culture and democracy... while our administration will continue to respect the One China Policy — as reflected in the three joint communiqués and the Taiwan Relations Act — through checkbook diplomacy, over the past year China has induced two more nations to switch diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing, increasing pressure on the democracy in Taiwan... America will always believe that Taiwan’s embrace of democracy shows a better path for all the Chinese people. ( https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-vice-president-pence-frederic-v-malek-memorial-lecture/)

★ Washington Examiner 10-4-2018: Pence: China should follow Taiwan’s lead to democracy / [China’s] Communist Party insists that Confucian cultures, with their high regard for social hierarchy and top-down authority, are inherently unsuited to liberal democracy,” ( https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/pence-china-should-follow-taiwans-lead-to-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 Taiwan authorities have no politically reliable strategic plans. They have no idea what Taiwan's future will be like, and cannot predict what strategic resources Taiwan's "freedom and democracy" could bring to the island to confront the mainland.
★ Global Times, 9-18-2020: Washington wants to use Krach's visit to send a clear signal to Beijing - "The island of Taiwan must 100 percent obey the US".

★ Le Monde, France, 6-4-2020 "Taïwan déterre les crimes de la dictature de Tchang Kaï-chek"

https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2020/06/04/taiwan-deterre-les-crimes-de-la-dictature-de-tchang-kai-chek_6041742_3210.html

il s’agit pour la démocratie taïwanaise de creuser l’écart, d’un point de vue moral, avec une Chine continentale engluée dans l’autoritarisme...
(KMT), l’ex-parti unique, qui se posait en défenseur de la démocratie mais se préoccupait avant tout de veiller au grain. brief
( ps: President Tsai should works on not only transitional justice - political violence in early years, but also today's political persecutions)

★

★ Copenhagen Democracy Summit /   Taiwan President Tsai via video
       Democracy is in our DNA. It is what makes us Taiwanese. To forfeit our freedom would be to forfeit the foundation of our nation ... democratic Taiwan — with its respect for the rule of law, human rights, and intellectual property, its talented workforce, and its strong and trustworthy track record in high-tech industries—welcomes your investment.
         (ps: China preparing for 'military struggle' as Taiwan row intensifies / Express UK, 6-17-2020   ps2: Taiwan's justice     ps3: Taiwanese human rights )

★ CGTN 6-22-2020: China's the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council commented on Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen's recent video speech at the "2020 Copenhagen Democracy Summit," calling it another "political manipulation" under the banner of "democracy." " ...(the use of force ) is targeted at the interference by external forces and a very small number of separatists and their secessionist activities"。https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-06-22/Mainland-calls-for-cross-Strait-unity-against-Taiwan-independence--RxbHik9L5m/index.html
★★

★ The China Times (中時社論), editorial, 6-20-2020, "The deep black hole of DPP's power and corruption" : Democratic Progress Party (DPP)'s goal was knocking down KMT's authoritarian system, but till now, after having transferred the power for 3 times, DPP looks more and more like the way KMT was ― excessive centralization of powers， connecting politics, legal field、 business、 media、 and internet circle all together， their political handling is even more new & high, hardly meet balance of powers， hence Taiwan's democracy is in crisis 。Besides, The men in power have tendency to freely allocate resources to their own men or same faction people。... The deep black hole greedily, unrestrainedly and recklessly sucks resources and damages the foundation of Taiwan's democracy, without challenge and balance from oppositions etc 。

★

★ The China Times (中時社論), editorial, 7-22-2020: Full governance is by no means a crime or sin. Only single-party dominance with suppression and without checks & balances, and supervision is a ground for corruption. (1) The stronger the power, the more the resources, the oversight boards might turn a blind eye to many aspects of supervision for coveting or expecting rewards (2) The inertia of those in power only wants to maintain the status quo.
It is extremely difficult for politicians in power to resist corruption by self-discipline. This is the essence of the separation of powers in democratic countries. (brief) https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20200721004729-262101?chdtv
★

★ The Liberty Times, editorial 7-22-2020 ( 自由時報社論, 台灣民主進步了嗎？ )
★ Is our democracy civilized?

The DPP reiterated slogans such as "integrity & honest " , which may mean "not to forget their motive in the first place". However, political slogans can be shouted as a magnificent beauty, the reality, in practice, inevitably has many problems to be tested, factions issue is one of them. The DPP passed the "dissolution of factions" case at the party conference in 2006, but fourteen years later, the party is still known for its factions, and the ugly performances between factions often shocking us.

Other issues such as the judicial reform as well as the Control Yuan system and personnel cases. The ruling party must communicate with the opposition and the society important and obvious reasons, and must avoid the arrogance of power which a stepping stone to rottenness. (brief) talk.ltn.com.tw/article/paper/1387735

★

★ Apple Daily (蘋果日報) 7-24-2020:

The problem lies not only on corruption, but also "blindness" and "deafness." The arrogance of power neither want to hear bit 'offensive' but sincere advice from the people, nor see the needs of the people. The authority thinks they represent all the people's opinions. (brief) 趙少康傳真 tw.appledaily.com/headline/20200724/OT4WVP4GMH7X2RXUSO3OPYJBAI/

★

★ United Daily (聯合報), 7-25-2020:

The corruption of the DPP is certainly the inevitable secularization of the party, but the majority of people tolerate the DPP is also the key reason.
Take the corruption of legislative power as an example. The Sunflower Student Movement was caused by the KMT legislators abusing their power. However, in today's parliament, the Sunflower Movement lawmakers and the Wild Lily generation lawmakers not only have ignored the ruling party DPP's abuse of power, but also acted evilly in collusion with DPP / 王健壯, visiting professor of Shih Hsin University / 全面執政而不腐化是神話

★

★ comment Taiwan's corruption 8-7-2020 : https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20200806005356-262105?chdtv (CTN opinion) https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20200806004891-262101?chdtv (中時社論) ; https://udn.com/news/story/11091/4760933?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2 https://udn.com/news/story/7338/4762357?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2 (聯合報社論) ; https://tw.appledaily.com/headline/20200807/LP5HJVDXGF7MH7AELGX4574EM4/ ( 蘋論 )

★

★ Sunflower movement marked a major milestone on Taiwan’s road to civil disobedience
◆ The Diplomat, 8-16-2019: The cross-fertilization of social movements has played a crucial role among activists from Hong Kong and Taiwan, especially among an entire generation influenced by the twin movements of 2014 — Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement and Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution. ( https://thediplomat.com/2019/08/taiwans-silk-road-of-democracy/ )
◆ New York Times, 10-15-2019: On March 18, 2014, hundreds of young activists, most of them college students, occupied Taiwan’s legislature to express their profound opposition to a new trade pact with Beijing then under consideration, as well as the secretive manner in which it was being pushed through Parliament by the Kuomintang, the ruling party. the Sunflower Movement protesters demanded that the pact be scrapped and that the government institute a more transparent ratification process. (

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/15/opinion/taiwan-digital-democracy.html By Audrey Tang)

◆ The Diplomat, April 2020 : Taiwan High Court Overturns Acquittals, Finds Sunflower Movement Protesters Guilty / The High Court’s decision to overturn not guilty verdicts for seven protesters who stormed the Executive Yuan led to outrage from civil society figures. ( thediplomat.com/2020/04/taiwan-high-court-overturns-acquittals-finds-sunflower-movement-protesters-guilty/ )

◆ Taipei Times, 5-27-2020: The 2014 Sunflower movement marked a major milestone on Taiwan’s road to civil disobedience; it is the duty of conscientious citizens to protest unjust government actions by openly breaking the law to achieve a higher moral aim, while at the same time being willing to face the consequences.

In a constitutional democracy, citizens are endowed with the inherent right of civil resistance, because the state is given sovereign power by the people based on the principle of popular sovereignty.

Citizens are entitled to engage in civil disobedience if a democratic government chooses not to play by the constitutional rules. In 2014, then-president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, without complying with democratic rules, intended to arbitrarily finish the legislative process of the Cross-Strait Service and Trade Agreement (CSSTA).

