POLITICS-TAIWAN: Corruption Scandals Betray Democracy at Work

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Antoaneta Bezlova

BEIJING, Jun 22 2006 (IPS) - Ever since strongly pro-independence Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian took office in 2000, Beijing’s leaders have hoped he would be miraculously unseated by an angry public at home -a public they believe to be dissatisfied with his domestic policies and worried about his provocative attitude towards Beijing.

Discrediting Chen among Taiwanese voters has become a major crusade for the island’s opposition Kuomintang, or Nationalist party, which favours better relations with mainland China. As a result of a campaign by the opposition to impeach the embattled president, on Wednesday, Taiwan’s legislature started proceedings to oust Chen from his post.

Yet, while Chen’s political fortunes seem at their lowest and his presidency appears seriously diminished, Beijing has shown no obvious rejoice at his woes. Usually quick to expose public discontent in Taiwan, this time China’s official media has given limited coverage to the political turmoil engulfing the island.

The reason, observers here say, is that Chen has been discredited by financial scandals involving his family, and if ousted for corruption it would create a precedent in Chinese politics that Beijing leaders would rather avoid.

China and Taiwan split in 1949 amid China’s civil war when Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist forces, defeated by Mao Zedong’s Communists, fled across the strait and set up an exile government. Taiwan has been self-ruled for more than 50 years but Beijing still considers the island part of China.

In recent years, Taiwan has developed into a flourishing democracy with fervent and opinionated voters, creating an additional divide with China’s one-party state. To Beijing’s growing consternation mainland Chinese people have also become more aware of democratic freedoms enjoyed by Taiwanese either through internet or because of the easing of travel restrictions between the Taiwan straits.

“It is pathetic that even an American-style democracy can’t prevent Chinese leaders from being corrupt,” lamented one netizen on one of China’ popular web sites, netease.com as news about Chen’s scandals spread.

Chen’s graft woes come at a time when Beijing itself wrestles with growing threat to its one-party power from corruption. A series of high-profile corruption cases in recent months have highlighted the communist leadership’s failure to prove good on its pledges to stem corruption and abuses.

This month, Beijing vice-mayor, Liu Zhihua, who had been in charge of overseeing construction projects for the 2008 Olympics in the capital, was abruptly sacked. No details of his wrongdoings were disclosed. The authorities ordered the official media not to report on the Liu sacking beyond the brief reports by government news agency Xinhua, which referred to his “corrupt and degenerate ways”.

In comparison, Taiwanese media has raucously discussed charges of corruption against Chen Shui-bian’s family. Chen’s son-in-law, Chao Chien-ming, has been detained by prosecutors, who are investigating allegations of insider stock trading first raised publicly by an opposition lawmaker.

The president’s wife, Wu Shu-chen, has also been accused by opposition lawmakers of taking five million Taiwan dollars (153,000 US dollars) worth of gift vouchers from a department store in exchange for political favours. In addition, one of Chen’s top aides has also been indicted for corruption.

Chen has not been personally accused of any wrongdoing. In a televised speech this week he stressed his devotion to Taiwan and refused to resign unless allegations against his family were proved true. He described allegations against his wife as “immoral” and said he will not give up his duties as president.

Taiwanese legislators will vote on Jun. 27 on whether to hold a public referendum to make Chen quit two years before his second term expires in 2008. Chen is constitutionally barred from running a third time.

The recall vote is unlikely to succeed as the Kuomintang, and its ally, the Taiwan Solidarity Union hold a slim majority in the parliament. Two-thirds of legislators need to approve a recall, which would then have to be endorsed by half of voters in a national referendum with at least 50 percent turnout.

Chinese observers here believe that even if unsuccessful, the vote would be the beginning of an avalanche of pubic discontent that would finally sweep Chen from power. Rather than concentrating on corruption charges, they prefer to point to Chen’s failures as a political leader.

“Look at his record – since coming to power Chen Shui-bian has apologised 13 times to the public,” says Sun Shengliang, a researcher with the Taiwan Studies Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. “No matter what he does now and how he pledges innocence, it would be difficult to assuage public anger”.

In Taiwan, Chen is being blamed for straining relations with the United States and destabilising the status quo with Beijing by pushing to formalise Taiwan’s de-facto independence.

But some mainland commentators saw a bright spot to his corruption scandals. “The Taiwanese should be happy about them,” wrote another Internet user. “It is a sign that they have a fully functioning democracy and a free media”.