Freedom in the World 1999 - Taiwan

1999 Scores

Status: Free
Freedom Rating: 2.0
Civil Liberties: 2
Political Rights: 2

Overview

In February 1999, Premier Vincent Siew was reappointed by President Lee Teng-hui. In September, the ruling Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT), endorsed the ticket of Vice President Lien Chen for President and Premier Vincent Siew as his running mate for the March 2000 presidential elections. The KMT National Congress also formally endorsed the bold description by President Lee in July of Taiwan's ties with China as being a "special state-to-state" relationship. This declaration raised tensions in cross-strait relations.

Deep political divides were also present within the KMT. Former Taiwan governor James Soong left the KMT to become an independent candidate in the March presidential elections. Although being a native-born Taiwanese has become a key factor in Taiwan's domestic politics, Soong, the only mainland-born presidential candidate, has wide popular support. Hence, his departure from the KMT has raised fears within the ruling party that other prominent members may also leave the party. In two separate decisions in November and December 1999, KMT's Evaluation and Discipline Committee ousted a total of 27 Soong supporters.

In September 1999, despite popular and government opposition, the National Assembly approved a two-year term extension for its deputies. The measure extends current four-year terms to 2002 to coincide with the next legislative elections. This highly controversial decision forced National Assembly Speaker Su Nan-chang to resign. At the same time, Vice President Lien, who is the KMT's presidential candidate for the March 2000 elections, said he would campaign for reforms to stop abuse of power. The National Assembly also rejected amendments to restore people's rights of initiative and referendum.

In April 1999, thousands of people gathered to protest against the construction of the country's fourth nuclear plant. On September 21, an earthquake registering 7.6 on the Richter scale hit Taipei and other parts of central Taiwan. More than 2,000 lives were lost, and thousands more were injured. Several strong but less devastating earthquakes hit the island in the months that followed. How the government handles reconstruction could affect voters' choices in the March elections. Already some public opinion considered the government slow in response and uncaring.

Following the Communist victory on the mainland in 1949, KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek established a government-in-exile on Taiwan, located 100 miles off the southern coast of mainland China. Both Beijing and Taipei officially consider Taiwan a province of China, although Taipei has abandoned its long-standing claim to be the legitimate government of mainland China. Native Taiwanese comstitute 85 percent of the population, while mainlanders and their descendants make up the rest, along with a tiny minority of aboriginal peoples.

After four decades of authoritarian KMT rule, Taiwan's democratic transition began with the lifting of martial law in 1987. Lee Teng-hui became the first native Taiwanese president in 1988. Since then, he has asserted native Taiwanese control of the KMT, marginalized its mainlander faction, and de-emphasized the party's commitment to eventual reunification with China. In 1993, Lien Chen was chosen as the first native Taiwanese premier.

Although the KMT managed to maintain control of the National Assembly in Taiwan's first multiparty election in 1991, the Democratic People's Party (DPP), which officially favors formal independence from China, became established as a viable opposition. The widening political space and public dissatisfaction with the KMT's factionalism, corruption, and alleged links to organized crime weakened electoral support for the ruling party. At the November 1997 local elections, the DPP, downplaying its independence platform and promising clean, responsive government, defeated the KMT for the first time both in terms of administrative posts and in the popular vote, at 43 percent versus 42 percent.

The KMT recovered somewhat in the December 1998 local and national elections. The DPP suffered its first major setback in over a decade, but maintained control of key local governments and all of southern Taiwan. The New Party, which is the most supportive of unification with China, did the worst. Public opinion polls indicated that the majority of the population opposed a formal declaration of independence.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

The people of Taiwan can change their government democratically. The country's transition from an authoritarian to a democratic state was consolidated with the March 1996 presidential election. The constitution vests executive power in a president, who appoints the premier without parliamentary confirmation and can dissolve the legislature. The National Assembly can amend the constitution. (Until 1994, the National Assembly elected the president and vice president.) The government has five specialized yuan (branches), including a legislature that, since 1992, is directly elected for a three-year term. The ruling KMT maintains political advantages through its influence over much of the broadcast media and its considerable business interests in Taiwan's industrial economy. Nevertheless, opposition parties, which have grown rapidly in recent years, contest in elections freely and have an impact on national policy. The 1998 parliamentary and mayoral elections were generally regarded to have been free and fair.

Taiwan enjoys one of the freest media environments in Asia, despite some continuing legal restrictions and political pressures. Laws prohibiting advocacy of formal independence from China or of communism allows police to censor or ban publications considered to be seditious or treasonous. These provisions, however, are not generally enforced in practice. Courts occasionally convict journalists for criminal libel in cases brought by the government or politicians.

Most of Taiwan's media are privately owned and express a wide variety of viewpoints, although the four major television networks are owned or closely associated with the government, opposition political parties, or the military. Some programs are openly critical of the ruling party. The government respects constitutional provisions for freedom of religion.

In January 1998, provisions of the Parade and Assembly Law prohibiting demonstrations that promote communism or advocate Taiwan's separation from mainland China were ruled unconstitutional. Authorities have refused to register some nongovernmental organizations with the name "Taiwan" in their titles, but such groups operate freely. Despite constitutional protections on the formation of trade unions, a number of regulations restrict the right of association in practice. The right to strike and bargain collectively is limited by laws that allow the authorities to impose mandatory dispute mediation and other restrictions. About 31 percent of the country's labor force belong to more than 3,000 registered unions. However, the country's labor laws allow only one labor federation. The pro-KMT Chinese Federation of Labor thus maintains its monopoly.

The judiciary is not fully independent. It remains susceptible to corruption and political influence from the KMT, although judges are being drawn increasingly from outside the ruling party. There were a number of indictments of judges during 1998 for accepting bribes in exchange for favorable judgments. The Anti-Hoodlum Law allows police to detain alleged "hoodlums" on the basis of testimony by unidentified informants. In 1998, a new organization of prosecutors was established to promote ongoing political reform, including higher professional standards. Police continue to abuse suspects, conduct personal identity and vehicle checks with broad discretion, and obtain evidence illegally with few ramifications. Prisons are overcrowded, and conditions are harsh in detention camps for illegal immigrants.

A new law in May 1998 bans companies connected with political parties from bidding for public contracts and designates life imprisonment for bid-riggers. This law was expected to help reduce corruption and reform business contract procedures.

In recent years, Taiwan has considerably relaxed travel restrictions on its citizens to the Chinese mainland, although many limits on the entry of mainland Chinese remain in force, ostensibly for security reasons. In 1999, the government launched an investigation into the background of more than 100,000 immigrants and visitors from mainland China after intelligence agencies said that some of these people were involved in espionage and other illegal activities.

Women face discrimination in employment, and rape and domestic violence remain serious problems. New legislation was adopted in June 1998 requiring all city and county governments to establish domestic violence prevention centers. The country's 357,000 aboriginal descendants of Malayo-Polynesians suffer from social and economic alienation and have limited influence over policy decisions regarding their land and natural resources.