Formosa Foundation

"Taiwan's Current Situation:
A Fragile Democracy in Need of Your Help"

Dr. Joseph Jaushieh Wu, Taiwan's head of China Affairs, spoke to more than 200 people at the Taiwan Center about the challenges that threaten Taiwan's democracy, mostly from China and Taiwan's own opposition party.

Wu started by recounting the days when he was a student in Taiwan, always fearing of becoming a political prisoner, because his uncle was jailed for 12 years without trial.

"Taiwan has come a long way, however, remnants of past authoritarianism still lingers." Wu listed examples of the politicking by opposition party, who fell of out power after being defeated in the 2000 presidential election. The opposition is "dragging their feet to prove Taiwan's government in incompetent," said Wu. Together, the opposition party and China poseas the greatest threat to Taiwan's national security and democracy.

As the head of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, Wu's agency oversees commerce and other communications with China. We was critical of the opposition party for" going out of its way to meddle in foreign policy," at the expense of national security and interests. That includes opposition party deliberately blocking the arms purchase bill from being passed in the Legislative Yuan. "Instead of going 200 kilometers to discuss matters with their own president, the opposition party leaders rather travel 2000 kilometers to kowtow to leaders of a communist regime."

Wu is criticized by opposition party and China for requiring direct flights between Taiwan and China to follow established flight paths that do not cut down the flight time. Wu explained that any new international flight paths require the two countries to negotiate and execute agreements. However, China has refused to negotiate and execute any agreements, treating potential new flight paths as domestic flight paths. To Wu, it is more important to defend Taiwan's sovereignty over any flight path. As long as he is in office, he will not allow Taiwan-China affairs to become China's domestic affairs. "Over my dead body," Wu said emphatically. He received rounds of applause throughout his speech.

"Taiwan's democracy is young and fragile. It will be stronger if Taiwan is able to survive the current challenges posed by China and Taiwan's internal strife. Dr. Wu concluded his speech by asking the audience to persuade their American friends and policymakers to support Taiwan's democracy. For example, the U.S. government can help by allowing high level visits between the two governments. It will send a signal to China and the rest of the world that the United States supports a vibrant democracy like the one in Taiwan. In turn, Taiwan can serve as a model democracy for other Asian countries.