How Taiwan’s elections challenge the power of China’s Communist Party
Al Jazeera
Elections in Taiwan highlight dissatisfaction in China with a political system that Beijing says works best for Chinese people.
If free and fair national elections are considered the hallmark of a democratic state, Taiwan has much to boast about.
In January, the self-ruled island held its eighth presidential election concurrently with a parliamentary vote.
Just 160km (100 miles) away on the other side of the narrow Taiwan Strait, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has ruled China since 1949, and though the party often claims that it governs a democratic state, there is no electoral process comparable with Taiwan’s.
China’s President Xi Jinping has referred to “whole-process people’s democracy” to describe the Chinese political system where the “people are the masters” but the party-state apparatus runs the people’s affairs on their behalf.
Ken Cai*, a 35-year-old entrepreneur from Shanghai, does not subscribe to Xi’s definition of democracy.
