On March 13, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te accused China of a malignant campaign To subvert Taiwan’s democracy and autonomy. In recent months, Taiwan has also been torn apart by a brewing constitutional crisispolitical polarization, and even legislative fights Between the Democratic Democratic Party of Lai (DPP) and the Kuomintang opposition (KMT) which controls the legislative yuan, the parliament of Taiwan. The founder and leader of the Taiwan People’s Party, who has eight Swing legislative seats and the sides of the opposition KMT, was decree for corruption in December.
However, for all the recent turbulence that runs Taiwanese policy, we must not lose sight of the great democratic progress that Taiwan has made over the past three to four decades. Taiwan, which remains essential to the world supply chains of semiconductors – produce almost 70% of global tokens and almost all the most advanced – is living proof that a Democratic David can prosper in the shadow of an authoritarian Goliath.
An underestimated source of success of the democratic emergence and resilience of Taiwan is his civil society, which has a rich history of Student activism And mass mobilization for democracy. Because Taiwanese must find new ways to defend democracy Beijing’s net powerIt is worth recalling the lessons of previous civil campaigns to promote democracy in Taiwan, in particular the movement of wild lilies which occurred this month 35 years ago while the Cold War in Asia was coming to an end.
Remember the movement of Taiwan wild lily
During the Cold War, Taiwan and continental China were led by personalist Authoritarian to single party regimes. The KMT of Taiwan and the Chinese Communist Party (CCC) prevented the national and fair national elections, repressed civil society and engaged in strong censorship. But since 1989-1990, the political regimes of Taiwan and China have evolved in a very different way, in part reflecting the failure of Protests from Tiananmen In China in 1989 and the success of the Wild Lily pro-democracy movement in Taiwan less than a year later.
From March 16 to 22, 1990, the Lily Wild student movement mobilized in anticipation of the inauguration on March 21 of Lee Teng-Hui, which had been elected president indirectly based on Only the votes of the National Assembly. At the time, no new member had joined the National Assembly since the Republic of China withdrew to Taiwan in 1949, and many students believed that this no longer represented the will of the Taiwanese people. Starting with a small group of students from the National University of Taiwan, Thousands of students and other supporters gathered at the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall to protest the undemocratic election of this new president.
In 1990, Taiwan had started partial political liberalization a few years ago and had granted new political parties since 1987. However, the martial law – The Temporary provisions against communist rebellion Promulgated in 1948 – was still in place. President Lee therefore had a legal (if not moral) power to repress the 1990 demonstrations, as well as his predecessor Chiang Ching-Kuo had repressed the 1979 Kaohsiung incident. Instead, the movement of wild lilies marked the start of the end of White terrorThe repressive period of the KMT rule which ensured the abolition of the political opposition.
The movement’s organizing committee has made Four key requests: (1) Dissolve the National Assembly and create a new infrastructure of the National Assembly, (2) Cancel temporary provisions, (3) organize a conference of national affairs and (4) create a calendar for political reform, including direct presidential elections. Demonstrations and a Student hunger strike led Lee to invite a group of 53 students to meet and negotiate. The demonstrators agreed to leave the place after Lee agreed to respond to their requests.
Democratic development in Taiwan since 1990
Lee quickly made his promises. In the wake of the movement of wild lilies, lee initiated negotiations with the DPPThis led to the Conference of National Affairs (June 28 to July 4, 1990) which paved the way for direct elections to the National Assembly in 1991 and to a legislative yuan in 1992. The temporary provisions were lifted in 1991. As the first mandate of Lee to the presidency, Taiwan held his first direct presidential election. Despite KMT separatesLee won his re -election in 1996, supported by nationalist references and reactions to Intimidation of China with missile tests.
Data from Varieties of democracy (V -Dem) Project (see Figure 1 below) shows the importance of strengthening civil society and increasing mass mobilization for democracy – including the movement of wild lilies – in the democratic breakthrough of Taiwan in the 1990s. The development of Taiwan electoral democracy was reflected by the rapid decline of neopatrimonialism.
Figure 1: Democracy, civil society and mass mobilization in Taiwan, 1947-2023
Taiwan’s democratic transition was completed in 2000 when the DPP candidate Chen Shui -Bian won the presidential elections – bringing a End at more than five decades of a KMT rule on the island. During the decades that followed, Taiwan saw Improvement of human rights protections and continue the democratic deepening and peaceful transitions of power.
Wild lilies with wild strawberries and sunflowers
Taiwan civil society has continued to be a force for democratic consolidation in recent years. In 2008, led by the student Wild strawberry movement used a several months’ sit-in To protest against the visit to Taiwan of a high -level Chinese diplomat and restrictions on protest. In 2012, the “Generation of wild strawberriesProtes the Chinese influence on Taiwan’s media.
From March 18, 2014, near the 14th anniversary of the Wild Lys Movement, Hundreds of university students broke into the Taiwan legislative yuan To protest against an advanced trade agreement between Taiwan and China. The trade agreement supported by the KMT, known as the Inter-Traits Service Trade Agreement (CSSTA), would have commercial restrictions raised On the service industry, including sensitive sectors such as telecommunications, banking services and publishing. The students did Four requests: (1) Excuses for the operation of the “black box” to force the agreement through the legislative assembly, (2) a constitutional conference, (3) the rejection of the CCSTA, and (4) a bill to monitor the agreements between Taiwan and China.
After the government accepted an audience on April 10, the students left the legislative yuan. This Sunflower movement blocked the CSSTA and Birth of a “sunflower generation” determined to protect Taiwan threats to democracy.
With Beijing insisting that Taiwan is part of China and repeatedly stressed his intention to recover the island – Maybe by force – Democracy in Taiwan must remain strong. Student activism reflected in the movements of wild lilies and sunflowers plays an important role in the protection of Taiwan’s sovereignty and democracy. Last summer, Taiwan saw renewed protest on one controversial bill “of outrage in parliament” supported by the kmt. The lasting heritage of the cunning movement suggests that such mass mobilizations, rather than a source of chaos and troubles, are an integral part of democratic resilience in Taiwan.
CCP chief Mao Zedong launched his Hundreds of flowers campaign In the late 1950s, the slogan “let around a hundred flowers flower, and a hundred schools of thought arose”. This level of freedom of expression and assembly has not yet been reached in China, but Taiwan shows that the “power of flowers” can indeed be an engine of democracy.