John F. Copper is the author of more than 25 books on East Asian politics and recognized as an authority on economic, political and societal events related to Taiwan. In fact, one of his books, Taiwan: Nation State or Province, is now in its ninth edition and widely acknowledged as the best-written and best-organized overview of Taiwan available in English. Copper’s new book, Taiwan’s Democracy on Trial, is certain to generate discussion and debate. In fact, it will ruffle some feathers—particularly among those who support Taiwan’s independence movement, former Republic of China President Chen Shui-bian or his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
This book provides readers with an engrossing and controversial assessment of democratization in Taiwan during the Chen era (2000–2008). Copper, the Stanley J. Buckman Distinguished Professor of International Studies at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, argues that democratization actually suffered during Chen’s tenure as president. In terms of human rights, ethnic relations, political reform, clean government, press freedom and other benchmarks commonly employed to measure democratization, he contends that the democratization process in Taiwan regressed markedly during that time. And much to the chagrin of Chen loyalists, Copper claims that democratization has improved since the Kuomintang (KMT) returned to power in 2008. Little wonder that this book will make some people uncomfortable—particularly a number of overly partisan observers of Taiwan’s politics (of which there appears to be no shortage).
The introductory chapter outlines the author’s interpretation of some of the major (and dysfunctional) political developments in Taiwan during recent years. A lot of ground is covered in 15 pages. Copper claims that the DPP planned initially to adopt “new strategies” following the KMT’s landslide victory in 2008. Party leaders “pledged to help get rid of corruption and put Taiwan’s economic growth back on track,” he writes. But this idea was soon abandoned and “the DPP’s leadership almost totally readopted its early political strategy of exploiting independence, local nationalism, and ethnic ill will—all policies associated with Chen Shui-bian.”
Copper adds that the DPP also returned to its old tactics of “street politics, demonstrations and protests, and appeals to ethnic Taiwanese nationalism.” For example, the KMT’s efforts to rationalize economic ties with the Chinese mainland—linkages that had exploded during the DPP tenure in office—are blasted as a sellout to China and a DPP Tainan City Council member even went so far as to orchestrate the physical assault of a representative from the mainland’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) during his visit to the island.
In this chapter, Copper also suggests that most countries have little respect for Taiwan’s democracy, and that President Chen did nothing to increase it. Rather, Chen “seriously soured relations with the United States, thereby weakening Washington’s desire and probably its will to support and protect Taiwan.” And, of course, Chen managed to antagonize mainland China. But the author suspects that mainland Chinese leaders may have secretly liked Chen because he discredited political modernization among the supporters of political reform in the mainland and “literally wrecked relations with the United States.” Copper concludes his introduction by arguing that the advancement of democratization in Taiwan remains an important topic and that his book will seek to “assess whether Taiwan democratized during the time when Chen Shui-bian was president and trends since his presidency.”
Enough Blame to Go Around
Chapter 2 provides readers with a useful review of democratization during the early years of the Chen Shui-bian presidency. The chapter explains how a split in the ruling KMT in 2000 brought to power an opposition party (the DPP) that Copper believes was not yet prepared to govern. Nevertheless, most citizens and outside observers wished the DPP well, and believed that the peaceful transfer of power showed that democracy could work in Taiwan. This initial optimism, however, was short-lived. Efforts at cooperation between the DPP and KMT were soon abandoned and Copper believes that the consequence was gridlock accompanied by “continued acrimony, distrust and vengefulness.” As a result, the economy deteriorated, crime accelerated and the educational system suffered. Who was responsible for this situation? Copper suggests that there is enough blame to go around, and faults the DPP, the KMT and the island’s political system. But the author adds that President Chen “will probably be blamed more” since the problems “happened on his shift.”
Chapter 3 analyzes democratization during the later years of the Chen presidency. In doing so, the chapter utilizes three criteria for assessing democratization: political reform, civil liberties and corruption. In each instance, Copper argues that “Taiwan witnessed stagnation or backsliding after 2000 and thus one might contend that Taiwan’s democracy devolved during the Chen era.” Other than making some modifications to the electoral system of the Legislative Yuan, it appears that little was accomplished in the area of political reform. With respect to civil liberties, Copper argues that Chen “de facto institutionalized ethnic discrimination against Taiwan’s other three groups, especially mainland Chinese.” (The remaining two groups he views as discriminated against were the Hakka and indigenous peoples.) Also, the rights of women were stalled and the media was bullied, the author writes. Following in the footsteps of former US President Richard M. Nixon, the Chen administration went so far as to develop an “enemies list” of publications and other media outlets. As a consequence, Taiwan’s ranking in a global press index developed by Paris-based Reporters Without Borders dropped from No. 35 in 2002 to No. 60 in 2004 (below Albania, Botswana, Ghana and even Hong Kong).
Corruption also skyrocketed. Despite pledges to clean up Taiwan’s government, public opinion polls showed that most citizens eventually came to the conclusion that the DPP was more corrupt than the KMT. This “sleaze factor” would prove to be a major liability for the DPP in the 2008 presidential election. Copper claims it was the biggest factor in the election’s outcome. Despite such problems, the book suggests that the landslide victory of the KMT showed that democracy still somehow managed to work in Taiwan.
The fourth chapter critically evaluates some of the “lessons” that might be drawn from the Chen Shui-bian era and its impact on Taiwan’s democratization. Copper suggests that the DPP failed to enact much-needed political reforms, mismanaged the economy, engaged in massive corruption, strained relations with the United States and antagonized mainland China. He contends that one lesson to be drawn from this series of setbacks is that “democracy is a system that requires compromise, bipartisanship, and a democratic culture to survive.” In this respect, he claims that the entire world can learn from the so-called “Taiwan experience,” as there was a deficit of those democratic elements during the Chen presidency.