Yet on April 28, the High Court, overturning a lower court’s not-guilty verdict, denied that civil disobedience was applicable and found seven Sunflower movement figures guilty of inciting people to storm the Executive Yuan on March 23, 2014. ( https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2020/05/27/2003737099 5-27-2020; https://hongkongfp.com/2018/03/13/taiwan-high-court-upholds-acquittal-sunflower-activists/ )

◆ United Daily (Taiwan) , 4-28-2020: The Sunflower movement 魏揚 is guilty. ( https://udn.com/news/story/121084/4524163 )

★

★ Japan《日本経済新聞》(The Nihon Keizai Shimbun) , 5-21-2020, editorial: "外界應再度注視台灣民主政治的價值"。( ref. to 蘋果日報, 5-22-2020 )

Taiwan's democracy based on free election is 25 years old. The opposition party plays an important role for Taiwan to keep its democratic politics running well, sincerely hope the Nationalist (KMT) should reflect on itself and be strong again in the field ( https://tw.appledaily.com/international/20200522/46DUCW47GH3JHOZ32U5N255BPI/ )

Taiwan's Apple Daily, editorial, 6-10-2020 : Taiwan's democracy is in big crisis if the ruling party has solid power and has been "dividing the spoils" by factions (派系分贓), without the mutual power control by a healthy and strong opposition party. Taiwan's democracy is not perfect, and is hard to make progress ... Taiwanese people are obviously depressed and have nothing they can do about it. The solution for Taiwan's democracy is : have politicians' heart in the right place - not to be a greedy pig ! ( tw.appledaily.com/headline/20200610/57JG3H2B2TITZXPBZBVEE7UBKI/)

★

★ Washington Monthly, 3-11-2020, "The Anomaly of Taiwanese Democracy" https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/03/11/the-anomaly-of-taiwanese-democracy/

China also did itself no favors with its response to protests in Hong Kong, which Tsai and her DPP colleagues used as a powerful cautionary tale. Tsai won the largest victory of any presidential candidate in the history of the island. But another crucial factor in Taiwan’s defiance was the United States, which has provided Taiwan’s government with arms and for decades sought to deter Chinese aggression against the island. This has created a degree of reassurance for Taipei in the face of China’s overwhelming military dominance. (ps: After nearly twenty years of exhausting and pointless war in the Middle East and Afghanistan, it’s not wrong to ask whether the American public is ready to involve itself in yet another overseas conflict predicated on strategic reasoning that is largely irrelevant to the major challenges facing the United States today.)

★

★ Australia's ABC Radio National, 27 February 2020 www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-27/taiwan-independent-nation-democracy-in-shadow-of-china/11981540

       It's a vibrant democracy... a record 57 per cent of the electorate voting overwhelmingly for Tsai Ing-wen's ...
       Why?
       (1) (CCP) the heavy-handed way in which protesters were dealt with in Hong Kong made Taiwanese voters uneasy ...

(2) "The KMT ( widely seen by analysts as being far more pro-Beijing ) must convince the general public that it only engages the mainland for the purposes of creating peace, and that it would never sell out Taiwan,"

★

★ The China Times, 6-23-2020 https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20200622004443-262105?chdtv

A survey by KMT (Nationalist Party) think tank (國民黨智庫) found 13.7% Taiwanese favor KMT, 32.9% for DPP, KMT does not have enough balance of powers. (親綠智庫最新民調顯示，小英施政滿意度贊成者61%、不贊成者33%，和5月相比贊成者下降10.5%、不贊成者暴增16.3%；政黨支持度民進黨雖最高，但也下滑13.6%，降至28.2%，國民黨支持者增加2%，達16.2%，和民進黨差距仍顯著，民眾仍不希望一黨獨大。) / 中國文化大學廣告學系專任教授兼系主任

★

★ <Foerign Policy> 2015: Taiwanese politics belong to the mega-corporations (not the people), and are controlled by politicians.

Apple Daily, editorial, 12-14-2019: Taiwan gov. shows authoritarianism political culture, ignoring and being hostile to those critics. Apple Daily, editorial, 12-7-2019: in this bad election morality age, Taiwan president becomes a low threshold, min. qualification criteria position, and a laughingstock.

