Taiwan's Threatened Democracy Stays on Course

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Taiwan's Threatened Democracy Stays on Course
NO. 7 FEBRUARY 2020               Introduction

Taiwan’s Threatened Democracy
Stays on Course
Fear of China’s Dictatorship Pushes Taiwan’s President to a Landslide Victory
Frédéric Krumbein

Presidential and parliamentary elections were held in Taiwan on 11 January 2020.
The island is de facto a sovereign state and a consolidated democracy but is claimed
by the People’s Republic of China. Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, who has been in
power since 2016, and her Democratic Progress Party (DPP) won both elections by a
clear majority. The DPP stresses Taiwan’s de facto independence. The largest opposi-
tion party, Kuomintang (KMT), stands for closer economic cooperation with mainland
China. The election campaign was marked by increasing pressure from Beijing on the
island and by protests in Hong Kong. Hong Kong serves as a warning to the Taiwanese
about what could happen if Taiwan becomes too close to the mainland or even merges
with it: The island state could lose its democracy and freedom.

In the presidential elections in January,          In the parliamentary elections, the dif-
Tsai received 57.1 percent of the vote, Han     ference in votes between the DPP and the
Kuo-yu from the KMT 38.6 percent, and           KMT was less marked: 6.4 percentage points.
the third candidate, James Soong from the       The seats are allocated through a mixture
People First Party, 4.3 percent. In parlia-     of majority and proportional representation.
ment, the DPP has lost 7 seats, but with 61     The reasons for the smaller difference in
Members of Parliament, it retains a comfort-    votes are, firstly, that some KMT supporters
able majority of the total 113 seats. The KMT   did not vote for the unpopular Han, but did
won 38 seats; smaller parties and independ-     vote for their party in the parliamentary elec-
ent candidates won the remaining 14 seats.      tions; secondly, most small parties did not
   The clear election victory for Tsai can be   nominate their own presidential candidates,
explained on the one hand by the fact that      as there is no run-off vote. This favors a con-
the KMT sent Han Kuo-yu, a weak presiden-       centration of votes on just a few candidates.
tial candidate, into the race. On the other     In the parliamentary elections, however, a
hand, the electorate trusts the incumbent       part of the electorate then opted for smaller
president, rather than the KMT, to protect      parties and independent candidates.
Taiwan’s democracy and freedom from the
People’s Republic.
KMT: Strong Start, Weak Finish                   internal party primaries, she was able to
                                                                 assert herself as a candidate. After being
                Han has experienced a rapid rise as a poli-      defeated, Lai called for support for the
                tician during the last one and a half years.     president and was nominated by her as a
                In November 2018 he was elected mayor            candidate for the office of vice president.
                of Kaohsiung, the largest city in southern       In addition, the “green camp” was able
                Taiwan, traditionally a stronghold of the        to mobilize its electorate, including the
                ruling DPP. His unconventional and people-       younger generation. Voter turnout in the
                oriented manner, his image as a political        presidential elections was 74.9 percent,
                outsider, and his promise to make Kaoh-          significantly higher than four years ago,
                siung rich led many people to vote for him.      when it was 66.3 percent.
                Almost as fast as his meteoric rise was his         With the “Taiwan People’s Party,” a
                fall – burning out after coming into con-        third force – the “white” force – has
                tact with political and economic reality.        finally entered the political stage alongside
                Han is a classic populist who had promised       the “blue” and “green” forces. Founded by
                a lot, but in the end was unable to keep         the mayor of Taipei, Ko Wen-je, the party
                his promises for Kaohsiung, instead “dis-        wants to govern unideologically, pragmati-
                tinguishing himself” through the chaotic         cally, and efficiently – it sees itself as a
                management of the city. In addition, there       force between the “blue” and “green” camps.
                were private scandals, for example an issue      The party will have only five seats in the
                concerning a luxury apartment, that dam-         newly elected parliament; however, in the
                aged his image as a “man of the people.”         19 constituencies in which it has been
                Shortly after he won the KMT party prima-        elected, it has achieved more than 5 percent
                ries in July 2019, his decline in the polls      of the vote almost everywhere – in one-
                began.                                           third of the constituencies even more than
                   Internal conflicts within the KMT and         10 percent. It is widely believed that Ko will
                the “blue camp” of KMT and smaller parties       run for president in 2024. His lack of ideol-
                close to it contributed to his poor election     ogy and his deliberately open political posi-
                results. One of the veterans of Taiwanese        tions, for example on relations with main-
                politics, 77-year-old James Soong, ran for       land China, are both his strength and his
                president for the fourth time, supported         weakness.
                by Terry Gou, founder of Apple supplier
                Foxconn and one of the richest men on
                the island. Soong also stands for a stronger     Today Hong Kong,
                rapprochement with mainland China and            Tomorrow Taiwan?
                belongs to the “blue camp.” Gou himself
                was defeated by Han in the KMT prelimi-          Apart from the “candidate question,” the
                nary election polls and then resigned from       second main reason for Tsai’s election vic-
                the KMT. He and Soong disputed Han’s             tory is the fact that Taiwan’s relationship
                competence to govern Taiwan. Even parts          with mainland China overshadowed other
                of the elite of the KMT had little use for the   issues in the election.
                popular Han.                                         On 2 January 2019, President Xi Jinping
                                                                 reaffirmed in a keynote address on Taiwan
                                                                 that a union of the mainland with Taiwan
                Mobilization for the DPP and a                   is inevitable, if necessary by force. It should
                New “Third Force”                                be carried out under the formula “one coun-
                                                                 try, two systems,” which provides that
                In contrast, the “green camp” around Presi-      territories within the People’s Republic of
                dent Tsai has shown itself to be united. Al-     China can have a partially independent
                though she had to compete with her former        political system. The “one country, two sys-
                prime minister, William Lai, in the DPP’s        tems” concept was developed 40 years ago

