Road to Democratization of Taiwan (ROC)

Background

In 1949, Taiwan transitioned into a shelter for the Kuomintang party (KMT) after the humiliating defeat by communist forces during the civil war. Chiang Kai-shek's idea was to use the island to launch a military operation on the mainland once the KMT army regained its capacity lost during the civil war. No interference between him and his vision of recovering the lost land is authorised, be it global moderators or people of his own, in other words, the Taiwanese subjects. Martial law for an undecided period was declared on the island, which implied the nationalist army was unrestrained to quash any revolt or movement which they presumed was in alignment with communist ideology. Martial law signifies no election or any democratic means to be followed. Due to this, the condition of the Taiwanese became very aggrieved as all the resources were now being redirected to the military and sustenance of their own became a gamble. No political expression in the KMT government to complement the martial law made the circumstances even more alarming.

As the years passed, the conviction in recovering mainland China perished along with the demise of Chiang Kai-shek. The baton of hope to recover the mainland is then moved into the hands of his son, Chiang Ching-Kuo. In his leadership, ROC lost recognition to the PRC from its greatest ally, the United States of America, in 1978. It was the most major lapse for the KMT in the years. Not only did the world turn its back on them but their Taiwanese citizens were agitated because of strong authoritarianism. After all the years of controlled regime, not only did the KMT fail to recover mainland China but also exhausted all the resources at its disposal to accomplish the goal. Losing legitimacy was the last nail in the coffin for Taiwan as it had already arrived from an oppressive colonial past. 

From Authoritarianism to Democracy 

1972 - Chiang Kai-shek appointed his son, Chiang Ching-Kuo, as the premier. The authoritative regime of the "Chiang Dynasty" fuelled the underground Taiwanese movement. The bitterness of the Taiwanese has been on a constant rise since February 28 1947, when armed police were used to quash the anti-government protest in Taipei.

1979 - The most formidable dream became real. The USA shifted its diplomatic recognition to the People's Republic of China (PRC). Now the republic of China was alone in the changing world order, the survival of this nation became a question for Chiang Ching-Kuo.  

1984 - Amid growing coercion from the public, junior Chiang has no alternative but to offer some assurance to its citizens for pitching towards democratization in the forthcoming years. The first step taken when a native Taiwanese, Lee Theng-hui, given the vice-president post. First time in the history of Taiwan that a native is given such a high-ranking appointment. 

1986 - Chiang pledged political reform, which incorporated lifting the prohibition on the institution of new political parties, previously Under martial law formation of parties was not authorised. The lifting of the ban offered rise to numerous Taiwanese as well as Chinese (mainlanders) parties, a notable one was the Democratic progressive party (DPP). 

1987 - After soft transitional measures such as appointing a native as vice president and lifting the ban on the formation of parties, eventually, martial law was finally removed. 

1988 - After the demise of Junior Chiang, Lee Theng-hui became the president of Taiwan. So far, elections were not conducted for the position of president but people were partway delighted witnessing the ending of the oppressive "Chiang dynasty".

1990 - The National Assembly of Taiwan elected Lee Theng-hui for a full six-year term (till 1996). Next year, i.e. 1991, A direction was passed asserting lifetime legislators to retire. This will vacate the seats for candidates selected after the poll. 

1992 - First full fledge elections to parliament were announced after amending the war time constitution.

1996 - First elections for president were held across the island. Lee Theng-hui won the second term in office by securing more than half of the votes cast across the island. Despite the DPP being the party of Native Taiwanese, they failed to prove a majority on the other hand KMT candidate, Lee Theng-hui, proved its majority. In the coming article on the Democratization of Taiwan, we will delve into the facts to find out why KMT was able to win the first election despite all the atrocities they have committed against the Taiwanese people. 

Chiang Kai-shek