Yesterday the local Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) argued that Hong Kong was more than ready for democracy.The council's consulting committee yesterday held a conference on Hong Kong and cross-strait development, and Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Director Tsai Jy-jon (
蔡之中 ) made public the conclusions reached."Although the selection of Hong Kong's chief executive has the form of competition, it is still a selection within a `small circle' and `birdcage democracy.' It cannot break the political structure that China has imposed on Hong Kong," Tsai said.
China is worried that universal suffrage would increase Hong Kong's autonomy and decrease identification with China. Beijing claims open democracy would affect social stability and economic development, and has postponed its pledge to implement universal suffrage.
"In fact, Hong Kong's society is stable, its economy is prosperous and it has sophisticated legal systems. Hong Kong is totally qualified for implementing full democracy," Tsai said. "China simply ignores Hong Kong's conditions."
Tsai said that about 70 percent of Hong Kong's people have said they want to directly elect their leader before 2012, and the audiences for the two televised debates between Tsang and Leong were unprecedented.
Today ESWN posted a response from the conservative Hong Kong rag Ming Pao on democracy here in Taiwan.
But Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council believes that Hong Kong is ripe for universal suffrage and, if implemented, the effects would be just as good as (if not better than) Taiwan. But precisely because the ruling party in Taiwan (Democratic Progressive Party) is pushing the Taiwan independence route which is causing longlasting tension across the strait, the various elections in Taiwan have created a negative impression to the Hong Kong people. The chaos has worried certain Hong Kong people. If Hong Kong were to realize the same political democracy in Taiwan, there would be chaos and instability.
The piece is simply a bit of anti-democracy drivel, the kind common in right-wing Chinese thinking -- blaming the DPP for causing cross-strait tensions to rise, and attacking democracy as the font of chaos in Taiwan. These two are also staples of Chinese propaganda attacks on Taiwan. The commentator also accused the DPP of "kidnapping democracy" in Taiwan, though in reality, democracy in Taiwan is a creation of the politicians now in the DPP. Fact is, it is now 2007, we've had democracy for more than decade, and the currency is stable, the economy is growing, people travel and comment freely, and social issues are openly and sometimes even robustly debated. The last few elections saw no instability of any kind -- and the last time around, "chaos" was created solely by the pro-China parties. To the kind of mind that inhabits Ming Pao, though, Taiwan's lively and free society will always be nothing more than anarchy. Sad.
[Taiwan] [Hong Kong] [democracy] [China]
3 comments:
If taiwan political parties, all of them, respecting democratic process. Then they will all have primary election for their presidencial candidates...none of them do? So in theory, the people just electing what the two major parties gives them...
I Think Thomas Jefferson once warn that the party system one day will doom the US democracy (also a standing armies).
Anarchy and chaos are not the same thing. Anarchy simply means without government. Chaos means without order. The former doesn't necessarily lead to the latter. And, there's at least one obvious example where chaos exists even with government.
Arty, the presidency is but one office. Taiwan is suppose to be implementing proportional representation for its legislature, which should help give 3rd and 4th parties a real shot at winning seats. For as much bad blood as there is between the DPP and KMT, for them to recognize the problems with the antiquated first-past-the-post voting systems is quite a testament to Taiwan's democracy. It'll be a cold day in hell before the USA even considers implementing such a voting system.
What is your fascination with Democracy? You do realize Democracy is a contest in which whoever can best manipulate public opinion wins absolute power.
China too claims to be a republic as do 99% of the countries on the planet. I got a real laugh out of Americans watching the Iranian election instability because rather than be shocked that there was fraud I think most Americans didn't have any idea that Iran HAD elections until that point.
ALL countries implement elections to create complacency in the people. The rich ruling elite only thrives more efficiently under the guise of democratic rule, where they can better finance puppets.
As bad as Pu Yi was (mostly ignorance, not malice), let us not forget the two successors of Guo Fu: Chiang Kai Shek and Mao Tse Tung, committed atrocities that make Pu Yi look like a saint.
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