★

★ <United Daily 聯合報> (Taiwan), 1-8-2020 editorial: The ruling party gradually normalizes (make it a routine work) 『cyber assassination (網路暗殺)』, even Taiwanese army, police, national security systems (國安軍警體系) have to participate in "internet army" to infiltrate in internet communities and to monitor public opinions (brief). 。 <聯合報> 1-6-2020 : internet army/Cyber force ('楊蕙如們') still have been doing media-framing by fake messages, getting along with the authorities to do all kinds of cyber-bullying, verbal-bullying ... trying to make a white by lots of blacks, to damage judicial systems, democracy, and to degrade our social morality ... (brief / 聯合筆記陳言喬)

★

★ <United Daily 聯合報> (Taiwan), 6-10-2020, editorial: Voters in Taiwan ousting a Pro-China Mayor is a victory by DDP on surface, but the state machine (「國家隊」) getting handsy with the matter sacrifices democratic system of organization as well as administative neutrality.

★

★ United Daily 聯合報 (Taiwan)， editorial 1-11-2020 ／庶民起義：在台灣民主與倒退的分水嶺 ( https://udn.com/news/story/7338/4280658 )

The govt. repeatedly violated human rights, harmed democracy, and damaged constitutionalism, from bad to worse。 For instance, the adm. units were used as instrument by the ruling party DPP to attack its political opponents and to break administative neutrality 。Since the 'secret police' are everywhere, lots of ordinary people were reported by police for trivial matters, National Taiwan University president elected failed to take office， business-men were afraid to be tagged with unfair label, more seriously, the president gave order to law-makers to pass specific national-security law, the Control Yuan members publicly threatened law-officers' freie Beweiswürdigung ...，all these endanger Taiwan's democracy and freedom.

1. a chief of internet army (楊蕙如) was charged and was found her connection with pan-green coalition ... DPP not only refused to admit its mistake but also let internet army members have their own way to attack some other targets.
2. the govt. encouraged policemen to report nationals' posts on the net, and to enter citizens' house for further understanding related details ... harsh government damaged freedom of speech.
3. The Legislative Yuan passing 《Anti-infiltration Act》 violated Procedural Justice， and spread "Green-terror" net against targets.
4. 林靜儀's saying: any national advocating unification with China us committed the crime of treason, leaks Pan-Green coalition's secret, furthermore, the new national security law possibly makes anyone to be a criminal. (brief)

★
★　United Daily 聯合報， editorial 1-21-2020 ／ No covering authoritarianism by sovereignty， No suffocating Taiwan's democracy ( https://udn.com/news/story/7338/4301790 )

It's ironic to Taiwan's democracy : Spreading the feeling of subjugating our country shifts focus from the govt. hollowing out democracy, and slowness of the economy, broken social security net. (brief)

★

★ Apple Daily，(Taiwan) 3-29-2019 editorial：藍綠白都不可失守的底線 ( https://tw.appledaily.com/headline/daily/20190329/38294369/ )

Democracy and freedom, pluralism are Taiwan's core value and strong instrument for Taiwan's security and development.
KMT dealing with CCP should base on Taiwanese interest to maintain stability of Taiwan strait. DPP should trust people's judgment and self-defense mechanism of the system of Taiwan's democracy and freedom ― the public power should do things (maintain freedom of speech, press freedom, parties' competitions ) in moderation, the authority should not fish in troubled water and create chilling effect to repress dissidents, otherwise pose a grave threat to prospect of Taiwan's democracy and freedom。 (brief)

★

★ The China Times，中時社論 (Taiwan)， editorial　6-5-2020 ( https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20200604004931-262101?chdtv )

Taiwan has more TV news channels than most other countries, but Taiwan's media environment worsens， particularly, in recent years media were often managed and controlled by political power. NCC, a weirdo institution rarely seen in democratic countries is the main trouble-maker.