SWP Comment 7
February 2020

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by Deng Xiaoping for Taiwan and later ap-         peaceful protest march with up to 2 million
plied to Hong Kong and Macau. Although            people.
the People’s Republic did not name a dead-           The protests had been sparked by the
line for unification with Taiwan, Xi stressed     planned passing of an extradition law. The
that this issue should not be passed on from      draft law provided that criminals wanted in
generation to generation. The unspoken            mainland China could be extradited there.
end date is (at the latest) the year 2049: Ac-    Many Hong Kong citizens feared that the
cording to Xi, the “great rejuvenation of the     law could be misused to extradite people
Chinese nation” is to be completed on the         there to the People’s Republic who were
occasion of the country’s centennial anni-        critical of it. One of Hong Kong’s most im-
versary – and this includes unification           portant achievements compared with main-
with Taiwan.                                      land China is the largely intact rule of law.
    In Taiwan “one country, two systems”          In mainland China, the judiciary has to
was, and is, rejected by the overwhelming         bow to the instructions of the CCP in cases
majority of the population, as well as by all     of doubt, which does not meet the stand-
parties in parliament. Since Taiwan is de         ards of the rule of law. Protests in Hong
facto a sovereign state, the island republic      Kong have quickly developed into a move-
can only lose under this concept.                 ment against the gradual erosion of the
    The political line of conflict on Taiwan is   city’s remaining freedoms by the People’s
different: between the ideal of an independ-      Republic.
ent Taiwan, for which the DPP stands, and            The situation in Hong Kong has made
the ideal of a united democratic China, the       one thing above all clear to the Taiwanese:
Republic of China, which the KMT is striv-        the considerably lower level of democratic
ing for. The Republic of China was founded        freedoms under the “one country, two sys-
in 1912 and ended the Chinese Empire. It          tems” concept compared to Taiwan. In
was ruled dictatorially by the KMT until the      addition, the central government in Beijing
KMT was defeated by the Chinese Commun-           and the local government in Hong Kong
ist Party (CCP) in the Chinese Civil War and      have shown themselves to be uncompro-
had to flee to Taiwan in 1949. The Republic       mising; the only concession made was the
of China still exists there today. Taiwan         withdrawal of the controversial extradition
was successfully democratized in the 1990s.       law in September 2019. The other four de-
Neither the ideals of the DPP nor the KMT         mands of the protest movement have been,
are currently attainable. Accordingly, the        and are still being, ignored:
major parties are making efforts to main-         1) the introduction of free and general
tain the status quo, that is, Taiwan’s de            elections,
facto independence: the DPP through closer        2) an independent investigation into police
ties to the United States and greater distance       violence,
from mainland China, the KMT through              3) an amnesty for all accused protesters and
close economic ties to mainland China.               the release of detainees, and
    In Taiwan, Xi’s speech was perceived as       4) the demand that the protests not be char-
a hardening of the position toward Taiwan,           acterized as riots.
even if Xi essentially only reaffirmed the           Instead, the police reacted with harsh-
existing positions of the People’s Republic       ness and brutality and have arrested several
on this issue. However, in his speech, he         thousand protesters to date, many of them
missed the opportunity to present new             students. There have been numerous reports
options for a solution to the conflict that       of the mistreatment of detainees. A small
would also be acceptable to Taiwan.               part of the protest movement has radical-
    A turning point for the election cam-         ized itself and committed violence against
paign in Taiwan was the resurgence of the         the police, whereas the vast majority re-
democracy movement in Hong Kong. It               main peaceful and have the support of the
reached its first climax in June 2019 in a        Hong Kong people. On the one hand, the

