Chinese culture has been around for more than 5,000 years and, in that time, rulers have exploited Confucian classics as a way to keep the people in check. Confucianism is intimately linked to feudalism and the persistence of feudal culture has been blamed as a key obstacle to democracy in China, Taiwan and Singapore.
Even today, you can still see evidence of this mindset throughout Taiwan and academia is no exception. I’ve always wanted to write a book on the modern face of feudalism, exploring why it has managed to survive the march of modernization in Chinese-speaking countries. I have never got round to it, as I don’t really feel qualified to attempt such a project, given the paucity of my knowledge in the humanities. Perhaps when I retire I’ll devote some time to it.
Ever since the era of former US president Ronald Reagan, the US has assumed that supporting economic development and universal access to education in China would result in the rise of a Chinese middle class and that would consequently allow democracy to emerge there. This view has proved to be wrong. Political power in China remains concentrated within a small elite, passed down according to a proscribed line of succession.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is cut from the same cloth, the difference being that Taiwan’s power elite actually have to participate in the electoral process to stay in power. For this reason, the KMT has maintained, to a certain degree, democracy, freedom and human rights. Worryingly, however, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his government are gradually eroding democratic freedoms, albeit in subtle and sophisticated ways, trying to return the nation to feudal authoritarianism. This is what China wants.
The ruler of a small country sends an emissary to the court of a powerful empire and pledges allegiance to the emperor, recognizing his authority. In return for his allegiance, he is bequeathed a small territory — let’s call it Taiwan — to preside over, on condition that he pays tribute at regular intervals, a mark of his continued loyalty. Sounds like feudal China to me, although it doesn’t take a huge stretch of the imagination to transplant this scenario into the 21st century. The only difference is that now everyone wears suits.
To be able to reinstate feudal authoritarianism it is necessary to gain control of people’s minds. First, the Confucian classics have been made required reading for students. The next step will be to adopt various tactics to control the media. I can see from my previous encounters with the KMT that, deep down, they haven’t changed one bit. A fresh set of clothes does not a new man make.
Democracy has taken root in Taiwan and grown over the past 20 years, but who knows whether it can survive in the face of this threat. I really do wonder how much the people who voted for Ma understand about politics. My fear is that they will fall for his rhetoric a second time and repeat the error by re-electing him next year.
If Taiwan wants to follow the practice of Western democracies, we need at least two major democratic political parties of comparable size, taking turns in government. The KMT has never been democratic, so strictly speaking party politics has yet to officially take off in Taiwan.
One hopes that the recent revolutions that have set the Arab world alight will have some kind of effect in the Chinese-speaking world. I am, of course, thinking particularly of China.
Andrew Cheng is a researcher at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences.
TRANSLATED BY PAUL COOPER
It is employment pass renewal season in Singapore, and the new regime is dominating the conversation at after-work cocktails on Fridays. From September, overseas employees on a work visa would need to fulfill the city-state’s new points-based system, and earn a minimum salary threshold to stay in their jobs. While this mirrors what happens in other countries, it risks turning foreign companies away, and could tarnish the nation’s image as a global business hub. The program was announced in 2022 in a bid to promote fair hiring practices. Points are awarded for how a candidate’s salary compares with local peers, along
China last month enacted legislation to punish —including with the death penalty — “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists.” The country’s leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), need to be reminded about what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has said and done in the past. They should think about whether those historical figures were also die-hard advocates of Taiwanese independence. The Taiwanese Communist Party was established in the Shanghai French Concession in April 1928, with a political charter that included the slogans “Long live the independence of the Taiwanese people” and “Establish a republic of Taiwan.” The CCP sent a representative, Peng
Japan and the Philippines on Monday signed a defense agreement that would facilitate joint drills between them. The pact was made “as both face an increasingly assertive China,” and is in line with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s “effort to forge security alliances to bolster the Philippine military’s limited ability to defend its territorial interests in the South China Sea,” The Associated Press (AP) said. The pact also comes on the heels of comments by former US deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, who said at a forum on Tuesday last week that China’s recent aggression toward the Philippines in
The Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday announced that the military would hold its annual Han Kuang exercises from July 22 to 26. Military officers said the exercises would feature unscripted war games, and a decentralized command and control structure. This year’s exercises underline the recent reforms in Taiwan’s military as it transitions from a top-down command structure to one where autonomy is pushed down to the front lines to improve decisionmaking and adaptability. Militaries around the world have been observing and studying Russia’s war in Ukraine. They have seen that the Ukrainian military has been much quicker to adapt to