At the present pace, Taiwan should soon become the full economic equal of many Western democracies. For this very reason, economic development has encouraged political liberalization, for a freewheeling, highly flexible marketplace requires an environment that combines political with economic liberty. The KMT decisions to further liberalize the political environment demonstrate a wise perception of this fact.
But it has taken much more than decades of hard labor to build an economic infrastructure. At base there must be education. The ruling party has pursued a steady policy of educating the people ever since moving the government to the island, and a single statistic illustrates its success. In 1952, 42.1 percent of Taiwan's people six years of age and older were illiterate. By 1985, the figure had plunged to 8.4 percent, with the vast majority of these being senior citizens.
A society equal to the tasks of understanding the complex responsibilities of democratic citizenship requires an educated populace. While the Communists were closing libraries, ridiculing teachers, and narrowing the national reading list to one book, the KMT was building, at great cost, a school and university system equal to the demands of modernization. The results of the two approaches are now clear to all.
The KMT move to lift the so-called martial law and also to end the ban on the formation of political parties and organizations reflects not a vague hope that a multi-party system will work without disrupting national stability, but rather is based upon years of gradual political tutelage. Social development, including the rise of a large middle class in Taiwan, has built an increasingly broad infrastructure of social organizations. Everything from Boy Scouts to Rotary creates environments for learning democratic processes and organizational skills that are prerequisites not only for fuller national political responsibilities, but also for greater ease in achieving full integration with other modern, democratic societies.
There has also been a substantial change in people's attitudes during the past 37 years as the ROC moved from a poor nation status, with a per capita GNP of only US$144 in 1951, to its current US$3,672. People who were previously indifferent to politics now have an abiding interest in political involvement. This has given rise to healthy differences of opinion, both inside and outside the ruling party, about the policies and methods best suited for continued modernization.
It is understandable that there should be a rich variety of opinion, for the ROC, like some of its Asian neighbors, is forging its own brand of democracy that integrates China's millennial traditions with Western models of democracy The major emphasis of the Chinese approach combines respect for human rights and freedoms while fostering a dutiful respect for the needs of the whole community.
October 15th marked another political milestone on the road to the fulfillment of the democratic goals set for the Republic of China by Dr. Sun Yat-sen 75 years ago. On that date the Central Standing Committee of the ruling Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) passed a unanimous resolution to lift "martial law", the 37-year old state of emergency declared in order to guarantee security and stability in the face of active Communist threat. The resolution followed many months of deliberation by a select committee of leaders appointed by President Chiang Ching-kuo.
The Communist threat of unification by force remains, however, causing both national and international concern. The lifting of the emergency decrees is possible, nevertheless, because the ROC has forged a confidence in itself based upon solid accomplishments, not wishful thinking. This confidence is born of several sources.
In the realm of economics, the ROC has traveled a difficult but steady path toward national strength through rapid economic development. For example, the ROC's land redistribution policy and consistent moves to privatize certain state-run industries remain as models for other NIC and Third World nations to emulate. These tough decisions have been coupled with relaxing of domestic market restrictions and a relatively free pricing system. Both have stimulated growth by allowing the natural hard working tendencies of the people to respond to market demands. These incentives to produce have created a GNP growth averaging roughly 9.7 percent a year since the early 1950's.
This conceptual integration and its practical implementation require a healthy political dialogue both within the ruling party and between the party and the Dangwai, or non-party organizations. To the credit of the KMT and the leadership of President Chiang, 1986 has been highlighted by almost a full year of dialogue with the Dangwai, the lifting of "martial law", and other formal steps to broaden the political base of domestic party politics. This already has altered the whole psychological environment of political participation.
Referring to the lifting of the emergency decrees, President Chiang said that the KMT must accommodate itself to the changing times and environment by adopting new ideas and measures in order to fulfill its responsibility to the nation. Only by promoting innovations, the President said, will the party be able to keep pace with the changing times. He also emphasized that the party's reform initiatives are not in the interest of any specific party but are for the long-term well-being of the nation.
The "changing times" should lead new parties into the very useful roles of a loyal opposition and not to a radicalization of opposition forces (that ignores the basic principles of abiding by the law and following the policy of reunification with the mainland).
As the ROC takes each succeeding step in its development of full constitutional democracy, observers can be equally confident that, by the ROC's momentous decision to end the so-called martial law, it demonstrates a laudable political, economic, and social maturity in a world that generally remains far too poor and undemocratic.