                                                                                                  SWP Comment 7
                                                                                                   February 2020

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People’s Republic insists on the “one coun-      ing as party leader as a result. The focus in
                try, two systems” formula for Taiwan. On         the election campaign on relations with
                the other hand, the Taiwanese see that –         mainland China, the protests in Hong Kong,
                compared to their democracy – even the           and the disenchantment with Han helped
                much more limited democratic freedoms            Tsai to make a comeback in 2019. In addi-
                and rights in Hong Kong are being under-         tion, she has raised the minimum wage
                mined by the CCP.                                several times, implemented tax cuts, and
                   Tsai has stressed in several speeches and     taken other social policy measures, which
                statements that Taiwan’s democracy is non-       has enabled her to regain her popularity.
                negotiable and that “one country, two sys-
                tems” is not an acceptable solution. She
                also expressed her solidarity with Hong          Taiwan’s Exemplary Democracy
                Kong’s democracy movement. At the same
                time, however, she avoided granting asylum       Under Tsai, Taiwan has made further pro-
                to a larger number of protesters or other-       gress in the areas of democracy and human
                wise offering support for the protest move-      rights. For example, the rights of Taiwan’s
                ment in order not to provoke mainland            16 officially recognized indigenous peoples
                China. The KMT also rejects “one country,        have been strengthened. In 2016, Tsai be-
                two systems,” and Han said during the            came the first president of the island state
                election campaign that this concept would        to apologize for injustices committed in the
                only be applied in Taiwan “over his dead         treatment of indigenous Taiwanese, who
                body.” But the majority of Taiwanese fear        make up about 2 percent of the population.
                that mainland China could expand its             In addition, the authoritarian past was
                political influence if there were closer eco-    dealt with by setting up a commission to
                nomic cooperation, as envisaged in Han’s         investigate the period of the KMT dictator-
                election platform.                               ship from 1945 until the complete abolition
                                                                 of martial law in 1992 and to compensate
                                                                 victims. Germany’s reappraisal of the Ger-
                Solid Economic Development                       man Democratic Republic (GDR) dictator-
                                                                 ship serves as a model for this; in December
                President Tsai’s first term in office was        2019, a declaration of intent was signed to
                marked by sound economic management,             facilitate cooperation with the Agency for
                democratic progress in Taiwan, difficult         the Records of the State Security Service of
                relations with mainland China, and close         the former GDR.
                ties with the United States, Japan, and the         In 2019, Taiwan was the first country in
                European Union (EU).                             Asia to introduce same-sex marriage. The
                   The Taiwanese economy has grown               island state is one of the continent’s front-
                steadily during Tsai’s first term, averaging     runners in terms of freedom of expression
                2.5 percent per year from 2016 to 2019.          and religion, women’s rights, LGBTQ* rights,
                With the reductions in pensions for civil        and freedom for civil society. Direct democ-
                servants, it has pushed through an impor-        racy has been developed in the form of sim-
                tant – albeit unpopular – reform for the         plified referendum procedures. Together
                financial sustainability of the social welfare   with Japan and South Korea, Taiwan is the
                systems. Many Taiwanese are dissatisfied         most developed democracy in Asia and
                above all with the almost two decades of         the only Chinese democracy that has ever
                stagnating wages and the simultaneous            existed.
                sharp rise in property prices. The president
                has not yet been able to solve this problem.
                This is one of the reasons why the DPP suf-
                fered a crushing defeat in the local elec-
                tions in November 2018, with Tsai resign-

