Regardless of how the international community assesses the political life of former US president Ronald Reagan, for the people of Taiwan, his contributions during his eight years in office far outweigh his deficits. His policy that the Taiwan Relations Act was the only foundation on which the cross-strait political problem could be resolved swept away the shadows that had been gathering over Taiwan after then president Jimmy Carter broke off diplomatic relations in January 1979. Reagan helped Taiwan recover its confidence after that crisis in Taiwan-US relations.
In his dealings with Taiwan and China, Reagan's biggest mistake was to follow the advice of Secretary of State Alexander Haig, who advocated the erroneous policy of sacrificing Taiwan and joining with China to contain the Soviet Union during the early stages of the first Reagan administration. During a visit to China in August 1982, the Joint Communique of August 17 was signed, in which the US promised to gradually reduce arms sales to Taiwan. Fortunately, Haig resigned some months later and the Reagan government took measures to redress the damage done, issuing Reagan's "six assurances" the following year, in which the US stated that it would not set a date for termination of arms sales to Taiwan, not alter the terms of the Taiwan Relations Act, not alter its position about Taiwan's sovereignty, not recognize Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan, not consult with China over arms sales to Taiwan and not act as a mediator between Taiwan and China.
The "six assurances" were historically significant as they marked the first time the US made a policy announcement based on the Taiwan Relations Act. In dealings between Taiwan, the US and China, this statement provided substantial and clear guidance to subsequent US administrations and opened the way for the US to send its navy to patrol the Taiwan Strait. With the guarantees that this policy provided, Taiwan's military situation improved enormously, and the nation continues to benefit from these guarantees. When some call Reagan the "guardian of Taiwan," they are not exaggerating.
We cannot say that Reagan made direct or obvious contributions to promote Taiwan's democratic reforms. But he stabilized the cross-strait situation, and therefore gained precious time and space for Taiwan's democratic movement to develop.
During Reagan's presidency from 1981 to 1989, activists bravely established the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) -- the first opposition party in Taiwan's history -- even as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government led by then president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) made mistake after mistake in trying to suppress democracy, even going so far as to send gangsters to California in 1984 to assassinate writer Henry Liu (劉宜良), who had written critically of him. The DPP forced Chiang to tacitly recognize the party's existence, and this was a turning point for Taiwanese, who had endured almost 40 years of oppression under martial law. Finally, this vicious law that deprived the Taiwanese people of their freedoms of speech, publication, assembly and association was lifted in July 1987. In 1988, the ban on newspapers also was lifted.
The Reagan administration helped to provide a stable external environment for Taiwan, helping the Taiwanese people stand up again after the repression surrounding the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident. Taiwan's democracy activists were able to change the destiny of the people, eventually allowing the nation to cast off an autocratic regime and join the ranks of the world's democratic countries.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) has caused havoc with his attempts to overturn the democratic and constitutional order in the legislature. If we look at this devolution from the context of a transition to democracy from authoritarianism in a culturally Chinese sense — that of zhonghua (中華) — then we are playing witness to a servile spirit from a millennia-old form of totalitarianism that is intent on damaging the nation’s hard-won democracy. This servile spirit is ingrained in Chinese culture. About a century ago, Chinese satirist and author Lu Xun (魯迅) saw through the servile nature of
In their New York Times bestseller How Democracies Die, Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt said that democracies today “may die at the hands not of generals but of elected leaders. Many government efforts to subvert democracy are ‘legal,’ in the sense that they are approved by the legislature or accepted by the courts. They may even be portrayed as efforts to improve democracy — making the judiciary more efficient, combating corruption, or cleaning up the electoral process.” Moreover, the two authors observe that those who denounce such legal threats to democracy are often “dismissed as exaggerating or
Monday was the 37th anniversary of former president Chiang Ching-kuo’s (蔣經國) death. Chiang — a son of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), who had implemented party-state rule and martial law in Taiwan — has a complicated legacy. Whether one looks at his time in power in a positive or negative light depends very much on who they are, and what their relationship with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is. Although toward the end of his life Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law and steered Taiwan onto the path of democratization, these changes were forced upon him by internal and external pressures,
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus in the Legislative Yuan has made an internal decision to freeze NT$1.8 billion (US$54.7 million) of the indigenous submarine project’s NT$2 billion budget. This means that up to 90 percent of the budget cannot be utilized. It would only be accessible if the legislature agrees to lift the freeze sometime in the future. However, for Taiwan to construct its own submarines, it must rely on foreign support for several key pieces of equipment and technology. These foreign supporters would also be forced to endure significant pressure, infiltration and influence from Beijing. In other words,
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