Hope in Taiwan #
I had no idea what to make of the fact that Taiwan’s old hegemon, the Kuomintang (KMT), won the island’s recent election. The Economist’s Asia.view column argues that it is, on balance, a good thing.
The choice is not between extreme changes to Taiwan’s position. Rather, there is a sophisticated debate about different strategies for preserving the status quo.
Of course, Taiwan’s politics are far from pretty. Both parties are tainted by corruption scandals. The legislative process has been bogged down in partisan obstructionism. Vote-buying is a science. And the KMT’s residual wealth gives it an unfair advantage.
But one has only to look around the region to see how much worse it could be. Never has the army appeared close to intervening, despite the obvious risk to “national security” posed by politicians who rile China. Never has an election result been held up for weeks as allegations of malpractice are investigated. Never has the losing party refused to accept the result.