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February 2020

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Turbulent Relations with China                 the one hand, it adopted the “31 measures”
                                               in 2018 and a further “26 measures” in 2019
After her election in 2016, Tsai promised      to create incentives for Taiwanese workers
to maintain the status quo in relations with   and companies to work and invest in main-
mainland China. In her inaugural speech,       land China; among other things, Taiwanese
she acknowledged the historical signifi-       workers and companies were put on an
cance of the talks between the two sides in    equal footing with mainland Chinese in
1992 without fully embracing the concept       many areas. Apparently, these measures
of the “1992 Consensus,” which goes back       have not yet had the desired effect – in-
to an informal agreement between the CCP       vestments by Taiwanese companies on the
and the KMT: Although there is one China,      mainland have been declining since 2016.
there are different interpretations of which   However, mainland China remains the
state precisely this one China was. The CCP    largest market outside Taiwan for Taiwan-
means the People’s Republic of China, the      ese workers and companies, with around
KMT the Republic of China. Central from        1 million Taiwanese working there.
the CCP’s point of view is the recognition         On the other hand, the People’s Republic
that Taiwan is a part of China, although       has put Taiwan under a lot of pressure.
not necessarily the People’s Republic.         Firstly, warships and fighter jets regularly
   The DPP has never accepted this concept     circle the island. In addition, Taiwan is the
and takes the view that the Taiwanese          victim of an estimated 15 million cyber-
people must decide on Taiwan’s sovereignty.    attacks per month from the People’s Repub-
In her inaugural speech, Tsai went a long      lic.
way toward accommodating mainland China            Secondly, the People’s Republic of China
by explicitly mentioning the 1992 talks.       has further restricted Taiwan’s already lim-
   She had not received a mandate for fur-     ited international scope. Since 2016, the
ther steps toward integration with main-       People’s Republic has persuaded seven states
land China. She did, however, leave in force   to recognize the People’s Republic diplo-
the 21 agreements that had been ratified       matically instead of the Republic of China.
by the KMT with mainland China under her       This means that Taiwan is now officially
predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou, which primarily     recognized as a state by only 15 countries,
concern economic integration. She rejects      in Europe only by the Holy See. Pressure is
demands for Taiwanese independence, as         being exerted on international companies
raised by the radical wing of her party.       to add the word “China” whenever Taiwan
   For Xi’s government, however, Tsai’s        is mentioned: In 2018, for example, more
inaugural speech and its policies offered      than 30 airlines were prompted to change
too little: The People’s Republic demands      “Taiwan” to “Taiwan, China” on their web-
the recognition of the “1992 Consensus”        sites. Most of them complied with the re-
and further steps toward integration with      quest so as not to jeopardize their presence
the aim of uniting Taiwan with the main-       on the mainland Chinese market.
land under the formula “one country, two           Thirdly, the People’s Republic exerts
systems.” As a consequence, Beijing broke      influence on the media in Taiwan. One
off all contact with the government in Tai-    strategy is to buy up media companies in
pei after Tsai assumed office in May 2016.     Taiwan through China-friendly entrepre-
                                               neurs, who then spread the propaganda of
                                               the People’s Republic. An example of this
“Hide a Dagger behind a Smile” –               is the China Times of Taiwanese “cookie
China’s Taiwan Politics                        tycoon” Tsai Eng-meng, who makes most of
                                               his profits on the mainland. The China Times
After the breakdown of relations, the          and other “red media” apparently receive
People’s Republic pursued a double strat-      direct instructions from Beijing on how and
egy of “carrot and stick” toward Taiwan. On    what they should report on. Another strat-

                                                                                               SWP Comment 7
                                                                                                February 2020

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egy is to use social media to spread misinfor-   record for visitors, with 11.8 million people.
                mation. With the help of fake accounts,          In tourism, Taiwan’s government has suc-
                social media increases the popularity of         ceeded in reducing its dependence on main-
                pro-Chinese politicians in Taiwan. For           land China. Although the mainland Chinese
                example, Han owes his rapid rise to hun-         are still the largest group, with 2.7 million
                dreds of thousands of fake users on Face-        people in 2019, under Tsai’s predecessor,
                book, inflating his popularity in fan groups.    President Ma, there were still 4.1 million at
                   Taiwan’s democracy is probably the            the peak of 2015, with 10.4 million visitors
                world’s biggest victim of the “sharp power”      in total. The situation is more difficult for
                of the People’s Republic, a form of destruc-     exports: Mainland China and Hong Kong
                tive power that seeks to undermine the           remain by far the largest export markets for
                attractiveness and legitimacy of a political     the island state, with a combined export
                system. The aim is to weaken the Taiwanese       share of around 40 percent, far ahead of the
                government and divide Taiwanese society          United States (12 percent) and Japan (7 per-
                through misinformation, propaganda,              cent). This share of around 40 percent has
                threats, and subversion.                         remained largely stable for 15 years. It will
                                                                 take a lot of patience and determination to
                                                                 reduce Taiwan’s close economic ties with
                Taiwan Strengthens                               mainland China.
                Its Own Resilience                                  After all, Taiwan’s government is count-
                                                                 ing on intensive relations with other devel-
                In response to growing pressure from main-       oped democracies, first and foremost with
                land China, the government of Tsai has           the United States, but also with Japan and
                strengthened Taiwan’s resilience. Planned        the EU. Both sides consider relations be-
                defense spending for 2020 has been raised        tween the United States and Taiwan to be
                to $13.1 billion, compared to $10.7 billion      very good. For example, the United States
                in 2015. The development and construction        passed the “Taiwan Travel Act” in 2018,
                of its own submarines is boosting the            which allows meetings at the government
                domestic defense industry.                       level. Both houses of Congress unanimously
                   The parliament has passed several laws        adopted the law, a signal of the cross-party
                against mainland Chinese influence on            and visible support Taiwan enjoys in the
                media and politics, the last measure being       United States. In the same year, the United
                the “Anti-Infiltration Law” at the end of        States opened a new large building in
                December 2019. Among other things, these         Taipei for its unofficial representation, the
                laws prohibit Taiwanese parties from ac-         American Institute.
                cepting money from the People’s Republic            The United States is sending warships
                and tighten restrictions on retired officials    through the Taiwan Strait more frequently
                and soldiers from participating in CCP           than in the past and regularly sells weapons
                activities on the Chinese mainland.              to Taiwan. The last major package, agreed
                   The Tsai government is also working           in 2019, provides for the sale of 66 F-16
                to reduce economic dependence on main-           fighter aircraft of the latest generation.
                land China. To this end, it has initiated the       In two high-profile speeches on US policy
                “New Southbound Policy,” which aims to           toward China, delivered in October 2018
                strengthen economic, cultural, and social        and 2019, respectively, US Vice President
                relations with South and Southeast Asia.         Mike Pence made positive statements about
                For example, the inhabitants of many of          Taiwan; both times he said, “America will
                these states can now enter Taiwan without        always believe that Taiwan’s embrace of
                a visa, which has led to an increase in tour-    democracy shows a better path for all the
                ism from these regions. In addition, more        Chinese people.”
                and more travelers are coming from Japan            US policy is to maintain the status quo in
                and South Korea. In 2019, Taiwan set a new       the Taiwan Strait. They are signaling to the

SWP Comment 7
February 2020

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People’s Republic that they are supporting      policy has weakened the KMT. The party’s
Taiwan in order to prevent mainland mili-       problem is that it wants to continue the poli-
tary actions against the island. If the pres-   cies of President Ma (2008–2016). In doing
sure of the People’s Republic on Taiwan         so, it overlooks the fact that the People’s
increases further, the United States will       Republic is not the same today as it was 10
probably be forced to make an even stronger     years ago, but rather that it is more aggres-
commitment to defend the island state if        sive and demanding toward Taiwan while
it wants to prevent military actions by the     becoming more repressive at home. More-
People’s Republic.                              over, the KMT has hardly any voters under
   Taiwan’s relations with Japan and the EU     the age of 40 because they do not identify
have also developed in a positive manner        with the Republic of China and usually see
during Tsai’s first term of office. Japan has   themselves exclusively as Taiwanese. The
traditionally maintained close relations        comparatively solid performance of the
with the DPP. The EU regards the human          KMT in the parliamentary elections shows,
rights situation in Taiwan as being exem-       however, that with suitable – young –
plary in Asia and bases bilateral relations     personnel and new ideas, the party can
on shared values and good economic              become competitive again.
relations.                                         Initial reactions from the People’s Repub-
                                                lic indicate that it is continuing its policy
                                                of putting pressure on Taiwan and sticking
Threat to Taiwan Increases                      to the “one country, two systems” formula.
                                                The repression by the CCP in Tibet, Xin-
For President Tsai’s second term of office, a   jiang, and Hong Kong demonstrates its lack
continuation of her policy of the past four     of ability to compromise and grant political
years is expected.                              freedom. In current Chinese politics, it is
    As far as relations with mainland China     also less risky for politicians to adopt a
are concerned, much depends on the gov-         tough and nationalistic stance than to be
ernment in Beijing. One option would be         willing to compromise and be open to new
for the People’s Republic to maintain, or       ideas and concepts. Accordingly, the People’s
even increase, the pressure on Taiwan, and      Republic will continue to try to infiltrate
a second option would be for it to change       Taiwan’s democracy and spread misinfor-
its policy on Taiwan in favor of more dia-      mation as well as increase military and
logue and compromise. This second pos-          diplomatic pressure.
sibility seems unlikely at present. It would,
however, be the prerequisite for peaceful
unification, which is the publicly expressed    EU: Safeguarding the Status
goal of the government in Beijing.              Quo and Supporting Taiwan’s
    In her speech on election evening in        Democracy
2020, President Tsai again emphasized her
willingness to engage in dialogue and           The most recent strategy paper on EU–
understanding with the mainland. The            China relations of March 2019 characterizes
basis must be a commitment to peace and         bilateral relations in this way: cooperation,
the renunciation of threats, a dialogue based   balancing mutual interests, competition,
on mutual respect and parity, and respect       and rivalry in terms of values and political
for the democratic will of the Taiwanese.       systems. Taiwan only appears in a footnote.
The Taiwanese must be allowed to decide         Following on from the EU Strategy Paper of
on their own future in a democratic process.    2016, the Union is basing its relations with
    The harsh attitude of the People’s Repub-   Taiwan on the “One China Policy,” the fur-
lic over the last four years has been coun-     ther development of relations with Taiwan
terproductive and has further alienated         on the basis of shared values, and peace in
Taiwan from the mainland. Thus, Beijing’s       the Taiwan Strait.

                                                                                                 SWP Comment 7
                                                                                                  February 2020

                                                                                                             7
The Union’s most recent strategy paper                      plained by Chinese media as being the
                                 illustrates the tensions in relations in which                  result of the fraud and dirty tricks of the
                                 it finds itself with the People’s Republic.                     DPP and the influence of the United States,
                                 On the one hand, China is an economic and                       without giving any facts or evidence. Tai-
                                 political partner in trade and investment                       wan’s democracy is only “a coat under
                                 as well as the solution for global problems                     which the forces of Taiwanese independ-
                                 such as climate protection; on the other                        ence hide,” as a professor from the People’s
                                 hand, the People’s Republic is a rival that                     Republic said at a recent conference in
                                 propagates an authoritarian model of gov-                       Shanghai. Just as with the situation in Hong
                                 ernment and undermines global norms                             Kong, Beijing cannot imagine that people
© Stiftung Wissenschaft          such as human rights.                                           want to live in freedom.
und Politik, 2020                    European policy toward Taiwan also finds
All rights reserved              itself in this area of tension. The island
                                 state shares European values of democracy
This Comment reflects
                                 and human rights. As with the support for
the author’s views.
                                 human rights defenders in mainland China
The online version of            and Hong Kong or taking action concerning
this publication contains        the repression of people in Xinjiang and
functioning links to other       Tibet, the EU must consider what it values
SWP texts and other relevant
                                 in its relations with Taiwan in promoting
sources.
                                 democracy and human rights. The planned
SWP Comments are subject         EU–China summit in Germany in Septem-
to internal peer review, fact-   ber 2020 is an appropriate time for such a
checking and copy-editing.       discussion on a “Taiwan strategy.”
For further information on           In addition, EU member states should
our quality control pro-
                                 engage more with the United States and
cedures, please visit the SWP
website: https://www.swp-        Japan on how to maintain peace and sta-
berlin.org/en/about-swp/         bility in the Taiwan Strait and how the
quality-management-for-          world’s democracies can better support one
swp-publications/                of their own.
                                     There are many opportunities for co-
SWP
Stiftung Wissenschaft und
                                 operation with Taiwan below the level of
Politik                          formal state recognition from which both
German Institute for             sides could benefit and which can be in-
International and                tensified: in technology and science, the
Security Affairs                 energy revolution, and the promotion of
                                 human rights. In Germany and Europe,
Ludwigkirchplatz 3–4
10719 Berlin                     Taiwan is not sufficiently understood as
Telephone +49 30 880 07-0        the valuable partner it is – as a successful
Fax +49 30 880 07-100            democracy and a technologically innovative
www.swp-berlin.org               economy. Its IT industry, for example, is
swp@swp-berlin.org
                                 one of the world’s most advanced.
ISSN 1861-1761
                                     At the same time, the EU could offer to
doi: 10.18449/2020C07            organize dialogues and conferences involv-
                                 ing itself, mainland China, and Taiwan.
(English version of              These dialogues should, among other things,
SWP-Aktuell 5/2020)              try to make mainland China more under-
                                 standing of Taiwan’s democracy and values.
                                 Tsai’s election victory, for example, is ex-

                                 Dr Frédéric Krumbein is Heinrich Heine Visiting Professor at Tel Aviv University.

       SWP Comment 7
       February 2020

       8
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