Basically, NCC has two measures to deal with those govt.-unfriendly and hostile-forces news stations， one is giving penalty fine, another is giving them a hard time to review and approve review Permit Application, or even cancel their license, CTI (中天) and TVBS are two victims because NCC taking double standards ― they ignored 年代TV station's misleading headline : Taipei mayor's wife had affair by word-play (「柯妻紅杏出牆之戰？因酸阿中」、「啥，佩琪嗆離婚？紅杏？」) .
Furthermore, NCC illegally put aside or put off TV's internal affairs such as the news position of TVBS Chairman of the Board、CTI director and warden ( 越權，連媒體內部事務，也插手 )， most public opinions still have no idea about NCC speeding up to Infringe the hope of Taiwan's democracy。(brief)

★

★ <United Daily 聯合報> editorial, 12-6-2018: Taiwan democracy in name only。 <UDN 聯合報> editorial, 3-7-2017: It's difficult for Taiwan to keep skin-depth democracy ... the people's "livelihood" was sacrificed for politics ... 。 <United Daily News>, editorial opinion, 6-23-2019: The operation of democracy usually strays off most public-opinions, ... fail to solve the adverse situation of reversing democracy;.. (brief)。<United Daily 聯合報> 10-20-2019: politics override the judiciary 。 <Liberty Times 自由時報> headline news、<China Times> headline news, 12-8-2018: people are angry about slow judicial reform ; <United Daily > headline news , 06-18-2016: prosecutors often follow orders to conclude cases ( "檢察一體長官常指導辦案") 。

★

★ <Transparency International>, 1-29-2019: Taiwan has stagnated in the Corruption Perspective Index rankings since 2011 with its score 61~63 (dropped 2 spots this year), in contrast, South Korea improved by 3 points in 2017.) In platform presentation at 12-25-2019, Nationalist Party Presidential candidate Han criticized President Tsai has allowed top officials around grow very corrupt, Tsai refuted KMT was more serious, People First Party candidate Song said that speaking of corruption and unfair judiciary, KMT and DPP are about the same. Apple Daily (12-7-2018) editorial : Taiwan's corruption is off the charts by collusions between government officials and business owners, furthermore, Taiwan's underworld going wild to assist government officials, business and some elected representatives (e.g., legislators) in corruption has been ahead of most corrupt countries, e.g., China, Indonesia, Brazil, Philippines, Vietnam, the stinky rotten food-chain crossing pan-Blue (Nationalist, KMT) and pan-Green (DPP) resurges after Taiwan's elections...( https://tw.appledaily.com/headline/daily/20181207/38199252/) ; Liberty Times, 1-12-2020, editorial: The administration's rottenness (腐壞氣息) smells already.... (brief)

★

Transparency org. "Have you paid a bribe in '13 ?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Corruption_Barometer
Country	Ranks	percentage of people paid a bribe
Taiwan	No. 68	36% paid a bribe
Korea	No. 7	3% paid a bribe
Japan	No. 4	1% paid a bribe
Transparency org. Asia-pacific 2017, "Has corruption increased recently ?", 26% Taiwanese: YES !

★

★ USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices, 3-11-2020: Some political commentators and academics, publicly questioned the impartiality of judges and prosecutors involved in high profile, politically sensitive cases. USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices, 3-13-2019: justice ministry was insufficiently independent and conducted politically motivated investigations of politicians. <UDN 聯合報> 1-6-2020 editorial: The government abusing the law has resulted in people's losing trust on law-enforcement.

★

★ CTN (中國時報, Taiwan ) ，3-29-2019, headline news : No "flaunting the democracy banner to oppose the democracy" ...

★

★ The China Times，editorial，(Taiwan) 1-11-2020 , 莫讓台灣民主登上屍速列車 ( https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20200111004051-262101?chdtv )

democratic politics are down falling and dying！

From today on, the internet army of pan-green coalition are everywhere， and will be more cocky for being escorted by Green power。 If anyone who criticizes the govt., opposes Taiwan independence, disagrees riling China (「抗中」「嗆中」)，will be watching by the intelligence and internet army 。

