Academics assessing the nation’s democratic performance during the first half of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) term yesterday urged the public “to provoke disputes” to revive the system of checks and balances that they said has been noticeably weakened under Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) rule.
“The nation’s democracy has been in peril these past two years and I have been wondering on ways to resolve it, and my conclusion is that intellectuals must use [their] knowledge to provoke [public] disputes,” said Liu Chin-hsing (劉進興), professor of chemistry at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology.
Liu made the remarks at a forum hosted by Taiwan Democracy Watch to assess Ma’s performance ahead of the second anniversary of his inauguration on Thursday.
Taiwan Democracy Watch was formed by academics following the Wild Strawberry protest initiated by college students in November 2008 in opposition to the Parade and Assembly Act (集會遊行法) cited by the government when cracking down on protests over the visit of China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) that year.
Taiwan Democracy Watch listed 10 events that took place over the last two years that they said highlighted problems holding back democracy in Taiwan and showed the importance of civil society.
Topping the list was the execution of four death row inmates on April 30 after a de facto moratorium that had been in place since late 2005.
Chen Shang-chih (陳尚志), an associate professor of politics at National Chung Cheng University, said that one main problem with democracy in Taiwan is the longstanding malfunction of the system of checks and balances, as a result of which “the government is not held accountable.”
There is a widely accepted notion in Taiwan that the system of checks and balances in democracy exists between parties rather than agencies, but that is to misunderstand the nature of democracy, Chen said.
“Without a sound system of checks and balances between agencies, the government fails to clearly answer questions from lawmakers, disclose information people need to know and incorporate opinions from civil groups in the policy-making process,” he said.
Chen said the situation became even more complicated with the appointment of King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) as secretary-general of the KMT, after which it appears a series of policies of public concern, ranging from the proposal to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement with China to the protocol on expanding imports of US beef and beef products, among others, were made under the table.
Exploring the cause of the problems, Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉), an assistant research fellow at the Institute of Political Science at Academia Sinica, said that Taiwan is still influenced by its authoritarian past.
As an example, he said the enactment of the Civil Service Administrative Neutrality Act (公務人員行政中立法) prohibits officials, including research fellows in public academic institutions, from engaging in politics, supporting or opposing political parties, political organizations or candidates for public office.
The act not only deprives civil servants of their basic rights but also restricts academic freedom, Hsu said, adding that the legislation had a “chilling effect.”
“[I know that] some research fellows have worried that they might be in violation of the act if they publish articles that are critical of the government’s environmental policies,” Hsu said.
Celebrating the second anniversary of his inauguration, Ma is slated to use the occasion on Thursday to discuss his performance in the first half of his term and his administration’s future direction.
Additional reporting by CNA
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS