If free and fair national elections are the hallmark of a democratic nation, Taiwan has much to be proud of.
In January, the self-governing island held its eighth presidential election at the same time as the parliamentary vote.
Across the narrow Taiwan Strait, just 100 miles away, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has ruled China since 1949, and although it often claims to govern a democratic nation, it has no comparable electoral process. There isn’t. Along with the one from Taiwan.
Chinese President Xi Jinping referred to “all-process people’s democracy” to explain China’s political system, in which “the people are the masters,” but the party-state apparatus manages the people’s affairs on behalf of the people.
Ken Kai*, a 35-year-old entrepreneur from Shanghai, disagrees with Mr. Xi’s definition of democracy.
“The truth is that [mainland] The Chinese people have never been allowed to choose their own leaders,” Ken told Al Jazeera.
“It’s just advertising.”
Ken’s critical assessment stands in sharp contrast to the claim often put forth by the Chinese Communist Party that one-party rule is considered satisfactory to the Chinese people.
President Xi has long said that China is following its own development path under the guidance of its own governance system. Chinese officials have also criticized the Chinese government’s record on human rights and democracy, saying it is based on a lack of understanding of China and its people.
That’s why Taiwan’s successful hosting of multiparty elections challenges Beijing’s claim that liberal democracy is incompatible with Chinese culture.
At the same time, Taiwan’s liberal democratic system clashes with the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation under the firm control of the Chinese Communist Party and Mr. Xi’s vision of a wayward Taiwan eventually being unified with mainland China. .
“Taiwan’s experience is a clear affront to the Chinese Communist Party’s narrative,” said Chong Jia Ian, associate professor of Chinese foreign policy at the National University of Singapore.
Yaqiu Wang, head of research for China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, said Taiwan’s elections could be a more direct source of inspiration for mainland Chinese, as the example of democracy set by Taipei could be a more direct source of inspiration for mainlanders. He said it was a far more sensitive topic for the Chinese government than elections in democracies. At Freedom House, a US-based advocacy group.
“When people in the same group see that they have democracy and are able to elect their leaders, it can cause particular grievances against their own unelected leaders.” said Mr. Wang.
“Taiwan elections therefore pose a threat to the Chinese Communist Party,” she added.
China censors Taiwan elections
It is perhaps not surprising that while the leaders of Japan, the Philippines, the United States and others congratulated Taiwan on its election success, the Chinese government did not.
Relations between China and Taiwan have continued to deteriorate since the election of outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016.
The Chinese Communist Party views Tsai, Tsai’s successor, President William Lai Ching-de, and other members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as foreign-backed separatists and could use force in any future plan to unify Taiwan with China. does not exclude gender. .
Reacting to the election results, Chen Bin-hua, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) in Beijing, said that Lai’s 40 percent vote share and the Democratic Progressive Party’s loss of the parliamentary majority mean that the Democratic Progressive Party “cannot represent Taiwan’s mainstream public opinion.” He said it was made clear. The result “does not impede the inevitable trend of China’s unification.”
On Chinese social media, many reacted to Chen’s comments by focusing on Beijing’s own democratic credentials.
“Enough is enough. How can you criticize someone else’s election when you don’t even recognize it in your own country?” one user wrote on Chinese social media platform Weibo.
“So the general election is not representative of mainstream public opinion? What new kind of understanding is this?” read another comment, while a third commented on Beijing’s Taiwan affairs directly attacked the office.[TAO is] The most shameless, useless, garbage government department. ”
All three comments have since been deleted by censors.
Irene Long*, a 31-year-old interpreter from Shenzhen, China, told Al Jazeera that she felt comments criticizing Taiwan’s elections were ridiculous in light of the flaws in China’s political system.
“You can’t ask questions about public opinion in Taiwan when the Chinese people are never allowed to choose anything other than the Communist Party,” Irene said.
Freedom House’s Wang noticed a number of similar Chinese reactions popping up across Chinese social media platforms when Taiwan’s election results were announced.
“But a lot of it was quickly removed. Even within a few minutes, a lot of it disappeared,” she told Al Jazeera.
Hashtags, comments, and news about Taiwan’s elections have been repeatedly removed from Chinese social media by the state’s vast network of censors. In addition to heavy censorship, there were also signs that Chinese authorities tried to divert attention to Chinese social media by exaggerating other hashtags on Taiwan’s election day.
Wang said such measures were a way for authorities to exclude public expressions of criticism, but the underlying sentiment was still one of dissatisfaction with the Beijing government.
China’s democratic flaws in tough economic times
Ken Kai, who lives in Shanghai, believes that much of the online commentary about Taiwan’s election was actually aimed at stirring up dissatisfaction with the situation in China.
“The economy is not good for many people and many people are struggling, so they are taking the opportunity to vent their grievances against the government,” he explained.
For Ken, Taiwan’s election also shows how far apart Beijing and Taipei are.
Ken said his grandparents used to fear that Taiwan’s Kuomintang would attack China, and that they had heard stories from Taiwan about the oppression of Taiwanese people.
The Kuomintang (KMT), known as the Chinese Nationalist Party, defected to Taiwan in 1949 after being defeated by the Communist Party in the Chinese Civil War, and initially harbored ambitions of reconquering mainland China. To tighten its grip on Taiwan, the Kuomintang imposed martial law, suppressed civil liberties, and rounded up Taiwanese who opposed its rule.
“But today, Taiwan appears to have free elections, a good economy and good relations with the West, whereas China has none of those things,” he said.
In his view, the flaws in China’s democracy became especially evident when the coronavirus outbreak in Shanghai in 2022 put large parts of the metropolis under strict lockdown.
“Lockdown was worse than coronavirus,” he said.
“A lot of people suffered, but the government didn’t listen to us or care. Things might have been different in a more democratic system.”
Eileen Long from Shenzhen is convinced that China needs political reform after seeing the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Taiwan’s recent elections offering an attractive alternative. did.
Irene paid close attention to elections in Taiwan, where she studied abroad for two years starting in 2013. Currently, the cold air blowing between Beijing and Taipei has made it increasingly difficult for her to arrange work travel and visit friends in Taiwan.
“So I was hoping that this time the opposition would win and things would be easier again,” she said, referring to Taiwan’s largest opposition party, the Kuomintang, which has traditionally been more pro-China than the Democratic Progressive Party.
When the final vote tally showed the Democratic Progressive Party’s Mr. Lai the winner over the election weekend, she was disappointed but also respected the result.
“And I think the Chinese government should learn to respect elections like this as well, and perhaps be more open to similar elections being held in China,” she said.
“If Taiwanese people can hold free elections with various political parties, why can’t we?”
Irene also believes that democratic reforms will strengthen the Chinese Communist Party’s legitimacy in China and its claim that the Chinese people are their own masters.
“It will show that they are serious about people’s democracy.”
*Names have been changed to respect the confidentiality of the topic and to respect requests for anonymity.