| The following is the third of a series of columns written by Paul Jackson of the Calgary Sun while he was in Taipei. This column was run on June 9, 2001. SLEEPING WITH THE DRAGON By Paul Jackson TAIPEI, Taiwan � This island nation located between the East China Sea and the South China Sea is a �lantern of light� shining across the straits towards monolithic Communist China. The Republic of China has just 22 million people against a staggering 1.2 billion on the Communist mainland, but it is a beacon of democracy and a bastion of free enterprise and prosperity against a dictatorship that can�t quite shed its dogmatic philosophy that the state matters more than individual rights. In 1971, the niceties of world diplomacy decided Taiwan should be ousted from the UN and stripped of its international status to accommodate Beijing and a regime that would later gun down hundreds of innocent students in Tiananmen Square in a massacre that shocked the world. The per capita income in Taiwan is now almost $14,000 US a year against a per capita income in Communist China of just $800 a year. Taiwan has almost a miniscule population compared to China, yet its foreign trade is almost $250 billion a year, only $100 billion behind its great neighbour. In foreign exchange reserves, at almost $110 billion, are the fourth largest in the world � larger by far than Canada. Those reserves have been built mainly on Taiwan�s huge high-tech manufacturing base. In information hardware output, it is third in the world after the U.S. and Japan. �Three-fourths of our country is mountain ranges, and we do not have any natural resources of any real note,� explains Thomas Yeh, secretary of the Council for Economic Development and Planning. �Our strengths are the industriousness and the innovativeness of our people.� When Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek fled mainland China in 1949 ahead of the Communist advance, he could never have visualized the Republic of China would become the economic powerhouse it is. The regime was impoverished then, but now its standard of living is, alongside Japan, the highest in Asia. Its economic growth rate averages 6%, while unemployment is less than 3%. It has invested $47 billion US in industrial projects in mainland China, and $44 billion US in other countries in Southeast Asia. It has impressive plans for investment in Latin America, where President Chen Shui-bian has just completed a triumphant tour. �We are open to the world, and we want the world to be open to us,� Frederick P.N. Chang, vice-minister of the Taiwan Government Information Office, told me. There�s a story here that one high-tech company did so well here a year or so ago, it decided to give every employee from the chauffeur to the president a bonus based on performance. The chauffeur received $60,000 US. The bonuses went up from there. Canadians couldn�t dream of such benevolent employers. Some say Taiwan is prosperous because the Chinese people themselves are so entrepreneurial. Only the straitjacket imposed by the hardline regime in Beijing has prevented mainland Chinese from enjoying the same advantages. Yet, it is not just in economics that Taiwan flourishes. It is in every facet of life. While Beijing cracks down on innocent movements such as Falun Gong, differing philosophies and religions flourish on Taiwan. There are an estimated 50,000 temples and churches on the island and nearly 11 million religious believers. They range from Buddhists to followers of Confucious to Roman Catholics, Protestants, and even Muslims. Christian churches announce their services in the daily newspapers. One has to ask why Communist China fears religious diversity, when it has never undermined the Republic of China? Frederick Chang tells me the philosophy of openness and tolerance to different religions, opinions, or lifestyles is based on that of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who established the Republic of China in 1912 by ending 3,000 years of Chinese imperialism. The China dynasty was the last to go. While the media in mainland China is government-controlled, Taiwanese newspapers, TV and radio criticize government and government officials every day. There are more than 300 daily newspapers and many local and foreign magazines. One magazine, called Next and owned by a Hong Kong media magnate, is an admitted scandal sheet that goes all-out to embarrass public figures, politicians and entertainer alike. But even though it has aimed its caustic coverage at President Chen�s own family, the magazine is allowed to publish uncensored. There are almost 150 radio stations in Taiwan, broadcasting in various Chinese dialects and English, French and Spanish, and five �over the air� television stations. More than 120 cable TV systems offer some 700 different channels. In Communist China there is just one political party: The Communist Party. Not so in Taiwan. As of Dec. 31, 91 political parties, ranging from the left to right, were registered. Carl Chang, public relations official for the �Legislative Yuan,� explained even the Communists are registered as a legitimate party in Taiwan. Not that anyone bothers to vote for it. �We believe in letting the people choose,� he said, �and if they want to vote for a political party of the left or right they can. If they want to demonstrate outside the legislature buildings, they are free to do so.� That wasn�t simply propaganda. Every day I passed by the legislature, some group was peacefully protesting, and allowed to do so. Meanwhile, on TV we saw smuggled film from mainland China in which soldiers were brutally beating farmers trying to protest their poverty. Taiwan�s lantern of light deserves to shine on mainland China and give its people hope one day they will be free, too. Back to the home page. |