From today on, the authority masters 90% of media、99% internet army (other politicians founded internet army too)。 Separation of powers (三權分立)、Judicial independence、social supervision (社會監督) might be gradually nibbled by the authority. Police, prosecutors, judges, media ... might be led by the ruling party。 Justices of the Supreme Court 、Control Yuan members ( oversight board ) might all join pan-green coalition ...。《Anti-infiltration Act》 can be a good tool for the authority to repress dissidents, and suppress media。 (brief)

★

★ United Daily， editorial 1-8-2020, <UDN> editorial (聯合報社論) 11-14-2019／Taiwan's democracy turns into grave full of greedy politicians 。 (民主設計的良意，如今變成私欲墳場 https://udn.com/news/story/11321/4163629)


Economist (UK) EIU Country Ratings : Taiwan among Asia & Pacific countries
score 90: USA, Hong Kong, Singapore, NZ, score 72: Qatar, UAE , Japan, Australia , score 55: Saudi Arab, Malaysia, Korea, Taiwan

★

FREEDOM

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★
★ RSF, <Reporters Sans Frontieres>, France, (Christophe Deloire, Secretary General ) , LTN, 5-16-2020, Reporters Without Borders (RSF, Cedric Alviani ), Taipei Times, 12-17-2019
It is no secret that the Taiwanese media sector is plagued by sensationalism, undeclared advertising and an unhealthy “blue-green” political polarization that hinders journalism in its role as a balancing power, stirring public distrust. It is not that Taiwan lacks competent journalists, but most of them have to work under undue pressure and cannot count on legal protection against requests from their management that would go against journalistic ethics... Taiwanese government always took "press freedom" as an excuse to ignore them.
Five measures to reinforce Taiwan’s media:
1) establish regulations that effectively protect the independence of editorial departments from their employers and boards of directors
2) create in law a “duty of care” that would oblige online platforms to protect both users’ freedom of speech, and safety in regards to hate speech and manipulation
3) upscale the amount of financial resources allocated to public media outlets
4) support the emergence of new media outlets that aim to uphold journalistic ethics, through economic and fiscal incentives following a similar model to start-up development
5) emphasize critical thinking and media literacy in academic curricula and public education actions (brief)

★ New York Times, 12-3-2019: Social media platforms are another key battleground (Chn-TW): Nearly 90 percent of Taiwan’s population is active on them, and traditional news outlets have been known to republish fake posts without fact-checking. According to Reuters, Chinese government agencies have paid Taiwanese news outlets to publish pro-Beijing content.

★ RSF, <Reporters Sans Frontieres> (France ) , 12-16-2019, <無疆界記者致總統候選人的公開信>:
★

★ New York Times, 11-28-2018, Will Taiwan Be the First Domino to Fall to China?
The research institute of NHK ( Japan’s national broadcaster): influential media conglomerates in Taiwan have become pro-Beijing; their major shareholders have been given greater business opportunities in China’s vast market. Major Taiwanese newspapers and TV stations regularly feature content that hardly differs from that in China or routinely heap praise on Chinese leaders...

★ US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 3-13-2019 : the impact of the concentration of media ownership on freedom of the press, particularly among companies with People’s Republic of China (PRC) investment, self-censorship continued. Journalists said they faced pressure from management to submit news stories to complement or support the content of paid advertisements. Critics said product placement under the guise of news reporting undercut objective journalism, restricted journalists’ freedom, and undermined public trust in the media. Taipei officials pressured a magazine reporter to drop an investigative report about the city’s breach of personal information for more than 3,000 AIDS patients.

★<Reporters Sans Frontieres> (RSF, France) , 4-18-2019: Taiwan’s journalists are suffering from a very polarized 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. Beijing is exploiting this weakness by putting pressure on Taiwanese media owners, who often have business interests on the mainland. Beijing is also suspected of orchestrating online disinformation campaigns – a threat that could lead to questionable retaliatory measures by Taiwan such as refusing visas to Chinese journalists regarded as hostile. Taiwan ranks No. 42 in the 2019 World Press Freedom Index. https://rsf.org/en/taiwan

Taiwan should reflect on its mistakes, admit its mistakes, and correct its mistakes, at once.
Western country's rhapsody may delay its progress.
For precise meaning, Pls. ref. to Chinese language version

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

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.