John F. Copper’s new book is an important addition to the literature on Taiwan’s politics and democratization. (Photo Courtesy of John F. Copper)
In the fifth and final chapter of this book, the author provides a brief retrospective analysis of the Chen presidency and makes a few comparisons with current President Ma Ying-jeou and his administration. Unlike Chen’s slim victories in 2000 and 2004, Ma was elected in a landslide victory in 2008 and without the benefit of a mysterious shooting incident such as the one immediately preceding the 2004 election, in which Chen and vice-presidential candidate Lu Hsiu-lien apparently sustained superficial gunshot wounds. Unlike the DPP’s hollow promises, Copper claims that the Ma administration has followed through and attempted to clean up government in Taiwan. He believes that ethnic conflict has also “subsided” during the Ma years, and that the president has managed, to a considerable degree, to patch up relations with both the Chinese mainland and the United States.
Space prohibits a full accounting of the strengths of Copper’s book, but a few points must be mentioned. This volume can be read on two levels. The first and most obvious is as an important and nuanced analysis of political developments in Taiwan during the Chen Shui-bian era and how, in Copper’s view, the controversial president and his supporters managed to undermine democratization on the island. The second has much broader implications for theories of democratization. In this instance, Taiwan may be used as an instructive and important case study in “dysfunctional democracy.” In fact, the implications of the “Taiwan experience” are made explicit in the fourth chapter and hold relevance for all democratic societies—including the United States.
Although this book is original, interesting and important, it also suffers from a number of minor problems. It is not fair to accuse the book of being repetitious, but there are moments when the reader longs for the narrative to cover new ground. To take just one example, Chen’s corruption is discussed in almost every chapter. Perhaps this is due to the fact that there appears to have been a lot of it. But the repetition might also be traced to another fact. Namely, four out of the five chapters in this volume were published elsewhere previously and any article about the Chen era must focus—at least to some degree—on corruption. After all, Chen is now serving a long stretch in prison after being convicted of corruption.
Moreover, the discussion of the democratization process in Taiwan is not entirely satisfactory. On page 29, Copper claims that “the KMT, not the opposition, was the main force behind Taiwan’s democratization.” On page 33, he switches gears and contends that democratization was accelerated by “Taiwan’s need for US support and to a lesser extent support from the international community to ensure its very survival.” On page 37, readers are told that “Taiwan’s public made greater demands: it wanted both economic growth and democracy.” On page 51, Copper observes that presidents “Chiang Ching-kuo and Lee Teng-hui were largely credited for Taiwan’s democratization.” Finally, on page 57, he argues that “in some important ways” it was President Chiang Kai-shek who “laid the groundwork for Taiwan to become a democracy, most notably by promoting economic development with equity, which produced a middle class, and by holding meaningful elections at the local level.”
To be sure, the author is correct. The synergistic interplay of several factors—including an enlightened leadership, economic development, foreign pressure, and a legitimacy crisis—contributed to Taiwan’s rapid democratization. Other considerations, particularly the global communications revolution, may also have played a role. But the point here is that this book would have profited from an organized, scholarly and systematic analysis of Taiwan’s democratization process. Such a discussion—perhaps as an introductory chapter—would have provided readers with a historical overview rather than the series of unconnected statements that are sprinkled throughout the manuscript. Readers unfamiliar with Taiwan could undoubtedly use such background material.
Another frustrating aspect of the book is the discussion of “Asian style democracy.” One of the arguments that weaves its way through this volume is that Taiwan is more suited to “Asian style democracy.” But it is never adequately covered in the book. Indeed, the most comprehensive discussion of the concept is found in Footnote 30 of Chapter 2. Given its relevance and importance to the book’s argument, a few paragraphs or even a short chapter might have focused on the topic.
Beijing Recalibrates
The author could have gone further in analyzing how the Chen era influenced Beijing’s relations with Taipei. Undoubtedly, Copper is correct when he claims that Chen provoked the Chinese mainland. The deployment of ballistic missiles directly opposite Taiwan skyrocketed during his term as president (it is now the highest concentration of missiles anywhere on earth) and efforts to isolate the island escalated. But it is also likely that Chen and his cohorts unnerved the leadership cohort in Beijing to such an extent that they felt compelled to adopt a more nuanced, mature and rational policy toward Taiwan. It seems hardly coincidental that Beijing began to recalibrate its policies toward Taipei during the Chen years. It may appear to be a contradiction, but by pushing Taiwan away from the Chinese mainland, Chen actually helped push the two sides closer together. When coupled with his administration’s economic policies (total bilateral trade surged from US$31.2 billion in 2000 to US$132.5 billion in 2008 and approved Taiwanese investment in the mainland climbed from US$2.6 billion in 2000 to about US$10 billion in 2008), one could argue that it was actually President Chen who paved the way for greater integration between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
It would be deeply unfair to end this review on a sour note. This is a book to be taken seriously and it deserves a wide audience—particularly in Taiwan. At times, readers might find that the author’s perspectives and concerns are not quite the same as their own. A small number may become uncomfortable or angry. Taken together, however, Copper’s new book is an important addition to the literature on Taiwan’s politics and democratization. It is to be hoped that readers can look forward to an expanded second edition in the future, and that the second edition will be translated into Chinese so it may reach a wider audience.
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Dennis V. Hickey is the James F. Morris Endowed Professor of Political Science and director of the Graduate Program in Global Studies at Missouri State University.
Copyright © 2011 by Dennis V. Hickey