The question of whether China's rise represents an opportunity or a threat to the world has been a topic of heated debate.
In 2003, Beijing came up with the slogan "China's peaceful rise," successfully triggering international thinking and debate about what a peaceful China means.
This concept, however, differs from the lesson that history teaches us.
Slogans about peace can themselves never bring about peace. World peace can only be achieved on the basis of democracy, and the rise of democracy is the best guarantee for peace.
Only when China rises democratically can it become a responsible stakeholder.
In 2000, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was elected president, completing the transition of power in Taiwan.
In 2004, Chen was re-elected, which allowed the DPP to continue with its efforts to consolidate and deepen Taiwan's democracy.
Although the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is no longer in power, it and other old forces and groups still enjoy a legislative majority. Therefore, the DPP government has yet to secure full power.
If the KMT wins the 2008 presidential election, I venture to predict that the influence of Chinese nationalism will cause the KMT leadership to move toward a more centered position between China and the US, and weaken the relationship between Taiwan and Japan.
This would not only mean that Taiwan will move toward China politically, but also and more importantly that democracy in Taiwan would regress in the same way it has regressed in Hong Kong, leading people to start doubting their faith in democracy.
The international community has always hoped to engage with China and transform the country into a mature market economy and a democracy. China has now opened up economically. But it is also attacking democracy.
It has even intensified its attacks and wantonly interferes with Taiwan's domestic political affairs and attempts to destroy the functioning of Taiwan's democracy. There is an abundance of examples that attest to this situation.
Taiwan's experience shows that a growing, undemocratic and authoritarian China will wield economic power to damage the democratic system of another country.
If it can hurt Taiwan, it can of course do the same to other nations. I believe that China is working to gradually erode the foundations of the alliance of democratic nations established by the US.
Let me reiterate that Taiwan's hard-won democratic achievements are now facing a serious threat.
Taiwan is the most important base for promoting democracy in China. The consolidation of democracy in Taiwan is crucial to enlarging the Asian democratic community.
The international community should therefore consider Taiwan an asset for democratic enlargement and give it firm support against China's threats and the crisis China is creating in Taiwan.
Yu Shyi-kun is the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party. Translated by Daniel Cheng
In 1976, the Gang of Four was ousted. The Gang of Four was a leftist political group comprising Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members: Jiang Qing (江青), its leading figure and Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) last wife; Zhang Chunqiao (張春橋); Yao Wenyuan (姚文元); and Wang Hongwen (王洪文). The four wielded supreme power during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), but when Mao died, they were overthrown and charged with crimes against China in what was in essence a political coup of the right against the left. The same type of thing might be happening again as the CCP has expelled nine top generals. Rather than a
The US Senate’s passage of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which urges Taiwan’s inclusion in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise and allocates US$1 billion in military aid, marks yet another milestone in Washington’s growing support for Taipei. On paper, it reflects the steadiness of US commitment, but beneath this show of solidarity lies contradiction. While the US Congress builds a stable, bipartisan architecture of deterrence, US President Donald Trump repeatedly undercuts it through erratic decisions and transactional diplomacy. This dissonance not only weakens the US’ credibility abroad — it also fractures public trust within Taiwan. For decades,
Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) on Saturday won the party’s chairperson election with 65,122 votes, or 50.15 percent of the votes, becoming the second woman in the seat and the first to have switched allegiance from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to the KMT. Cheng, running for the top KMT position for the first time, had been termed a “dark horse,” while the biggest contender was former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), considered by many to represent the party’s establishment elite. Hau also has substantial experience in government and in the KMT. Cheng joined the Wild Lily Student
Taipei stands as one of the safest capital cities the world. Taiwan has exceptionally low crime rates — lower than many European nations — and is one of Asia’s leading democracies, respected for its rule of law and commitment to human rights. It is among the few Asian countries to have given legal effect to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant of Social Economic and Cultural Rights. Yet Taiwan continues to uphold the death penalty. This year, the government has taken a number of regressive steps: Executions have resumed, proposals for harsher prison sentences
RSS